Hens Stopped Laying

[johnc]

My hens have been laying 6-8 eggs a day. All of a sudden they are down to 2-3 eggs a day. I fed them some scratch for a couple of days. Someone on the forum said you should only feed them scratch in the winter. Any truth to that? Anybody have any ideas.

How many times a year do hens moult? Or no specific amount? Thanks for your input.

JC

 

[Josie]

They say scratch in the winter because it makes them fat, but my first year with chickens I fed them only scratch and they lived. Chickens are super adept at hiding eggs, is it possible they have a secret nest?

 

[johnc]

I thought the same thing. Looked in the few spots where they could hide them but nothing. . . .unless they are buring them in the sand.

 

[Josie]

Huh, I had a similar problem earlier this year. I never caught anything in the act, but I now suspect a varmint (Most likely suspect is a squirrel). When I check for eggs two or three times a day, I get an egg per bird. When I check at the end of the day, I get 60% less!

 

[Somechick]

Brilliant! I never considered a predator!!! I have had the same question about why my chickens are not laying as many eggs after a month of heavy laying. I was accusing my chickens of cutting back, taking a break. I was getting a dozen and a half eggs a day and am down to a half dozen. I thought maybe it was something to do with having two years hatch, maybe one group (the older?) is taking a break? They look pretty raggety! I'm fairly sure nobody has molted since summer and I keep expecting it. But a predator (and we do have plenty of squirells here) is a real possibility. I'm going to try to gather eggs a couple of times a day to see if that helps. Thanks!

 

[frankenchick]

I'm going to try gathering more often, too. I've never seen anything around the coop, but ya never know.

A friend suggested having a rooster visit for a couple days. She said it would be okay to keep him in a pen . . . he'd still get them excited about laying again.

Or should I let them mate and have some eggs to hatch? If this Q is really dumb, I plead my fairly newbie status.