Mature hens not laying, almost mature hens not either - ideas?

[Faracas]

Hi BYC,

I have 7 chickens in my coop/run. 2 D'anvers and 1 Silkie are of laying age and had been giving me an egg a day. The have not laid in 3-4 weeks. Not molting.

My spring chickens are 21-22 weeks now. 1 BR, 1 RIR, 1 EE, and 1 BA. Their combs are red, they squat, I hear the occasional egg song. No eggs.

Switched to layer feed about the time the mature hens quit laying. Could that have something to do with it? Confused. Nobody's sick, no major coop changes, WTH?

Thanks for any insight! Cassandra

 

[ldemmert]

predators in the area? I lost a bunch of eggs to a black rat snake before we relocated him further up the hill.

 

[ekemily]

Keep the food out full time, if you are not already doing so. I would give them another couple of weeks. I had 27 hens that all took about 25 weeks to lay. It was tough to wait it out!

 

[Faracas]

No predators (knock on wood) and the food is out full time. Is it common for the older hens to stop laying as the younger ones catch up?

 

[girlychick]

They could be molting. When they are molting they usually stop laying until they are done then there laying slows down.

 

[Faracas]

Not molting, unfortunately. That would have made me feel a little easier about the situation. Weather change didn't hit until this week either, so that doesn't make any sense. They are confined to the coop/run (very spacious) and I would be able to find the eggs if they were laying somewhere besides the boxes. Sigh - I guess they're on strike?

 

[embrown]

I feel your pain. I have six girls who are about 17 months old and they have always laid daily. about 10 days ago I began to have two problems. Two girls are separated and have been for more than 6 months and those two, or at least one of those two are suddenly eating their eggs, so we are working on that problem. In the coop there are four girls and I am only getting two eggs daily. I imagined it was a molt coming on, but we have seen no feathers, and no one is growing naked, so I am not sure what is up. There are no changes, no predetors, no wet straw that might suggest egg eating, they do not leave the enclosure so we could find all eggs. I am stumped and irritated. To top it off, a neighbor who buys eggs from us came in while we were gone yesterday, left money, took a dozen and now I only have 3 eggs left and get only two per day, I am going to have to buy the yucky white eggs from the store to meet our family's needs. I wish I could figure out what is wrong. No change in food, no signs of illness, always fresh water, free choice grit and shell, and always food. I add acv to water and electrolites to water once per week. They are getting adiquate light based on what I have always done and read to do. WE NEED OUR EGGS!

 

[Faracas]

Almost hurray? I got a gloopy soft shelled egg from one of my spring chickens