Laying eggs just stopped?

[CAJHomestead]

PLEASE HELP! We have 109 hens and 4 roosters that were born Dec. 22, 2011 and WERE giving us 5 to 6 dozens of eggs a day since the beginning of June. We went on vacation for 6 days and a kid from down the street who was to be paid to come feed and collect eggs did not. He had helped us out before and had always been real good about it. My dad came out 5 days into our vacation and called me asking if I wanted him to give them some feed cause they had none. I asked him how many bags of feed were in the feed room and I heard sadly the same number of bags that we had left were still in the feed room. I give them a 50 pound bag of feed every other day and I had given them a bag the day we left. So they went for at least 3 and a half days without feed even though they do have a pretty good size area they are free to range in. I also asked him about eggs and he collected maybe 3 dozens, but had to just throw them out as we did not know how long they had been there and the temperatures have been in the high 90's with heat index in the 100's. They did have fresh water as I have 3 separate automatic waterers that my dad said were nice and full with him seeing them drinking from them while he was there. Now 4 days later we are getting NO, YES I SAID NO eggs. We are keeping the feed solid for them, and check several times a day for eggs and nothing. What is going on, and what can we do to remedy this problem? HELP HELP HELP!

 

[JNB]

Sorry to hear about this happening to you..
I can tell you this much and Im sure someone else will comment and have more information than me

This last spring I adopted a flock of 25 Chickens.. They had not been fed properly by previous owners and were not laying... had been several months of neglect. I got them started on a mix of scratch and Layer.. also added BOSS and mealworms as a toss out treat each day.. Then I gave them Flock Block avalble all the time for a a little over a week. After about a 7 days I got my first egg and they have maintained well since.

Chickens will stop laying when stressed and running out of feed is a stress added to the heat you said you have and I d say they are out of sorts.. Keep a steady supply of fresh water and food like your doing and maybe add some Higher protein treats or Flock Block to give them a boost.. Im sure given a few more days of your good care and they will be ok..

 

[Judy]

I agree, this is the stress of too little food, and should correct itself. i would skip scratch entirely, and probably give them a bag or two of game bird feed for a boost, along with layer, of course. Flock blocks are good for boredom but I have no idea if they are more nutritious than feed. Nutritious additions like mealworms are good -- but you have a lot of chickens to be buying mealworms for. I might add a Tums or two to their water a few times, for a calcium boost, especially if the shells seem thin when they resume laying. You could use a few old fashioned plastic waterers if you have them, or just put out a few bowls of water with a Tums, as a stopgap measure.

Good luck!

 

[CAJHomestead]

I was figuring that was the case, so thank you both very much for responding with your helpful responses. I now have two flock blocks out and bought one bag of mealworms. The mealworms would probably be a little to expensive to buy too often so I am now planning on learning how to raise my own from everything I see it doesn't seem like it would be that big of an undertaking. The feed bill isn't to bad as I buy layer crumbles from a local feed mill at $9.50 per 50 pound bag and they have or at least were doing great on it. Thanks again and I'll let you know when the world is right again. LOL