Majority of Hens Suddenly Stopped Laying

[zoedmonson]

I have 13 hens that are almost a year old. They started laying at the beginning of spring at we were getting around 6-8 eggs a day with a couple instances of all 13 hens laying. I noticed that one of the hens started pecking at a few of the hens towards the top of the pecking order and they started to lose some head feathers. Now it’s May and only two of are hens are still laying. The hens toward the bottom of the pecking order haven’t laid in about two weeks and the ones at the top (with missing head feathers) aren’t laying either. At first I thought they stopped laying due to the missing feathers but the hens at the lower end of the order don’t have missing feathers, yet they stopped laying too. I put a pecking block in the coop which seems to have helped with the bullying but our hens still aren’t laying. Then I noticed two of our hens were egg bound. I took action to that and they seem fine now but the eggs have yet to show up. I figured they’d have passed the eggs by now or would’ve died but neither has happened yet. Still not sure why 11 of our hens haven’t laid in a few weeks… Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

What do you feed your hens including treats?
How much space do you have in your coop/run - sq ft of each?
Photos of hens, housing, poop, etc. are welcome.

Where are you located in the world?

Look them over for lice/mites. Do you have any predators or disturbances at night?
Could the hens be hiding their eggs/laying somewhere else besides the nesting boxes?

 

[vantain]

This is an interesting post, as I'm going through something similar right now. I have 5 2yr old hens that had stopped laying over winter, but started back up again in late February. However, as of last week, all have stopped laying. I haven't had an egg laid in over seven days, which is really odd. Everyone is acting normal, but no eggs.

 

[zoedmonson]

Welcome To BYC

What do you feed your hens including treats?
How much space do you have in your coop/run - sq ft of each?
Photos of hens, housing, poop, etc. are welcome.

Where are you located in the world?

Look them over for lice/mites. Do you have any predators or disturbances at night?
Could the hens be hiding their eggs/laying somewhere else besides the nesting boxes?

We feed them bugs about once a week and we’ll give them sunflower seeds sometimes. We’ll also give them greens from our garden every few weeks but we’ll just give them their daily feed with oyster shells most of the time. I’m not sure how big our coop is but I think they have plenty of space to walk around. They haven’t had a problem with that until recently.

I live in North Carolina. Weather here can be a bit weird. Yesterday the high was a little above 50 degrees Fahrenheit but today the high is 70.

I will look for lice and mice. I haven’t yet because I’ve been trying to rule everything else out. We don’t have many predators come into our yard because we have two very protective dogs. The hens will lay in the actual coop sometimes but there’s nowhere hidden in the coop or run that we couldn’t find the eggs.

Where should I look for lice and mites? Under their wings?

 

[zoedmonson]

This is an interesting post, as I'm going through something similar right now. I have 5 2yr old hens that had stopped laying over winter, but started back up again in late February. However, as of last week, all have stopped laying. I haven't had an egg laid in over seven days, which is really odd. Everyone is acting normal, but no eggs.

Same here! They seem fine but I noticed their combs aren’t bright red like they used to be. Now they’ve gone back to the pink color they were before they started laying.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’m not sure how big our coop is but I think they have plenty of space to walk around. They haven’t had a problem with that until recently.

They haven't had a problem with walking around until recently or space hasn't been an issue until recently?


What is the daily feed?

Look for lice and mites around the vent, under the wings. It's a good idea to check after dark, that way you can run a white paper towel along roosting bars too to see if you get any bugs on it.

Not sure what's going on with the hens. Less than a year old, generally they should still be laying consistently.
The drama/squabbling and picking is probably part of why there's a loss in production.