No eggs from 9 hens

[Chickspa]

Hi, I am desperate for answers. We have 9 hens and 2 roosters. They used to live in 2 separate coops (1 rooster and a few hens in each) that shared an open fenced yard. Foxes started coming around, and we were lucky to lose no birds, but after sighting a fox IN the yard (chickens were shrieking and I ran out an scared it away) we started construction on a complete enclosure attached to the larger coop because we couldn't build one big enough to reach both (before it was completed, we actually caught a fox with our rooster in it's mouth - good timing on our part, rooster is fine).

Before all that, one set of hens would often go into the other coop and destroy the eggs of our blue egg layer. Following construction and merging of the flocks, that group of meanies started destroying all the eggs but 2. So I decided to convert their laying boxes into rollaway boxes so the eggs would not be available for pecking. Now I'm getting NO eggs at all!!!!! I realize stress from merging the flocks, the smaller run space (both the coop and the run are larger than adequate for our 11 chickens, inside is 48 square feet, outside is 260ish square feet) both can cause them to stop laying, and I'm seeing no evidence of egg eating, but that's what I think is happening.

Should my next step be to cull the roosters? Find the egg eaters and get rid of them (I suspect who it is, and she's my best layer...) My one daughter is SUPER attached to these chickens, which are now, for all intents and purposes, merely pets and their lives are being spared JUST for her. Long way of saying that I'd kill the roosters yesterday, but she'd be absolutely crushed. Any other ideas for getting this flock back in order?

Thanks!

 

[swamphiker]

A few thoughts and questions:
-How old are your hens? If they are over 1 year old, many will stop laying at this time of year and may not start up again until the days get longer.
-How long ago did you combine the two sub-flocks? Rearranging living arrangements can be very stressful for chickens and chickens will stop laying for awhile when stressed. If that's the case, they should get over it eventually.
-Are the roosters aggressive or over-mating the hens? Unless they are causing a great deal of undue stress in your hens I don't think culling them would help with the lack of eggs.

If you aren't seeing evidence of egg-eating, that seems less likely.

 

[ChickenLeg]

Id say if you live anywhere thats now cold youll see a big drop in egg production, I get very few eggs from 40+ hens right now due to molt and winter setting in. Also Id say they like more space in the coop if they spend alotta time in there and not in the run. Is the run winterized or covered? The more comfortable they are the better theyll lay. Id personally remove the mean chickens, either sell them or build a new coop area for them, I wouldnt get rid of the rooster if hes not causing any problems just my 2 cents

 

[Chickspa]

A few thoughts and questions:
-How old are your hens? If they are over 1 year old, many will stop laying at this time of year and may not start up again until the days get longer.
-How long ago did you combine the two sub-flocks? Rearranging living arrangements can be very stressful for chickens and chickens will stop laying for awhile when stressed. If that's the case, they should get over it eventually.
-Are the roosters aggressive or over-mating the hens? Unless they are causing a great deal of undue stress in your hens I don't think culling them would help with the lack of eggs.

If you aren't seeing evidence of egg-eating, that seems less likely.

Thanks for the response. The chickens are over a year old (one of them is 4!). The timing of them stopping laying was just RIGHT in line with my renovation from flat laying space to a roll-away style box. There's no rooster aggression currently. I think what you said is truth - the move was stressful, and coupled with the weather, they took a laying hiatus. A few days after I posted this, I took the roll-away away and put it back the way it was - just a normal nesting box. In the past week, the strongest layer started laying again, while 3 of the birds are molting (later than the others). Another chicken started laying a few days after the first, so things are moving in the right direction!

 

[Chickspa]

Id say if you live anywhere thats now cold youll see a big drop in egg production, I get very few eggs from 40+ hens right now due to molt and winter setting in. Also Id say they like more space in the coop if they spend alotta time in there and not in the run. Is the run winterized or covered? The more comfortable they are the better theyll lay. Id personally remove the mean chickens, either sell them or build a new coop area for them, I wouldnt get rid of the rooster if hes not causing any problems just my 2 cents

I think you're right. I added some more wind protection, removed the roll-away egg thing that I was trying to do to keep them from eating eggs, and about a week or so later, one started laying again. I think it's a combo of stress from the move and the cold was enough to stop laying. My strongest layer started up again and was joined by one of the Ameraucanas, so at least we're getting a few eggs every few days again.