No eggs

[KatefromOz]

Hi all. Happy Easter.
I was hoping for a little advice. I have 6 hens, and currently only one is laying. I think there are a few reasons but would love some expert opinions.
My isa brown who is about 18 months old literally just stopped laying out of the blue about a week ago. I did see a couple of lice under one of her wings so we have treated all the girls (and will do so again after a week). RIR is about 2-3 months into a hard molt so that makes sense. My broody girl has been off eggs for about a month and just hasn't re-started to lay. My bantam ancona stopped laying out of nowhere about 2 weeks ago, she has also been losing feathers, im not sure of her age but i don't think she is old enough to molt. My little araucana is 28 weeks old and still no eggs. She had a runny nose last week but it seems the probiotics and electrolytes have helped her.
Some more info. I'm in Australia and we have had the hottest summer on record. Its cooled down a lot and the days are getting shorter. Still getting 13-14 hours of sunlight and temps are a low of about 66 and highs of about 80 Fahrenheit. I noticed a poop with a worm in it so the girls were also wormed about a week ago (will reworm after 14 days). We have changed the bedding in the laying boxes to hemp bedding. That's everything that's going on. My main concern are the two hens that just stopped laying out of nowhere. I was told the ancona should still lay through winter. Any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry this is a short story! Thanks guys

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Generally hens will stop laying in the fall and go through a molt and recovery period of 2-5 months depending on birds, climate, and feeding. As hens begin to shut down some will just quit, and others will slowly sputter out.

Sounds like it's all normal for the time of year for you. Make sure you switch to a higher protein ration and stop feeding layer if you are during the molt to help them get through it quicker.

 

[Trux]

Agreed if they are going into molt, which sounds like to me some are, you should up their protein intake. Layer here in the states is usually 16% and when mine go into molt, I start feeding them 20% grower feed. Helps them with the feathers and recovery from molting.
Oh and chickens don't molt on a set schedule...some will molt around 18 months, some will molt sooner some later and some will mini molt , then have a big molt. I have seen all of this.

 

[WindingRoad]

Hi all. Happy Easter.
I was hoping for a little advice. I have 6 hens, and currently only one is laying. I think there are a few reasons but would love some expert opinions.
My isa brown who is about 18 months old literally just stopped laying out of the blue about a week ago. I did see a couple of lice under one of her wings so we have treated all the girls (and will do so again after a week). RIR is about 2-3 months into a hard molt so that makes sense. My broody girl has been off eggs for about a month and just hasn't re-started to lay. My bantam ancona stopped laying out of nowhere about 2 weeks ago, she has also been losing feathers, im not sure of her age but i don't think she is old enough to molt. My little araucana is 28 weeks old and still no eggs. She had a runny nose last week but it seems the probiotics and electrolytes have helped her.
Some more info. I'm in Australia and we have had the hottest summer on record. Its cooled down a lot and the days are getting shorter. Still getting 13-14 hours of sunlight and temps are a low of about 66 and highs of about 80 Fahrenheit. I noticed a poop with a worm in it so the girls were also wormed about a week ago (will reworm after 14 days). We have changed the bedding in the laying boxes to hemp bedding. That's everything that's going on. My main concern are the two hens that just stopped laying out of nowhere. I was told the ancona should still lay through winter. Any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry this is a short story! Thanks guys

Could be a molt. Also, remember that chickens only lay a certain number of eggs per year. They may be at their max amount for this year. Again their year is not Jan-Dec. I've had my BO and ISABrown for about 9 months and they were laying before I got them so I'm thinking about another 2 months so that's about 330 eggs in 11 months. That's a lot of egg because BO have an average of about 200+ according to some hatcheries. Cackle for one. I got lucky. They laid all winter. But I've noticed a couple of days here that one or the other didn't lay. They didn't molt back last fall so I'm looking for that too. They are probably close to 2 years old if not older.