My not laying chickens

[Meny73]

Hi,I hope I get help from here because I am getting more stress than my chickens.
I have 20 chickens they run between 10 months to a year.
Plymouth Rock leghorn
Rhode islan
Amerucana
Ancona
Catalana and two more breeds that I don't know.
I feed them during the day 20 % protein and crack corn around 5 pm when they are going to bed. They have heater water . I used to put this dark brown vitamin in the water that in IFA recommended.
I put a white light out side the chicken coop at 4am and I'll put a heat light inside when is to cold.
They were laying just fine , I was getting between 6-9 eggs a day. From one to another they stopped. In IFA they though that they might have mite so I bought the powder for them and I did the treatment ......that was over two weeks ago.
Still no eggs. I took the red light out , still no eggs I let them run around my backyard because will all the snow and rain they have mud, still no eggs. I took the white light out and still no eggs. Then I have this neighbor who's chickens have the red light all night and they run in the backyard with no 20% feed and no crack corn in the evening and they have eggs just fine....... so what am I doing wrong? I get maybe couple of them would stop , but not all of them and so sudden. I was getting eggs from all of them now I get nothing.
I get very upset because I don't know what else to do!!
I thought would be easy job, clean, feed and get eggs .... well I clean, feed and no eggs.
Any advice??

 

[bobbi-j]

That is frustrating! Could be that they are taking a break. It happens sometimes. There could be other reasons. Do they free range? If so, they may have hidden nests somewhere. You might want to try keeping them in the coop (if it's big enough for them to be locked in for an extended period or you have an attached run) to retrain them to lay in the coop. Many years ago, my chickens spent the winter in a coop that was just sitting on the ground. We started off with lots of eggs in the beginning of the winter, and as time went on, feed consumption went up, egg production was down to nothing. In the spring, I cleaned out the coop and found dozens of rat holes in the floor. They had chewed through and had a great winter eating eggs and chicken feed and even had plenty of water to drink. (They were brazen little buggers - would poke their heads through the holes while I was cleaning out the coop.)

I hope you can solve your mystery. It is frustrating to feed a bunch of apparent freeloaders. I wouldn't give up on them yet, though.

 

[junebuggena]

It's completely normal and healthy for them to take a few months off during the winter. We're so used to always having eggs at the grocery store, that most people have forgotten that eggs are actually a seasonal food.

 

[hensinmaine]

Have they molted recently? If they are growing new feathers, all of their protein goes to that, not to making eggs. First molt is usually around a year.

 

[Meny73]

Have they molted recently? If they are growing new feathers, all of their protein goes to that, not to making eggs. First molt is usually around a year.

 

[Meny73]

I don't know how many but I found black feather , so yes, some are. I think I'll relax and hope that I'll start getting eggs soon.
They do have a runway. I keep them most of they time there and in the evening around 5:30 I let them go out , but after 25 minutes they go back inside be ause is already dark.
Thanks so much for the advice I appreciate that. I though they were sick or I was doing something g wrong.
Thanks
Before . How many time a year they through the molting ?

 

[dekel18042]

I don't know how many but I found black feather , so yes, some are. I think I'll relax and hope that I'll start getting eggs soon.
They do have a runway. I keep them most of they time there and in the evening around 5:30 I let them go out , but after 25 minutes they go back inside be ause is already dark.
Thanks so much for the advice I appreciate that. I though they were sick or I was doing something g wrong.
Thanks
Before . How many time a year they through the molting ?

Most chickens will molt once a year after their first season, often starting in the fall and going into the winter. I don't use supplemental light but found if I increase their protein intake, I go to 20% crumbles and give cat and dog kibble as treats, the better layers will start up again when their new feathers have grown in. This year they started again within 10-12 weeks depending on the individual hen. To keep getting eggs in winter it helps if you start a few young pullets each spring and they should lay over their first winter.

 

[hensinmaine]

She quit laying after her first molt around a year and didn't lay again for over two years. Yes we do supplemental light in winter. Good protein content organic layer feed. She just randomly laid an egg 2.5 years later.

 

[Meny73]

They haven't start to lay and any of them is molting. I think one of them is sick I can tell by the way that she is acting. I guess I give up. I try my best to get them and taking care of them and spending time with them, but I must be doing something wrong ....that I can't fiver it out. The only thing that i don't like is that with all the snow and rain from this year they have mud in their run way so I let them out to give time to dry, (I look in the backyard and their no eggs) so I'll just give them away. Thanks for all the advice.