Hens stopped laying completely. Please help.

[FreestyleFarm]

So I'm back to report that this Ameracauna has not layed an egg since I first posted. Nearly 11 months since she layed an egg. Which is odd, she is active, healthy, eats well and roams freely. We also have supplemental light in the winter. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[waagedaage]

Wow - that's a long time! Is there any chance she's hiding her eggs somewhere? I had a bantam once who found a hole next to a fence post and used that as her nesting box. It was hidden by some weeds and I didn't discover it until there were 7-8 eggs in there! I always think about this now when I open up the whole yard to my hens. My garden area is easy to check - not too many hiding places - but I'd never find a hiding place elsewhere in my yard! Just a thought...

 

[leishah]

My Easter Egger has also stopped laying for about 2 months. She was molting but the molting seems to have stopped. How long until she will begin laying again?

 

[Four Hens Farm]

I am sorry for such a late answer but I have an idea. I'm wondering what your weather is like? I have a friend who had 10 RI hens who were strong layers for their first year. This person lives with a relative who decided to move a down spout from their roof to have it drain into the chicken pen. We live in Oregon, and there is ALOT of rain in early Spring. She noticed her birds were showing signs of a slight cold for a week or so but they appeared to recover. After that, the birds' productivity came to an almost complete stop.

I processed some birds this summer, and this gal had me do hers at the same time since they were only laying 1-2 eggs a week between the 10 of them.

When I opened them up they were either full of fluid or their ovaries were mis-shapen and full of tumors and/or eggs in varying degrees of development.

The birds showed no outward signs of disease, but the insides told a very different story.

Some quick research showed that respiratory problems in hens can lead to ovarian issues. I'm guessing this is because of the position of the lungs to the hen's abdominal organs?

I did some reading online and found similar info, but for the life of me I can no longer find the same site!!

I hope this is not the case with your girls, but I thought I'd post this and maybe send you towards another possible idea as to why your hens have stopped laying.

In my own experience I have 4 Americaunas who, for their first year laid eggs with rock-hard shells almost every day. Then they moulted. Since that moult their production has dropped to 1-2 eggs a day with an occasional zero day, and their shells can be paper thin. This is in spite of anything I try to feed. They don't like oyster shell so I bake their egg shells and feed them those.

I have a major predator issue so they can not wander free, but I give them fresh grass 3-4 times a week during spring and into the summer, and I clip and feed them berry vines several times a week so they get fresh greens.

They appear to be free of mites and worms though I may try a wormer when the weather really turns and production slows.

In addition to the Americaunas I now have 40+ other birds. Aside from an occasional thin shell, production has been great.

If I can locate the site with the chicken diseases I'll post the link.

Good luck!