hens stopped laying????????????????????????

[trishamonks]

hi can anyone help me am getting worried my two hens have stopped laying
we got them at pol 8 weeks ago and they started to lay after 4 weeks 1 laid 5 eggs day after day and stopped she hasn laid in 4 weeks now and the other started to lay 3 weeks ago and the same thing 5 eggs and stopped but this one is different she looks and acts so depressed she just lays down alll day only getting up to get food or water she doesnt seem to be interested in anything
i dont know what this could be i tought it was the roo so i moved him out but still nothing i know they have plenty of space theyr in a run with 18 chicksbut its 16ft long by 16 ft wide and thay have their own coop in here which they sleep in away from the chicks
thank you in advance
trish
edited to add
they are rir hybrids i think

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are a lot of things that can cause them to stop laying. I'll give you some links that give some good information on that. They do a lot better than I can talking about it and you might see something in them that gives you better clues. After all you are looking at them.

Virginia Tech – Stopped Laying
http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/2902/2902-1097/2902-1097.pdf

Florida – Stopped Laying –
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/ps/ps02900.pdf

Missing eggs thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=190121

My first thought is that you may have two different problems. The first one sounds like she is either hiding a nest from you or something is eating the eggs. It could be one of your chickens or someting else, a dog, snake, or rats immediately come to mind if it is during the day, but many nighttime predators will come out in the day too for a free meal, especially if they have babies to feed. Don't totally dismiss the idea that it could be a human. It is early for a molt and young hens just starting to lay often lay through the winter without molting, but it is possible something caused her or them to molt. I don't think that is your problem but anything is possible.

The second hen sounds like she does not feel well. It could be a disease or possibly she is eggbound. I'm not familiar enough with eggbound hens to be able to talk about it. You might want to do a search on here for eggbound.

Good luck!

 

[trishamonks]

hi ridge runner thank you for your reply i know its not a hidden nest as i said she is in a run all the time
there is no way anything can get in or out of the run its covered completly even the bottom has wire mesh around the edges
none of the neighbours or anyone can get to the eggs as the box is inside the run which is padlocked at night
and for her being sick or egg bound i had her in the vet 2 weeks ago and she cant find anything wrong with either of them she gave them a good going over
this one has me stumped completly i dont think ginger is not well she comes over to me when i come into the pen and she is eating and drinking
but she is depressed she looks so sad all the time but yet the other one flymo is running around as normal
am so confused with this am just thinking of getting rid of these 2 and waiting on the chicks to get old enough
i really dont know what to do