Hens stopped laying

[mstkseavey]

Well. It's July. As many hours of daylight as there can be and my ladies stopped laying. The one that was laying is now in molt BUT the others are not molting! And they aren't laying! What the heck? It's been about a month. Cleaned everything up really good and DE everything. Nothing has changed. Not their food. Their treats. Their health. Nothing. What can I check?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The hot weather will cause some hens to quit, they either resume when it gets cooler, or they start to moult, which breeds you have will matter as well, a lot of people like Easter eggers, but I find them poor layers who don't lay during the summer.

 

[mstkseavey]

My Egger is reliable. She lays 6 days a week. No matter what! But alas she us in molt. Lol. My black Sexlink and my barred rock are the two that gave me baffled. They were laying 4-5 eggs each a week. Now nothing!!! It's hot here in Illinois but not sweltering. Although we did go through a lot of rain at the beginning of summer. My garden sure is sucking because of it. Maybe the rain a few weeks back???

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Still think it's the heat, the only sex link I had burned out after 8 months and never layed again, and my barred rock is 6 years old and still lays here and there. I'm up here in Wisconsin, so we are close on climate, but I think you are a bit hotter, and what's hot is subjective, I think anything over 70 is hot, my EE's lay like 6 eggs a year, I guess I just get bums, and as far as the garden, mines okay but all the rain has rotted my onions

 

[mstkseavey]

Kinda sounds like my back yard farm. It's a mess. My onions are gone. And my carrots are close behind. My tomatoes are yellowing. Could be heat. Could be rain rain. My ladies are kinda the same way. All turned off. I am a bit depressed over it all. Not getting eggs is something I was used to for the winter. But I gave them a light for a few extra hours a day and remedied that. But this heat it a tough one. Although it was hotter last summer and they continued to lay. It just baffles me.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Maybe that's the problem, were they younger last year, that's my dumb joke, chickens will lay through their first winter usually, but their second year they molt, sometime during the fall and won't resume laying until early spring, I have never used lights to keep them laying as I think they need the rest and recovery, if yours have been laying since last year they may just be burning out, and going into an early molt, a lot of people like to cull them at this point, but I think they earned a rest, not a killing, and something that can help is buying replacement chicks in June so they begin to lay in November, December, when everyone else is resting

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Oh and I forgot to say that chickens don't lay as many eggs as people think over the course of a season, except for certain power breeds that burn out young and get culled early, I like my heavier girls, live longer, lay longer. And my tomatoes are yellowing, but I am still getting good eating off of them, and I have too many carrots

 

[mstkseavey]

I only have three hens. And was hoping not to have to replace them. Maybe I have pushed them too hard.

 

[Grandmas Coop]

I do thing the hot weather has something to do with it. Today is Thur. I have 10 hens 8 Buff Orphington and 2 Black Australorps. The 2 Austro's have laid non stop ( they are 1.4years old) BUT anyway I have gotten only 1 or 2 eggs a day this last week and the week before it was only 4. So I think it is just the time of year and their bodies do need a break. OH and they are all crabby/ bite-ie

 

[mstkseavey]

Where are you guys from? I am mid-America! Belleville is right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis!