No eggs!

[ronott1]

Just to add: Hens are weird sometimes. As living beings they do not always do what you expect sadly.

I had one pen with 4 hens stop laying eggs completely for 6 months. One day they all started laying again! There was no obvious reason for this to happen.

 

[Lupulin]

This time of year most will stop laying. Most will resume December to March.

What's the protein content on your ration? With all that extra stuff I recommend you feed a higher protein ration to offset them. Daily minimum requirements are 16-18%. Adding lower protein extras will leave them deficient.

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. Regarding FEED - we have always provided plenty of the exact same commercial layer formulation pellets, always with oyster shell grit for added calcium. There diet has not changed over the 2 years we have had them, nor has their treats. Also always plenty of water available. Still a mystery!

 

[Lupulin]

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.

We have always provided plenty of the exact same commercial layer formulation pellets, always with oyster shell grit for added calcium. There diet has not changed over the 2 years we have had them, nor have we altered the amount or composition of the "treats" we give them. Also always plenty of water available. Still a mystery!

 

[Lupulin]

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!

Now THAT graph is scary! According to the lowest plot, extrapolating out to ~2 years (~700 days) we should be getting close to zero eggs, which is what we are experiencing. But if true then why isn't this clearly stated on chicken info websites? Seems they should all be saying by "2 years of age egg laying will approach zero" ! Also, my other friend who also has backyard chickens says his are still laying well past 2 years old. I'm confused!! What is the reference for this figure??

 

[oldhen2345]

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

We have 6 layers all different breeds. For the first 1 1/2 years they all laid eggs like crazy. Then, over the course of about 2 months they dramatically slowed down and over the past 4+ months we have hardly gotten any eggs at all! I've read lots of the "reasons hens stop laying" articles on the web but can't seem to pin our particular problem on anything obvious.

They are each different breeds and were great layers for 1 1/2 years. Their environment has not changed. Their diet has not changed. Their behaviors and appearance hasn't changed. They stopped laying months ago - in early summer, so it can't be simply seasonal/sunshine changes (besides they laid all through the winter last year - we keep a timed light in the coop). They've all gone through molting (at different times for each chicken) and the cessation pre-dated the molts. They don't seem stressed. Never seen any brooding behaviors. They always laid in the coop and we have checked in the yard but found no hidden nests. No evidence of egg eating behaviors that we have seen. No lice or mites. No evidence of sickness (at least no symptoms).

We are at our wits end!

A friend of mine who also has chickens said this happened to him also, similarly at around year 2. He assumed this is what happens as chickens get older, so he now cycles through new chickens every 2 years, but I've never seen anything about this type of thing in online resources. We love out chicks and won't be able to bring ourselves to get rid of them, but we also miss our eggs. Wish we could do something to get the gals laying again.

ANY ideas????

NO ideas - I have the same problem. I thought it was because the summer was hot, then I thought well, they are molting. Here it is the middle of November and still no eggs. I have checked for nightly predators, mites and lice, too many snacks- I had been giving meal worms and BOSS in the evening, they get layer feed every day, oyster shell and grit ad lib, melon, pumpkin, greens on occasion- not too much, they free range the back yard all day. I have 5 hens. In July I got 53 eggs, by September it was down to 6. Haven't had any since. These hens are 1 1/2 year old. What is up?

 

[ronott1]

Now THAT graph is scary! According to the lowest plot, extrapolating out to ~2 years (~700 days) we should be getting close to zero eggs, which is what we are experiencing. But if true then why isn't this clearly stated on chicken info websites? Seems they should all be saying by "2 years of age egg laying will approach zero" ! Also, my other friend who also has backyard chickens says his are still laying well past 2 years old. I'm confused!! What is the reference for this figure??

That is for production breeds. Other breeds will lay eggs longer but they will still go through periods of not laying eggs.

If hens are raised for production, half of them need to be replaced every year so that you always have hens under two years old.

If hens are raise for pets, then expect periods of no eggs. I have eggs stocked up but expect that I will need to buy some in late December to January. One flock is laying one egg every two or three days. The other is laying a bit better but they are winter layers, Pita Pinta hens

 

[Lupulin]

NO ideas - I have the same problem. I thought it was because the summer was hot, then I thought well, they are molting. Here it is the middle of November and still no eggs. I have checked for nightly predators, mites and lice, too many snacks- I had been giving meal worms and BOSS in the evening, they get layer feed every day, oyster shell and grit ad lib, melon, pumpkin, greens on occasion- not too much, they free range the back yard all day. I have 5 hens. In July I got 53 eggs, by September it was down to 6. Haven't had any since. These hens are 1 1/2 year old. What is up?

WOW - that sounds VERY similar to our situation!! What the heck?!

 

[alexa009]

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!

My answer was to the OP, sorry.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

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. Regarding FEED - we have always provided plenty of the exact same commercial layer formulation pellets, always with oyster shell grit for added calcium. There diet has not changed over the 2 years we have had them, nor has their treats. Also always plenty of water available. Still a mystery!

If your layer ration is a 16% protein than often it takes until they are 1 1/2 - 2 years before they start suffering from a protein deficiency which will affect laying. I personally have better production on an 18% ration.

There are certain breeds like sex links that I have had just stop laying between 1-2 years and are done, so it can happen.