My Chickens stopped laying.

[aligemini]

I have 8 brown chickens that will be a year in May, so they are 11 months right now. In January they started laying and by february we were getting an egg a day from them, By the middle of March they had slowed down a bit but we were still getting 4-6 eggs aday, and then at the beggining of April it was about 1 a day and now nothing at all. I know sometimes chicken won't lay if they are molting, but there are no feathers in the cage (maybe one or two but not a molting amount) There diet consists of 80% laying pellets 20% vegetable scraps, and I change their water every day. They have a heat lamp and I give them fresh cedar chips every week. It is spring run-off at my house so their outside pen part is muddy, but I would think that would be the only problem. Any suggestions would really help, My friends make fun of me for having to go down to pick up chicken feed and Eggs.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

My own birds, who were laying well, have also taken a little break. I suspect the very changeable weather here may be the culprit. you might consider having a stool sample checked for parasites, and checking your birds over carefully for external parasites such as lice.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, aligemini, and

! Pleased to have you in our flock! I have no clue - seems like they should be going strong and yours won't start to molt until this fall anyway. I guess it could be like 1muttsfan says. Any other changes with the flock? Adding or subtracting birds? Sometimes changes like that upset the harmony, thus disrupting laying. Hope they turn it back on soon!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!

Glad you joined us!!

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[tcmstalcup]

Sometimes its a mystery. My hens started laying again after I put a lock on the gate to my back section where chickens reside. Things that make ya go hmmm...........

 

[Crazy Mom]

My established flock went on a laying strike for a few months in the autumn and I had to buy supermarket eggs like when I was a city girl. I couldn't say why they did it or what snapped them out of it, but it did pass. I don't keep a heat lamp on in the coop, but it's air tight and pretty warm when they all snuggle in there together. I do keep a regular light on in the coop during the winter in hopes of convincing them not to go on strike again.

 

[Mitchell Farm]

Doesnt seem to be any reason for your dilemna. The only concern I would have is the cedar chips....they can be poisonous to chickens. Try taking them off of them for a while and see if your situation improves.

 

[LutzRanchette]

We also are having very low egg production from our three girls right now. We have two Buff Orpingtons and one Silver Laced Wyandotte. Production was low this last winter, but seemed to pick up a tiny bit recently, and now has gone almost to zero again. We're lucky if we get two eggs a week! :/

This is a silly question, but does anyone have any idea if hens may get "disturbed" by goats? lol We have a large goat pen, and the chicken run is within that goat pen. We have 4 Nigerian Dwarf goats (2 male, 2 female). The actual chicken coop sits just outside the run and the goats enjoy jumping on top of it, laying on top of it....silly goats.

This morning I sat outside to watch the hens as I wanted to see if I could get an idea of why they might not be laying. I watched Isabella (one of the Buffs) go in and lay in a nesting box. I sat and waited to see if she would start making "laying" noises, but soon, a couple of our goats jumped up on top of the coop and the hen then came right back out of the coop!

Is it possible that she's not comfortable with all the noise the goats might be creating on the roof of the coop and that's why she's not laying??

Also, we do not have a light in the coop. We prefer to not stimulate them artificially.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thank you!!

 

[aligemini]

Thank you all for your suggestions, it's probably warm enough out now so I'll turn the heat lamp off, and take out the cedar chips to see it that makes any difference. I'm sad to say that my family would like eggs and I may have to go to the grocery store