Injured hen won’t lay

[Ss74]

We had a raccoon attack in our coop a few weeks ago and luckily I was able to stop it with out one fatality. The raccoon attacked one of my reds and cracked her beak, ripped out neck feathers and injured her leg. She’s mostly recovered and eating fine, however since then she went from being a daily egg layer to not laying at all. Is there any way to know if/when she she’ll go back to laying?

 

[americanchickens]

Poor hen Im not an expert but I would guess she is very stressed out still and her body is diverting resources to her healing process rather than laying. Once her stress is reduced and her body is healed she will likely be back to normal. I hope that she makes a full recovery!

 

[Isaac 0]

Very sorry about your hen. Out of curiosity, do you have any pictures of her?

As mentioned by the poster above, stress often has an impound effect on hens, and their laying abilities, just give her some time to get everything sorted out. To add to all the stress, if you're in the US, she may be going into a molt, and given that the daylight hours are decreasing she may not lay till next spring.

 

[Ss74]

I don’t think she’s molting as she’s only about 7 months old. Here are a few pics. The bloody beak was the night of the attack. The missing feathers is from this week.

 

[Isaac 0]

I don’t think she’s molting as she’s only about 7 months old. Here are a few pics

She does have a few pin feathers around her neck area, so she's probably regrowing that area back from the attack. Instead of feeding her cracked corn as a treat, it may be good to offer something high in protein like mashed scrambled eggs, black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS), or tuna which may help.

You mentioned this happened a few weeks ago, but her beak is still bleeding in the photo? Are these both recent photos?

 

[Ss74]

She does have a few pin feathers around her neck area, so she's probably regrowing that area back from the attack. Instead of feeding her cracked corn as a treat, it may be good to offer something high in protein like mashed scrambled eggs, black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS), or tuna which may help.

You mentioned this happened a few weeks ago, but her beak is still bleeding in the photo? Are these both recent photos?

sorry I edited my last post late. No her beaks no longer bleeding and hasn’t been since that night. I had her checked by a vet to be sure it was only an external injury. She’s mostly acting normal other than not laying.

 

[Isaac 0]

sorry I edited my last post late. No her beaks no longer bleeding and hasn’t been since that night. I had her checked by a vet to be sure it was only an external injury. She’s mostly acting normal other than not laying.

Gotcha!

I would do as I suggested above,

" Instead of feeding her cracked corn as a treat, it may be good to offer something high in protein like mashed scrambled eggs, black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS), or tuna which may help"

and just be patient. She is young, and will start laying again, just give her some time.