my chickens are not laying and im wondering why

[jonmgold]

ive got 15 chicken total 9 of them ive raised from chicks 4 of them are light brahamas 5 are buffs. the 9 ive raised are getting close to being ready to lay about 6-7 months old. 4 of them i bought and when i bought them i was told they were just over a year and they are black austrilorps (sorry please excuse my spelling) they have a coop that is 5x5 with 3 roosting poles and laying boxes off the side for easy egg access. they blacks stopped laying about 1.5 months ago i noticed that it looked like they might be molting so i was giving them time to finish and they all look better. i had been letting them out during the day but about 2 weeks ago i started leaving them up bc they started venturing a little to far. i keep the coop pretty clean and tonight i made a laying box that i could leave in the pen but out of the house i am extreemly puzzled as to what is going on any help is greatly apperciated thanks

 

[stevetone]

First,

.

Now to the lack of egg laying. Chickens typically need about 14 hours of daylight in order for their bodies to "get" that they are supposed to be laying. This can vary somewhat by breed, with some laying through the Winter and others stopping in the Fall (assuming Northern Hemisphere--reverse if you are below the equator).

The Black Australorps seem to be following the typical pattern: stop egg production, molt, then wait until the amount of daylight increases before starting to lay again. The is kind of what I would expect from my flock (although they are not Australorps).

The younger ones actually may start laying in the Winter, regardless of daylight duration. My experience is that pullets don't molt and are more likely to lay through their first Winter. But it is also common that they just wait until Spring. So it could go either way.

I'd say the laying behavior of your flock seems pretty normal. You may get very little production until the daylight duration increases to 13-14 hours per day.

 

[ramirezframing]

yup x2 to above information. One way around the short daylight is to add extra light to the light from the sun by putting a light in the coop

 

[jonmgold]

ok will putting extra light in coop stress them out and make long term laying problems and another thing o forgot to mention earlier is that i have seen the black in the laying boxes on several ocasions could there be anyother problems thanks again

 

[ramirezframing]

well like a lady, hens are born with all the eggs they will ever lay. Natures way of giving the birds body time to re-coop what is lost during the laying season is to molt and than lay off of laying eggs. If you let them rest for the winter, like I do, your hens will lay longer (more years) than if they keep laying, but they lay the same amount either way. The black may be getting ready to start back up

 

[Cindy in PA]

well like a lady, hens are born with all the eggs they will ever lay. Natures way of giving the birds body time to re-coop what is lost during the laying season is to molt and than lay off of laying eggs. If you let them rest for the winter, like I do, your hens will lay longer (more years) than if they keep laying, but they lay the same amount either way. The black may be getting ready to start back up

I doubt, just like a woman, that chickens ever lay all their eggs. They eventually may quit laying because of age, but will not run out of eggs.

 

[stevetone]

I doubt, just like a woman, that chickens ever lay all their eggs. They eventually may quit laying because of age, but will not run out of eggs.

It would take a long, long time to lay 12,000+ eggs!

(IIRC, that's number of ova in a newly hatched hen)