I would really love to have eggs again.... Help..

[chick123600]

I have about 12 hens, we have had the since about July of last year. They all were laying just fine up until about April. I have tried just about everything to try to get some eggs again but nothing is working. My guineas and ducks stopped laying too they all usually lay all the time.

They are free range hens, they lay their eggs in a large hen house, they eat eggs pellets, egg shells and oyster shells ground up and mixed in their feed, I have tried locking them in the house to encourage them to lay (if they aren't laying) I have pretty much done everything I could think of, I put golf balls out in case there are snakes, and I have been checking every night for the last two weeks for any predators, their yard is pretty well lit thanks to the random street light in our neighbors back yard. We have a guy that lives three houses down that has chickens and he said his hens are laying. He just got them about a month ago.

I really would love to have fresh eggs again so anything will help.

 

[chick123600]

I forgot to mention, when they stopped laying nothing was changed at all, they all just quit laying or something is happening to the eggs, I need some help. It's kind of like having nothing but roosters out there.

 

[ChickyBangBang]

Disclaimer: I'm a chicken newbie and everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt.


Is there any possibility that all 12 of them could have gone broody? Are they in their nesting boxes a lot more than what is normal? Broody hens won't lay eggs (unless they're weird broody hens). This can continue for several....several months before they even think about laying eggs again. Since you said it's been since around April - obviously they're not eggbound or they'd be dead long before now. If they seem healthy in every single way (other than the absence of eggs) - being broody would be my first (very inexperienced) guess.

If you don't want broodies I'd start trying all the "break the broody" methods. If those don't work -- I would trade/swap with a trusted neighbor with healthy, well taken care of hens--- who needs/wants broody hens and has laying hens they'd want to swap for (lots of people do that in the farming communities outside of where I live).

If they're your pets and you love them and can't bear to part with them - I'd be a stickler and try every single "break the broody" methods out there - and keep trying while buying more hens that lay.

I honestly can't think of a reason they wouldn't lay eggs for months and months and months - except broodiness.

 

[chick123600]

They all act normal, they don't act broody at all, I had that mentioned before, I don't think that's the case here.

I just bought 6 new bantam hens and I was told they were laying and still no eggs. Not even from them.

 

[Chicks on DL]

When one starts laying outside the coop the others could follow. Since they are free ranging they could be laying somewhere else.

 

[ChickyBangBang]

They all act normal, they don't act broody at all, I had that mentioned before, I don't think that's the case here.

I just bought 6 new bantam hens and I was told they were laying and still no eggs. Not even from them.

Well, you added new info. hehe

Do you have hay bales in your yard where they are free ranging? Tall grass somewhere? I mean - could they have their own preferred nesting area somewhere they made themselves instead of continuing to use the nesting boxes? Hens do that a lot. Do you have enough nesting boxes for the amount of hens you have so they don't feel crowded out by a bossy hen next to them?

Since I'm a noob and not experienced, if this happened to me I would swipe about 4 of those hens and stick them in an unused room in my house - deal with the mess...and make nice softly lined nesting boxes out of something practical - and see what happens. It's probably not recommended by a billion chicken people, but that is exactly what I would do. You'd know fast if it was a snake or something else eating the eggs. =/

 

[Mehjr10]

Have you tried worming them? No nest around the free range area?

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I would keep them in the coop or run for a week so that they'd have to lay in there. That way you'd be able to tell if anyone is laying anything. That might also help them get the message that they're to lay in a nesting box and not in the woods.

 

[dukeums1]

Oh my gosh I have the same exact problem!!!!! I have three chickens and we moved 2 months ago to our new house. I know they can be stressed from the moved but we have tried everything from leaving them in their house for several days, to golf balls, to different feed. Our one red one though has never stopped laying from the time we moved her to now. We always get one egg a day from her but the other two NOTHING!!! this is soo aggrevating, cause we want our eggs back and we love the girls so nothing else is an option but I refuse to buy eggs!!! Any suggestions would be great but like I already said we have tried everything already, and no mine are not broody either, I had our white one go broody for about a week before we ever moved but she came out of it but never did lay normal since. But now nothing even from our prized hen our very first hen that gave us eggs everyday nothing. But old red she is sticking in there and gives an egg everyday like a good girl the other two are crazy!!!!!

 

[valeriekasnick]

I have the same problem!! I have 15 chickens ~ different breeds. I used to get about 8-10 eggs a day, now I get 5 if I'm lucky. They are about 1 1/2 years old and free ranging. I quit giving chicken scratch to see if that would help, but no! I have hoticed some are moulting, but that is recent and this problem has been going on for about 2 months. If they laid eggs somewhere in the yard, wouldn't they eventually want to sit on them?? I would be grateful for any ideas to try. Thanks!!