Hens Stopped Egg Laying

[Stephanie Pennay]

Hello Everyone!
So we are new to Hen ownership. Last January we got two baby chicks from a friend who ended up with too many than she was allowed so we took two off her hands. Live in residential area so only a few hens allowed. My husband built a great coop but they have free reign of a large yard during the day. One turned out to be a Rooster so once he started crowing i traded him for my brown/orange hen. She was laying 1-2 eggs per day. The original white one has never laid an egg. We live in Fort Lauderdale and neither have laid since the hurricane. Seems like molting has come and gone. Could it have been stress from the hurricane? We feed them chicken feed, oyster shells, mealworm, corn scratch, healthy greens and scraps, ect.
We also have raccoons/possums/or more digging around the whole yard now. They are safe and never has anything gotten into the coop. Could this be stressing them? Does anyone know about how old these two look and what breeds they are? Any suggestions on why they aren’t laying? Any help in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us
What type of chicken feed are you giving them? Protein %?
How much scratch and other treats are you giving them?
Stress from the hurricane, shorter days and predator pressure can all cause them to stop laying. I'm not familiar with the breed of your pretty girls, so not familiar with their laying habits.

 

[SueT]

What kind of 'chicken feed' do you use? I suggest that you stop giving all the extras. If they free range, they can find their own extras. It takes a lot of nutrition to make an egg. See if that helps.
Welcome to BYC, good luck!

 

[N F C]

You've already been given some good advice/tips so I'll just say hello and thanks for joining us!

 

[Stephanie Pennay]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us
What type of chicken feed are you giving them? Protein %?
How much scratch and other treats are you giving them?
Stress from the hurricane, shorter days and predator pressure can all cause them to stop laying. I'm not familiar with the breed of your pretty girls, so not familiar with their laying habits.

It’s Putin’s Premium Poultry Feed Layena Crumbles Oyster Strong. I don’t see anything about Protein...

 

[rjohns39]

It’s Putin’s Premium Poultry Feed Layena Crumbles Oyster Strong. I don’t see anything about Protein...

It's a good layer 16% protein. Scratch and leafy greens are nice treats, but they do dilute the protein and vitamins in the feed, so limit treats to no more than 10% of their total diet. As for eggs they may start again, or they may make you wait until days start getting longer.

 

[NakedPalmsTikiHut]

hi, im in fort lauderdale, too.i just joined today (feb 21, 2018) i have 3 chicks that i got 3 days ago and i think they're about 3 weeks old..would be cool to have a local chicken friend