My girls have COMPLETELY stopped laying! WHY? What can I do?

[countrybear47]

I am having a similar problem. I have 32 hens and we were getting about 20-25 eggs a day. My flock is a mix of 5 Barred Rock, 4 Buff Orpingtons 13 Ameraucana, 1 Blue Laced Wyandott, and 9 Red legs. We were getting 6-8 Green eggs a day and now only get 1-2 a day. Th production has decreased to 9-11 eggs a day. We have had a lot of heavy spring storms. I had been feeding them a mix of scratch and layer. They seem all healthy and spend most of their time outside of the coop. I am not sure what to do for them. I am wondering if I should switch their feed to just scratch?

 

[10thmuse]

Will heavy eating of treats stop them from laying??

I have gone from 3-5 eggs a day to nothing for 2 days.

No worms.
No other bugs.

They did have a couple of days of heavy duty treats as we were pressing cider and had apple bits.

 

[galanie]

Totally weird and probably none of you have this issue, but I noticed after I started letting my girls drink my diet coke out of the can they didn't lay as well. I didn't let them to that today, and all but one laid an egg. I'm thinking yep, treats can affect laying.

 

[Redrita]

Quote:
Good Morning....This sounds very interesting, what kind of pepper do we use? Thanks a bunch!

 

[chickencrazy999]

hello, maybe the hens are trying to set (become broody) are they acting differently to when they were laying eggs such as being obsessed with the nest box and going round all puffed up making loud bluck bluck blucking noises and acting quit aggressive against other people and things ? hope this helps

 

[nannysmountain]

you said one can red hot pepper, please be more descriptive, the spice or the veg. itself? What did your grandpa do with all the left over corn in the bucket?????

 

[animaysgirls]

When you say a "can of red pepper" what is it you're talking about? Red Pepper flakes? Powder? Cayenne? Mine have stopped laying and I would like to try your method. Please let me know.
Thank you. Anita
[email protected]

 

[cutenmchick]

My hens have done the same thing. they all just stopped laying, no reason, everything was the same as always. I was soooo embarrased to have to buy eggs. I kinda felt like I was cheating

, but, when you're outa eggs, what you gonna do.

I continued the routines as usual, after about a week, maybe 10 days or so, they started right back up. My husband and I joke that he had to go have a "talk" with the girls about how he hadn't had fresh chicken for dinner in months!

p.s,, no disrespect to any other suggestions, but I would caution you to give your girls a little more time before trying anything crazy. They appreciate a routine, and like an earlier reply stated, they sometimes are affected by things we don't notice.

Good luck!!

 

[pbandj78]

I'm having the same issue. The 4 are laying 1 egg between them per day. That's it. I have added the 7 month olds to the coop, and it's like the 1.5 yr old ladies are on strike. I've let the 4 free range, i've kept them seperated in the coop, I've checked for mies and fleas and internal laying and etc... I'm also at a loss... Sorry, no help, just comiserating.

 

[chickenlady0869]

i've had the same problem..someone told me to use 'laying mash" bought at your local feed store.