I had 4 chickens and the Texas summer killed two of them. My other two started molting soon after. They are finished molting and it's been almost three months with no eggs!!! Is this normal? Are they broken? They are two years old. We have seen a couple of mice around the coop. There is no access inside the coop so I dont think they're taking the eggs. They might be rats I didn't look too closely ----- could rats be somehow in the coop and TAKING the eggs? Or would they be eating them, shells and all, inside the coop? I dont know whats going on!
I would love to know the answer too...Mine have all molted but still aren't laying, its been around 4 months since i've gotten eggs from them...they're also 2 years old. I wonder if their laying is just slowing down for the winter and bc of their age. It might be the time to start culling and adding new pullets to the flock.
Feathers are 90+% protein and they can't make them and eggs. For a while stop all treats and scratch other than high protein stuff like BOSS, yogurt or tuna. It may help to switch to a grower, flock raiser or other high protein feed till they resume. Layer feed is usually only 16% and unless molting that is enough but amino acids like methionine are needed in higher ratios to make feathers. Increase daylength with a light and timer. Are they an egg breed? They tend to kick out most of their eggs the first couple of years.
I have had a 3-4 month drought on eggs before. My flock had got attacked by a dog, so the survivors were extremely stressed and needed that time to recover. Molt should not be that stressful but it could. What are you feeding them? I would not feed too much protein in hot temps. You can but a chicken through molt if you feed too much protein. During hot summers here in MS I feed mostly lay pellets. I cut back on the protein and carbs during the summer. Oh Yeah.......and rats will steal eggs.
