My ladies stopped laying, not sure how to resolve it.

[gkeniston]

I have 4 light brown leghorns (hatched last march) that were laying 3 or 4 eggs daily. I acquired 2 Ameraucana hens (that were laying) from a friend that was dealing with over crowding. Since the 2 new hens were added, about 4 weeks ago, I am getting 1 or no eggs at all. The egg I get is always white so its one of my Leghorns laying, but very sporadically. Maybe 2 a week? I added a second nesting box with the new hens, my coop is plenty big enough 6'x8', I have a CFL bulb on a timer that comes on at about 2:30 am and stays on until about 7:30 am (that gives them about 14-15 hours of daylight). I feed them organic layer pellets supplemented with cracked corn and a flock block. I also feed them fruits and vegis from the kitchen. Im not sure if I left out anything important, so feel free to ask. I dont know what else I can do to convince them to start laying again. I would LOVE some help if anyone has something to offer. Thanks! --Garrett Keniston

 

[TigerLilly]

Have you checked out this thread? Very informative:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=423023

eta:

 

[turtlebird]

perhaps the ladies are a bit stressed out? OR maybe you acquired an egg eater? Hope that's not the case.

 

[ginormous chicken]

Welcome!

Like stated above, maybe they are stressed? I was doing quite a bit of rearranging to my flock. The ones who were laying would stress out and stop because newcomers came in. It took a while for everyone to settle down and get everyone into a routine. Of course, it helped when I stopped adding and changing birds.

My advice, be patient. Do check that they aren't eating their own eggs, that you don't see reminance of shells or anything like that. Check their poo for worms, because that can cause major lay issues. If you are clear there, I would keep the boxes clean and poo free, maybe add a couple wooden eggs and sit back and wait. With spring coming and all it shouldn't be that long of a wait.

Cheers!

 

[TigerLilly]

Forgot to ask, but did you quarentine the new arrivals? If so, how did you introduce them to the ones you already had? I have a separate, small dog kennel that I put my newer birds in before introducing them to the rest of the cluckers. The little kennel is next to the bigger one so they can see & check each other out.

 

[gkeniston]

I figured they were stressed, the new arrivals spend most of their day roosted, I was hoping for some tactics to reduce stress maybe? I didnt worry too much about quarantine because they are from the flock next door. My birds will mingle with theirs fairly regularly. I havent been keeping an eye out for worms though. I figured on stress as the culprit. How long do these things take to work out? I dont want to have to go back to using supermarket eggs while I wait!!

 

[gkeniston]

Ok, I know this is ridiculous but no sooner did I post a question about my girls not laying my 2 new girls started laying. The leghorns arent all laying yet, but Im guessing it will be soon. What a relief, I thought they may never start to lay again. Now, I wonder how they will take to the new chicks that we oh so irresponsibly just bought. Well, at least I will be able to let them all out in the yard before the new chicks are ready to meet the others.

 

[obaan1]

I see you caught on how to do chicken math rather quickly. Good job!