I've looked into everything: my 2 year old chickens aren't laying.

[maculated]

Since last October, my four, two-year old hens stopped laying.

History:
The "alpha" hen, who had actually turned into something of a rooster (her comb grew and she crowed and everything) had been sent down to the bottom of the pecking order by a younger chicken. Her comb shrunk back down and she ended up being very quiet. Eventually her comb got fairly pale and she went from sleeping in a roost with the others to being in the interior coop by herself, to finally the ground. She died a month or so ago. There was no indication of disease except she seemed to have trouble getting around so I would give her warm baths that seemed to help but in the end, yeah, nope. Down to 3.

In between that action, the flock went through a molt or maybe they had mites so I first tried organic powders and finally went to the non-organic stuff, dusting them and the coop twice in a few weeks. Everyone's feathers came back so hurray.

One of my hens still has a pretty raw butt, so my guess is alpha chicken is pecking her. I can't visually see any mites and none of the other chickens show signs of lack of feathers. The butt seems to be growing back.

They get fresh food and water (and scream at me if anything in that department is wrong so I know) and they free range 50% or so a week in my yard, which is some weeds, some herbs, some grass.

Only one of my chickens is laying, and maybe every other day, if that. I know they are not hiding eggs as I have a dog that gets them out of the coop for me (they are used to her, so no stress there) and checks the yard. Yes, my dog is rad. I attached a video of the first few times she did it - now when I open the coop, she does it and drops them in a soft basket.

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate it. I recently bought some VetRx and treated their water with it. It's probably too soon to tell if it works.

I'm considering getting replacement hens, but if this is something communicable, there's really no point so I would appreciate ANYTHING you have.

 

[hildar]

Are any of them molting??? I know a few of mine still are not laying because the are still in the middle of molting.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

October is when the days are getting shorter - they stay short through winter and now we are at the point where the days become longer - there is a natural "lay off" for most hens through the winter months when the hours of daylight fall below their threshold. Did you use supplemental lighting through the winter months? What are they being fed? If it is a commercial feed - what is the percentage of protein and calcium? Are you offering calcium supplements such as oyster shell?
One thing I would suggest is don't treat what you aren't sure of - for example, "maybe had mites" -- did you base that on seeing mites or seeing symptoms that you thought were mites but no actual visual on mites? Sometimes it is easy to jump to one conclusion, because it makes sense based on what you are seeing, but if you are treating something that isn't there you risk not treating what is happening or creating issues with treatments that aren't necessary. While treating for mites when mites aren't the issue isn't really a *big* deal, if you do so at the expense of knowing and treating the actual cause of the symptoms you are seeing can be.

 

[maculated]

Solid thoughts. My older hens were cochins and they never went through a molt that I'd seen (one I gave away for going broody, the latter is the one that died). I have no idea what a molt looks like, despite having an animal science degree and a couple industrial poultry classes under my belt.

If they are molting, I think they'd be done now. My silver wyandotte definitely looked pretty gross for a bit there, but she's feathered up again (but is the one with the raw-ish butt). The others look really healthy in the feather department.

I'm feedings the only lay pellets my feed store supplies, so I'd assume it's fine since everyone here has it. I don't nknow the percentages. Not offering supplements as I was told the lay pellets had plenty in there.

And yeah, I never totally saw the mites, but they were featherless around the vent and under the wings consistently so it seemed to be a bug infestation. I usually don't treat what I don't know, but I also know sometimes you just have to troubleshoot as best you can.

I hope it's just molting as you guys think, it just seems like a really long time for the little guys.