my hens are 8 months old and aren't laying, what gives?

[SilverLacedLady]

I have 2 silverlaced wyandotte hens, 2 EE's and 2 light brahmas (the EE's and the bramahas are about 3 weeks younger than my other girls) and they aren't laying. I feed them all 2-3 times a day, plus they get treats like apples and free range in the backyard when the weather is nice. They aren't laying, they are moving the ceramic egg out of the nest box and letting the rooster keep the nest box as his bedroom. What do I do? I'also have a dog that sadly killed an 8 week old hen in front of them over the summer, could they be so traumatized they won't lay? how do i fix it?

 

[dsqard]

It could be that the lack of light is causing your lack of eggs. My SLW just went over six months and one of them just started laying. You could try putting a light in the coop to give them extra "daylight" and see if that helps.

 

[Mahonri]

Compared with the previous two Novembers, I'm also not getting much.

Last two Novembers I was getting 70 to 80 eggs a week. Now 30 to 36.

Seems like this is happening all over. Maybe we are in for a very bad winter and they aren't laying so as to preserve energy/resources for the cold months ahead????

 

[RobinZ]

I have 4 BCM's that were born sometime in Feb/March. I just now got one to start laying. Didn't think I was ever going to get one from them.

 

[bruinfan]

The dog attack could also be a contributing factor. We have a RIR that just started laying again. She had just started to lay, when there was an attack in the coop from some critter. She took about 6 weeks to start laying again, and has been laying consistently ever since. Unfortunately the shorter daylight hours on top of the dog attack is definitely not a good thing. Patience - soon you'll have more eggs than you know what to do with.

 

[HHandbasket]

Maybe our birds originally came from the same hatchery, though I am in northern California. My 8-month-olds are not only not laying, they're not even showing any signs of maturity! We put in a coop light almost a month ago, to no avail. They're eating higher protein grower food with free choice oyster shell, but only one EE is laying. The other EE (who is 9 months old and supposedly had been laying a month when we got her) has not laid since coming here 3 weeks ago. The RIR, barred rock and wellie... nuttin'. Not even a wattle, a red face, nuttin'. They have plenty of food and water, are allowed to free range and have access to grass and bugs and places to dust bathe and all the things that makes chickens happy, and the whole flock seems happy and is otherwise healthy. The wellie is the exception--she's suffered through a number of health issues but is doing very well now and is finally starting to grow. I really don't expect her to produce anything. Out of a flock of 6, two have an excuse (the youngest one is only 3-4 months old, and the wellie was sick for a couple of months... those are the only ones with an excuse). One EE is laying about 4-5 eggs a week (two days on, one day off seems to be her cycle). The other EE, the BR, and RIR got nuttin', though at least the other EE has laid in the past before coming here and she DOES squat for us now, so I'm thinking she'll start again soon. But of the original flock, the first 4 that came here at 6-8 weeks of age, they've been here for six months as of this weekend. And it feels like we've been waiting longer because the guy we bought them from told us they were 3 and 4 months old and should start laying in about six weeks, and being new to chooks, we didn't know any better.

We figured out the cost breakdown for what we've put out so far for coops, feed, medications, dewormer, and the chickens themselves, and we broke it down by the # of eggs we've had. If all our chickens died today and we only could count the eggs we've already gotten, our eggs have cost us roughly $12 apiece. We have had some discussions lately about eating whoever isn't laying by January and getting new chickens from a more reliable source.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Hmmm, interesting, certainly matches what is happening here, and there are threads all over this board like this one. Reminds me of the elephants that carried people up the hill in advance of the tsunami. Animals can be pretty wise.

 

[Uzuri]

Quote:
Hmmm, interesting, certainly matches what is happening here, and there are threads all over this board like this one. Reminds me of the elephants that carried people up the hill in advance of the tsunami. Animals can be pretty wise.

That also explains why I gained 20 pounds this November and went into hibernation mode. I'm just a wise animal.

 

[speckledhen]

We have a new sticky thread on this subject for you!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=423023

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

I guess I'm lucky then.I have one NH and 5 marans pullets.They hatched out May 3rd.The Nh stated laying 7 wks ago and the Marans' first egg was a month ago and they are all laying.I added 2 hours of extra morning light about a month ago.
My ee's are 16 mos. and are not laying well but recently molted as did my 5 GLWs and one BO.The EE's are the only ones I have that are not laying well at this time.