My chickens stopped laying eggs :( Anyone know why?

[cover357]

Thanks aqhaktberry3 I will check it out. I just hope they will eat a pellet. They are pretty funny eaters which is rare. They really love the black sunflower seeds- but they need them to replace the lost feathers they have. I have a couple of chickens that look like they have lost their pants. all is left is wings and neck area feathers.. Naked. But not like my naked necks.
Keysfarmgirl- I understand what you mean about still heat. We up north get it too. What we did was I bought a small desk fan about 8" diam. and we attached it above the nest top when its really warm/hot and the nights are still - I'd go turn that on low. Circulates some air for them along with the top vents open and the windows open kind of stirs everything up and they do get some air. When they were younger I put one of our stand fans in there and had it osolating- the girls loved it but they are bigger now. Our girls are great- they are not afraid of anything... my husband goes in and hammers saws everything and they are right there looking to see what your doing. I have one favorite girl- she was injured this early fall. She now wears a ducktape bandage -she is almost healed up- she waits at the door for me to take her outside with me and walk.. when she is done she comes back to me and I take her back in the pen. When we get these short daylight times and even on regular time. In the coop is darker then outside. We have intalled hanging daylight bulbs that are on timers. They come on at 4am and go off at 10pm. That way they will get their 18 hrs of light to lay eggs.

 

[SSS]

It might also be that the days are getting shorter. They need a certin amount of light to lay eggs. I think they stop laying when they get less than 8 hours of light per day. Set a light on a timer for around 6 in the morning and see if that helps.

 

[aqhaktberry3]

It has been about 7 months now with very little eggs

We bought 6 laying hens a few weeks ago. I will use the White Leghorn we bought for example. She is the only one of our chickens that lay a white egg, so we know when it is hers. When we brought her home she was laying about one egg day/every other day. Now she has nearly stopped. We are still only getting one a day. Out of at lease 20 chickens... something isn't right. It has to be something WE are doing

. We have been giving them Cow Mana as a supplement, no scratch, filtered water (our well water has a lot of iron in it so we thought maybe that could have some effect) there is a light timer in the coop, and they have plenty of room. They are safe and very happy chickens. There is no way anything is getting in there and stealing them b.c we check very often through out the day. We have searched EVERYWHERE they go, they aren't hiding them. They are done molting. I'm starting to get so discouraged

. What can it be???

 

[cocoa]

My chickens as well are not laying eggs. We looked it up on numerous sites, and this is all i found: The time change. Is this true? We did recently change their food, but about a week after we changed it they were still laying. Could a chicken expert help me out with my question?

 

[RiverBendPol]

Mine gave up eggs about a month ago. I feel like Mrs. Tweedy although I will not slit the throats of my girls no matter how long they refuse to lay! They will not end up in a pie because I don't like grrrravy either! However, that said, I really wish the girls would get busy and lay me an egg. Yes, they're moulting, yes it has gotten dark, yes they have lights, yes they get a layer pellet, no there are no thieves, yes they are free range but even when I kept them shut up for days on end bc I did suspect our Bad Beagle of robbing the coop, still, we have no eggs. I can hardly stand to actually BUY eggs.........

 

[cocoa]

RiverBendPol wrote: Mine gave up eggs about a month ago. I feel like Mrs. Tweedy although I will not slit the throats of my girls no matter how long they refuse to lay! They will not end up in a pie because I don't like grrrravy either! However, that said, I really wish the girls would get busy and lay me an egg. Yes, they're moulting, yes it has gotten dark, yes they have lights, yes they get a layer pellet, no there are no thieves, yes they are free range but even when I kept them shut up for days on end bc I did suspect our Bad Beagle of robbing the coop, still, we have no eggs. I can hardly stand to actually BUY eggs.........

Cocoa writes: I can't stand to buy eggs either.

If i have chickens in my backyard, then why should i be going to Giant and be standing there deciding which eggs to buy.

The only weird thing is, we suppose since my chickens aren't laying eggs, then their either molting or not getting enough sunlight each day. Yet we have found no excess feathers laying around. If it's because of the sun, then i would hate to have to wait until the time changes again to actually get eggs from them.

Maybe we'll try to find some kind of UV light to put out there.

 

[wefanjr]

I have 12 hens and they are not laying at all. I am lucky if I get 1 egg every other day. It stinks. I have to buy eggs now. I am supplementing some of the light. But I think I obviously did it too late. I suppose the bright side is that they will lay for years to come rather than maxing them out early. Oh well, they still keep me entertained.

 

[Mark]

We have 13 hens. They are almost 2 years old. Currently, we get 2 eggs a day. During the spring, we got 10+ a day, but it gradually fell off from there. The same thing happened last year. I suspect is it a natural rhythm. It doesn't make sense to hatch chicks in the middle of the winter, so why lay eggs?

Different breeds are more consistent. Currently, all our eggs are brown. Thus, our 2 leghorns, and 3 ameraucanas are not laying. The eggs we get come from the Delaware, New Hampshire red and Jersey giants.

 

[cover357]

ok what I did was went and bought the cow manna, gave it to them like the insturctions said. about 1-2 table spoons to a feeding. and I bought the crumble feed to get more in them..... don't know why but for some reason since I have feed them this along with the crumble to get them laying again. I have lost 4 chickens.......... look once and they are great look again and they are dead. they are only 1 1/2 yrs old... they shouldn't be dying like that... Should they??? I fed this to them like one of the people on here said to start them laying........ the eggs have not picked up. Its been almost a month and I have 4 dead chickens....... does anyone know why this is doing this this way....... one was my favorite girl....... ????????????? answers please......

 

[gsim]

Have heard that can last from month or two up to 5 months in some cases. Calf Manna is good. The extra protein will help them regrow their feathers. If you are seeing lots of feathers in the run and coop, they are still molting. How old are they? The water filter was a really good idea. It eliminates one possibility if you use it long enough. Another thought is a two-legged rat. They are the worst kind as you can really get in trouble if you shoot them, but not if you shoot them with a game cam with night vision.