No Eggs in 3 Weeks

[blackaustralorp]

I have 2 black australorp hens and about 2 weeks ago neither of them had laid an egg in about a week because my brother was taking care of them. 1 hen started laying again after not having had laid an egg in about a week and my other hen still hasn't laid any eggs since about 3 weeks ago. I haven't changed anything during or around when they stopped laying. The hen that's not laying has seemed a bit cranky. I always bug her and she hasn't been letting me too much lately. Also she's seemed a bit tired, even her clucking. Someone please help me find out what's wrong because I have no clue and I'm a little worried if there's something wrong or not.

 

[Irishhenman]

Your post is unclear, but it could be a lot of things. Moulting would be an obvious reason, are you noticing feathers around the house and run. Do you think they are sick? Is there any other symptoms eg discharge from eyes/noes. They might be old and their laying is coming to a stop or it could just be a winter break. Egg laying slows down and often stops during the winter

 

[jenpetrovich65]

I'm having the same problem with some of my hens. I have 7. The two cream legbars were really prolific egg layers starting when they were about 6 months old. That lasted a few months, but now they have both stopped laying completely. They had fowl pox, so I understood that was probably making them stop, but now they seem to have been healthy for about a week. I found one blue egg hidden in the garden a week ago, but that's it. They seem completely normal and healthy, except their combs are slightly lighter than normal. They aren't molting near as I can tell. Any ideas on these?

My leghorn & one of my buffs continued to lay throughout the fowl pox. The leghorn lays almost daily. The Buff lays about 5 eggs a week.

The other buff was brooding when all that went on, so she had a mild case of pox, but wasn't laying because of brooding. I've just started getting a few speckled brown eggs. I know that isn't common for buffs (my other one lays smooth brown eggs), but I think they are coming from her. They're only every 4 days or so. I'm hoping she picks up to her normal pace soon.

Another hen (Columbian Wyandotte) is possibly getting old.. I don't know what age she was when we got her in 2011. She's sweet, though, and gets along with everyone. She's molting too.

The last one is a golden comet. She just joined the flock two weeks ago, and had not only been an only chicken her whole life (one year they said), but she apparently also lived inside the house. At night she literally scratches the glass door to come in, and she's only made it to the coop for bed twice without us helping her. I don't think she is laying and when she does, it will likely not be in the coop. Poor bugger.

All in, I'm having a variety of problems, but they all seem fairly normal and understandable except for the legbars.

Ideas?

 

[cypressdrake]

I think everyone has a decrease in egg production about this time of year. The change in the weather has them messed up. Some of my maran's are molting, while my Orpington's are holding their own.

Last fall at this time, the temp was 10+ degrees warmer, it never got below freezing all winter. This year it looks like we may have a winter. We need it to kill off some of the insects, and bacteria in local rivers and lakes, & waterways.

The shorter days and colder nights are a big change to the flock, but most breeds can handle the cold, but just take a break while adjusting, and others lay faithfully all winter.

Good Luck!

 

[jenpetrovich65]

Thank you for the reply!!

You're right, shorter days are part of it to be sure. We've been spoiled - our hens all laid straight through winter the past two years. This is just a different year. We had one hen die, another go live with a friend, and 4 new ones come in. In a flock that has been between 4 & 7 that is a lot of changes. Bad news for them if they really are put out of sync by this, we're adding two more in December that will be about 3 months old. Hopefully by Spring they will all be hitting their stride again.

 

[Irishhenman]

If the australorps are three years old now they are past their prime and will probably never lay anywhere near as many eggs as you are used to getting. Maybe one to three a week

 

[blackaustralorp]

well my hens are about 10 months old so its not age and the day after my first post I put apple cider vinegar in their water and that day I noticed she was molting a lot and the next day she started laying and was acting normal again. Does the vinegar have anything to do with molting? Also how long do they molt usually?

 

[fdkaiser]

Hello,
I started out with 7 RIR, 3 Leghorns, and one Australorp (that's 11 total)...all the same age..a year and a half ago. They get along pretty well and I was getting 8-9 eggs a day minimum when they hit their stride. They have been through one winter. I put a light bulb in the coop and they really didn't slow down much. It was a cold Missouri winter. I was impressed. In late spring (just over a year old) they started to molt and production dropped off to about 5 eggs a day.

Now, here is my problem. I took a couple of trips this summer. Both times I had a neighbor taking care of them. The first was a long weekend. When I returned one chicken was missing. No sign of it. I figured a hawk or something. The coop is secure, so it wasn't a night time raid. No big deal. Then in Sept I went on a 10 day trip. When I got home there was a dead leghorn in the coop. She had just died. There didn't seem to be any trauma.

Since the death in the coop the two remaining leghorns have have only laid 2 eggs in the past 6 weeks. One of them is molting, but still, they just shut off when their sister died.

The other 7 are only giving 2-4 eggs per day over the same 6 weeks. Are my chickens grieving? What is going on?????

 

[FranklinFarm]

I'm having the same problem with some of my hens.  I have 7.  The two cream legbars were really prolific egg layers starting when they were about 6 months old.  That lasted a few months, but now they have both stopped laying completely.  They had fowl pox, so I understood that was probably making them stop, but now they seem to have been healthy for about a week.  I found one blue egg hidden in the garden a week ago, but that's it.  They seem completely normal and healthy, except their combs are slightly lighter than normal. They aren't molting near as I can tell. Any ideas on these?

My leghorn & one of my buffs continued to lay throughout the fowl pox.  The leghorn lays almost daily.  The Buff lays about 5 eggs a week.

The other buff was brooding when all that went on, so she had a mild case of pox, but wasn't laying because of brooding.  I've just started getting a few speckled brown eggs.  I know that isn't common for buffs (my other one lays smooth brown eggs), but I think they are coming from her.  They're only every 4 days or so.  I'm hoping she picks up to her normal pace soon.

Another hen (Columbian Wyandotte) is possibly getting old.. I don't know what age she was when we got her in 2011.  She's sweet, though, and gets along with everyone.  She's molting too.

The last one is a golden comet.  She just joined the flock two weeks ago, and had not only been an only chicken her whole life (one year they said), but she apparently also lived inside the house.  At night she literally scratches the glass door to come in, and she's only made it to the coop for bed twice without us helping her.  I don't think she is laying and when she does, it will likely not be in the coop.  Poor bugger.

All in, I'm having a variety of problems, but they all seem fairly normal and understandable except for the legbars.

Ideas?

I'm a new chicken owner will my hens lay threw winter

 

[jenpetrovich65]

Yeah, me too. All of my hens laid throughout the winter last year. I guess they'll come around when they are good & ready!