My hens aren't laying

[Jbug799]

As y'all know I'm new to raising chickens! I have 4 hens around 2 years old. 2 Australorps and 2 Rhode Island reds. Ever since they started laying we have gotten at least 2 a day mostly 3 and sometimes even 4. Lately we have gotten 1 or none! Help! Hubs is ready to put them in the pot!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Unfortunately hens start to slow down after that initial spring rush. Only the best layer breeds will continue to lay steady until the fall molt. In another month we will hit the summer solstice and daylight will decrease, along with hormones. The heat of summer will also cause some to take breaks, and production to slow. At 2 years old your hens are also reaching their peak. They will continue to lay but each year will lay less and less.

 

[Jbug799]

Thanks for your a answer. I suspected something like that from all I've read. So they may or may not start laying again?

 

[nuthatched]

What is their diet? 2 years is when they slow down, but it shouldn't stop completely.

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

As y'all know I'm new to raising chickens! I have 4 hens around 2 years old. 2 Australorps and 2 Rhode Island reds. Ever since they started laying we have gotten at least 2 a day mostly 3 and sometimes even 4. Lately we have gotten 1 or none! Help! Hubs is ready to put them in the pot!

I know one of my young hens (3yo buff orp) stopped laying for about a month, and has just started laying again. Sometimes chickens just take big breaks, especially if they are usually really good layers. They need the rest sometimes.
It could also be their diet or stress? What do they eat? Have you been having any predators like dogs, hawks, cats, etc. trying to get at them? Even if they weren't hurt, having animals harassing them (even through a wall) can defiantly stop egg laying for a bit.

 

[Yardmom]

When you say they have been laying all along does that include winter? What part of the world are you in? What is your current weather? Your hens are taking a break. They will lay again. How soon may depend on the answers to the questions above.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thanks for your a answer. I suspected something like that from all I've read. So they may or may not start laying again?

They should start up again. Some of mine lay for a bit than stop for a bit.

 

[Ridgerunner]

When you say they have been laying all along does that include winter? What part of the world are you in? What is your current weather? Your hens are taking a break. They will lay again. How soon may depend on the answers to the questions above.

Excellent questions. Where are you, north or south of the equator? That is important. Chickens can be hatched at any time of the year so you can't just go by age in trying to figure this out.

A chicken's natural cycle is to start laying in the spring when the days get longer and the weather is getting better. That's a good time to hatch chicks and raised them. Then, in the fall when days are getting shorter and bad weather is coming, they stop laying and molt. They stop laying because it is hard to raise chicks in the winter, but that is a good time to molt and replace their worn out feathers with new feathers to get them through the winter. They do this by instinct.

A pullet will start laying when they reach a certain age and some other conditions are met and usually continue laying until the days get shorter in the fall. Then they stop laying and molt. Some pullets will lay through their first winter and all of the way until the next fall, some molt their first fall. If yours have been laying until they are 2 years old it sounds like they may have skipped their first molt.

There are different things that can cause us to think a chicken has stopped laying. The days getting shorter in the fall is not the only thing that can cause a molt. If artificial lighting was extending their daylight hours and that light stops they may think the days are getting shorter. Maybe a street light or security light burned out. Going without water for a couple of days or stress from a predator attack can start one. Moving them to a new coop or major changes to their existing coop can stress them. Adding or removing chickens can change the pecking order. Are you seeing loose feathers flying around? If so, I'd suspect a molt.

If chickens lay straight without a break for a long period of time they can stop laying, usually with a partial molt. This is why the commercial egg laying operations have to replace or molt their flocks regularly.

A common cause of us thinking they have stopped laying is that they are hiding a nest. They can be really good at hiding a nest in a coop or run, even if they are not free ranging. People have found a lot of eggs laid in a small coop where they did not think it was possible to hide them. An egg hunt may help you.

Is something getting the eggs. Most critters that take the eggs eat them on the spot and leave clues, broken shells or wet spots. Snakes, canines, and humans don't leave clues. I don't know where you are located, maybe you have some other critter that does not leave clues. It does not sound like a snake. A snake eats some eggs then disappears for two or three days to digest them before coming back for more. This is too consistent. Many canines like a fox or coyote would probably be eating your hens, not your eggs, but does a dog have access? They will sometimes leave the hens alone but eat eggs. A human does not usually mean a stranger. It is often someone you know, maybe pulling a practical joke.

From what you describe it sounds like they have been laying a really long time and are having a molt. In spite of people telling you that a hen is washed up at 2 years old, a typical cycle is that they lay really well from when they start until their first adult molt. Often they are about 1-1/2 years old when they start that first adult molt. Then they molt and start laying really well again. After the second adult molt they typically don't lay as well as they had been. How much they reduce laying depends on the hen. If they had been laying five a week thy may drop back to 4 a week. If they had been laying three a week they may only lay 2. Some will drop more than that, some not so much.

Egg production is important to many of us, that is why we often rotate our laying hens. The rotation I use is to add 50% of the total number of hens I want every year, adding baby chicks in the spring. That is three since I want 6 laying hens in my flock. These pullets usually start laying in late summer or early fall and continue laying until the fall molt the next year. That fall I overwinter the three I added the year before. They will molt and start laying like gangbusters when they finish the molt. That fall, after they stop laying, I butcher the ones that had been overwintered the previous year so I usually have 6 laying from spring through fall.

 

[Jbug799]

I know one of my young hens (3yo buff orp) stopped laying for about a month, and has just started laying again. Sometimes chickens just take big breaks, especially if they are usually really good layers. They need the rest sometimes.
It could also be their diet or stress? What do they eat? Have you been having any predators like dogs, hawks, cats, etc. trying to get at them? Even if they weren't hurt, having animals harassing them (even through a wall) can defiantly stop egg laying for a bit.

No predators that we are aware of. Layer feed 16% crumble. The cows knocked down the fence and went in their area and we had to refence. But the cows are always around so I don't think that would a stressor for them. Would it? The only dog that comes anywhere near is the 4lb Chihuahua and they pay him no mind and he returns the favor. At night they are locked up tight.

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

No predators that we are aware of. Layer feed 16% crumble. The cows knocked down the fence and went in their area and we had to refence. But the cows are always around so I don't think that would a stressor for them. Would it? The only dog that comes anywhere near is the 4lb Chihuahua and they pay him no mind and he returns the favor. At night they are locked up tight.

maybe give them a higher protein feed. My guess is they are just taking a break, and will lay again.