Keep my hens from the soup--why aren't they laying?

[Littlecimarron18]

sometimes mine stop when its cold because the energy that would usually go to e g g production is put into heat. Also try adding a little extra protien to their diet

 

[EggGardener]

First of all, why is the forum changing e g g to rooster in posts? Is it an april fools joke? Mildly funny.
My chickens are also around 25 months old. They only started laying a few weeks ago. I've heard that each year, hens will take longer to resume laying after a molt.
Another observation was that my hens were thin. I suspected that switching my brand of layer pellets I gave them were to blame--the feed store had run out of my usual brand. Within a week of switching back, they were laying. But again, it could have been:
the food
the increase in daylight hours
their age
stress (we had a fox lurking around for a week or two)
After all, most egg farms cull 2-year old hens don't they? Maybe its because of their unpredictable laying habits.
I'm working on building up a multi-age flock, so I'll have older, wily snail hunters to help me in the garden, young dumb egg layers, and some in between!
April Fools Day check. Egg=E g g?

 

[EggGardener]

Type in A p r i l F o o l s D a y and then, E g g. Check it out:
April Fools Day
Egg

I figured it out, so I guess I don't have e g g on my face. Or is it egg on my face? LOL

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I wouldn't give up on them quite yet. At that age, they should still be laying well. Since you have so many different breeds, I'd be looking at environmental factors.

I'd confine them, first. People often think they've looked everywhere and still find a stash later, that they missed. Chickens are creative! They could also be laying out in the yard and predators could be taking the eggs at night. Then you wouldn't be finding eggs, even though they're being laid.

They may not have been laying back in January or February, but you said they just started molting at Christmas, when you turned the lights off. It takes time to go through a molt, so I would have expected them to stop laying back then. It could be a whole other story now.

After dong that, I'd look at diet. What are you feeding them for treats? How much? Are you giving scratch? How much? An unbalanced diet can reduce egg laying.

Do they appear healthy? Look good? Act fine? Have normal looking poop?

 

[jonesgirl]

Quote:

 

[peeboo]

Free ranging hens will sometimes hide their eggs. i used to get so many eggs, finding them in the nesting boxes, on chairs all over around my house and then after they started moulting i had the same prob but the neighborhood children have been finding loads of eggs under our shed and in the woods under leaves. that MAY be part of the prob.

 

[lleighmay]

Mine are now almost a year old; they started laying in early October and promptly quit on Jan. 1. Out of 11 I don't think I had more than 5 laying before the weather and the light got worse and they went on spring break. Since Jan. 1 they've done nothing but lounge about eating their heads off including layer crumbles and tasty vegetable/leftover snacks from my kitchen and Mom's. I know they'll start back up (hopefully soon and with a vengeance) but lately I've been thinking of staging a violent Colombian kidnapping of one of them in full view of the others. The kidnapped chicken could spend a couple of days in the house in a dog kennel while the others pondered her fate and decided to start laying again...... yeah, that'll work better than the "chicken and dumplings cold weather comfort food" talk we had several times already....... And no, I won't eat them because they're pets.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I guess I'll have to look harder for eggs. But only a few of them are squatting and have pelvic bones that are far apart with a moist vent and red wattles, so I really think they aren't laying.

I like the idea of confining them for a few days. It's supposed to be nasty the beginning of the week, so that will be a good time to do it.

I can always do what a co-worker suggested--let the rooster out into the flock! (I know that you don't need a rooster for eggs. Now she does too!

)

I've seen so much about bad nutrition being the cause of no eggs. Is there any way that they aren't getting the right nutrients since they're free ranging and don't really eat that much layer chow?

Erika