No eggs!

[aart]

My wife and I are in a similar situation only much worse and even more puzzling!!!

Answered on your thread, so as not to hijack this one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...laying-months-ago-cant-figure-it-out.1280160/

 

[MissChick@dee]

Iffin they free range bet you’ve got a carton or two of eggs out there somewhere. Molt may be a factor too. But to have them all stop at the same exact time....hum.
Take a little walk about with a basket.

 

[Skipper81]

I had moved my hens to a different coop one time and they stopped laying for a week and they were all under a year so I made a thread and I was told it was the change they didn’t like it
In your post you answered your own question lol
All was fine until I changed there nesting boxes
They should start up soon

 

[aart]

All was fine until I changed there nesting boxes

Was also wondering of the stoppage happened after the nest changes.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

… What's the protein content on your ration? With all that extra stuff I recommend you feed a higher protein ration.... Adding lower protein [treats]... will leave them deficient.

You also may need to think about feeding less of the good stuff to keep your hens vent and insides from becoming clogged by big gooey gobs of fat. We do not do our birds a favor when we feed to many treats.

 

[Lupulin]

Hens need light to lay eggs. Not laying eggs is a combination of age and daylight hours.

EXCEPT - as I said, this started in early summer, well before any decline in sunshine! Also, they laid well throughout last fall and winter, so I can't see this as being the reason! Regarding age - they are only 2 years old, and at least everything I have read on the internet says nothing about this king of abrupt cessation of laying around 2 years of age. Instead, these sites say egg production declines with age, but nothing about an abrupt stop. Also, they are a mixture of breeds. Still a mystery!

 

[Lupulin]

first year pullets will lay through the winter. Second year most will molt and stop laying. There are some breeds that are winter layers, like austrolorps and rocks but they will slow down with egg laying the second and subsequent winters.

The good news is that egg laying will pick up quickly in the new year

They are not pullets. Also, they stopped in EARLY SUMMER and had NOT MOLTED, so it seems not to be seasonal or related to molting. Plus, the molting that has occured has been staggered across the various breeds, so the earlier molts should have come back online by now.

 

[Lupulin]

Molting and weather conditions could be a factor, most chickens stop producing at this time of season.

But this started in early summer, well before any decline in sunshine! Also, they laid well throughout last fall and winter, so I can't see this as being the reason! Regarding age - they are only 2 years old, and at least everything I have read on the internet says nothing about this king of abrupt cessation of laying around 2 years of age. Instead, these sites say egg production declines with age, but nothing about an abrupt stop. Also, they are a mixture of breeds. Also stopped well before they molted. Still a mystery!

 

[ronott1]

EXCEPT - as I said, this started in early summer, well before any decline in sunshine! Also, they laid well throughout last fall and winter, so I can't see this as being the reason! Regarding age - they are only 2 years old, and at least everything I have read on the internet says nothing about this king of abrupt cessation of laying around 2 years of age. Instead, these sites say egg production declines with age, but nothing about an abrupt stop. Also, they are a mixture of breeds. Still a mystery!

The advice is to check and treat for parasytes, and work for health and nutrition.

The drop off in egg laying is drastic after year two for the high volume egg layers

Check this out!

 

[Lupulin]

Are they free ranged, and is there any possibility they have hidden nests ? It is the time of year when older hens tend to molt and take a break in their laying schedule.

They have limited "free ranging" while we are around to watch them (hawks and foxes!). We have a large fenced in back yard with not much brush cover, so limited places they could be hiding eggs, plus we've looked. Also, they ALWAYS laid in the coop for the past 1.5 years prior, so difficult to see how/why ALL 6 of them would suddenly change to exclusively laying in the yard.

But this started in early summer, well before any decline in sunshine! Also, they laid well throughout last fall and winter, so I can't see this as being the reason! Regarding age - they are only 2 years old, and at least everything I have read on the internet says nothing about this king of abrupt cessation of laying around 2 years of age. Instead, these sites say egg production declines with age, but nothing about an abrupt stop. Also, they are a mixture of breeds. Also stopped well before they molted. Still a mystery!