Hens stopped laying

[dabele]

Hey everyone, I have a small coop set up that currently houses 3 young (1 yo) americaunas, and 2 black copper marans (about 6 mos). The americaunas were consistent layers, and the marans haven’t started laying yet. Before it was only these 5, we also had 3 barred rocks and one brown leghorn (was injured and healing with them because they left her alone to heal). The barred rocks became aggressive out of nowhere and were bullying everyone else, so we moved them to a different coop where they fit right in. Then we moved the leghorn back to her original coop, as she was better.

So with that background- after we moved the rocks and leghorn out, No More Eggs! It has been a month since the americaunas have laid an egg. The marans still have not started, which is fine but what about the 3 americaunas?

We live in Arizona, so it wasn’t the lack of sunlight hours. Their coop is mostly in the shade, and they have a mister-system to keep cool in the hot summer months. None of our other coops stopped laying eggs so I can’t really say it was summer/environmental... I even put a fake egg in a nesting box to try and remind them of what they used to do haha

Any thoughts on why, and/or how to motivate them to lay again?

 

[Athena2344]

What feed are you giving them? The shock of the chickens being moved out could've caused them to stop laying possibly...

 

[KingTorta69]

Hey everyone, I have a small coop set up that currently houses 3 young (1 yo) americaunas, and 2 black copper marans (about 6 mos). The americaunas were consistent layers, and the marans haven’t started laying yet. Before it was only these 5, we also had 3 barred rocks and one brown leghorn (was injured and healing with them because they left her alone to heal). The barred rocks became aggressive out of nowhere and were bullying everyone else, so we moved them to a different coop where they fit right in. Then we moved the leghorn back to her original coop, as she was better.

So with that background- after we moved the rocks and leghorn out, No More Eggs! It has been a month since the americaunas have laid an egg. The marans still have not started, which is fine but what about the 3 americaunas?

We live in Arizona, so it wasn’t the lack of sunlight hours. Their coop is mostly in the shade, and they have a mister-system to keep cool in the hot summer months. None of our other coops stopped laying eggs so I can’t really say it was summer/environmental... I even put a fake egg in a nesting box to try and remind them of what they used to do haha

Any thoughts on why, and/or how to motivate them to lay again?

Theres Times when hens eat there own eggs, usally cause there low in calcium, could it be that?

 

[ChickNanny13]

I'm thinking it's the "change" in the coop dynamics

 

[ronott1]

Having sunlight is not the issue with egg laying. It is the amount of hours in a day that the sun is out.

There should still be enough hours where you are though. How much over a year old are they? They will molt somewhere between one year and a year and a half. Do you see a lot of feathers?

Hens are fickle and are not predictable with egg laying. They will start up laying again though. It is a good time to do parasyte checks and treatment now and do pay attention to nutrition. They need good nutrition in the winter

 

[RWise]

Use this site and change it to your location, link opens my area,
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/tulsa
look to see that you have over 13 hours of day light. ( I set my lights for 13.5 hours per day, which gets most laying)
You are in the northern part of the planet and our days are growing shorter. This tells the girls to shut down for the winter, and molt if the are over 18 months (to about 22 months) old, and each year after.
EEs (americaunas) are often the first to shut down as it takes a lot from them to color those wonderful eggs.

 

[dabele]

We feed Purina or rumor layer crumble. All of our other hens are still laying so I don’t think it’s feed or daylight, esp not daylight because they stopped laying around the end of August.

They are probably exactly 1 yo, as we got them Oct 31 last year as chicks from the local feed store.

And, yes there were a ton of small feathers in the coop/yard, so I cleaned the coop to see if they were still losing feathers. Much less in the coop now. I, too, thought maybe it was molt. How long might the egglessness last if that’s the case?

We always get many many more eggs from the girls in winter because our winter is 70-80 degrees whereas our summers are 105+...

 

[Athena2344]

Them being fed only later might have something to do with it... It's probably not enough protein. Switch to a higher protein feed and offer oyster shell as well

 

[Athena2344]

*layer

 

[dabele]

Them being fed only later might have something to do with it... It's probably not enough protein. Switch to a higher protein feed and offer oyster shell as well

I forgot to add that we add oyster shell to the feed, and they do get scraps. I’ll try more protein though.