No eggs!?

[BigBlueHen53]

Unless you need to catch them for some purpose... Ask my sore back how I know that today, lol

Whoa, waitaminnit. Are you saying ... You can't catch them at night? On the roost? What'd you do, turn the light on?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have a light I can wear around my head or around my neck. It is kind of "U" shaped. At each end there is an LED light which is quite bright. But I colored one of them over with red Sharpie and that's the one I use at night in the chicken coop. They don't see well in red light.

 

[SourRoses]

Whoa, waitaminnit. Are you saying ... You can't catch them at night? On the roost? What'd you do, turn the light on?

If "them" is one, then yes. Hehe. Have you ever noticed some roos have really great night vision? It's not all of them, to be sure. And I've never met a hen who could fly around in the dark. But I turned my flashlight off before I got all the way to the coop.
Anyway your prior point stands, only my back wanted to whine about the experience.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Whine all you want, I sometimes have a back too. In fact, wine if you want to!

 

[Anon112]

I'm curious about the coordination you witnessed. What was their methodology?
Having lost a large pullet once to rat(s) a few years back in a supposedly secure coop. I always wondered how the creeps approach chickens in a way that doesn't startle them, or do they simply overwhelm them. But I also don't want to know, if you know what I mean...

I have a video of it in my thread called "Rats? A Cat? . . . ". Very upsetting to watch.

From what I watched of the attack on my rooster, it is not a quick process, and it's really hard to think about my two girls who went out that way.

 

[Grind Hard Farm]

If you have enough hungry rats they'll take the eggs day or night. Depending on the severity of the rat population they could be eating your eggs.

That's what we were thinking because the rat population is severe, so we started to eliminate that problem.

Are they confined to a run or let out to range? Days are also shorter and colder. Depending on age molting also stops or slows egg production. And breed makes a difference.

They are in a run that is large enough to run around. I prefer if they are free ranged but we have dogs in the yard. But is it possible for them to stop laying 3 months prior to the cold weather?

I would cut out the scratch except as an occasional snack and increase their protein to about 20% by switching up to an all-flock or grower formula. This won't have an appreciable amount of calcium in it, so to make up the lack, provide oyster shell in a separate vessel for those that need it. Non-laying birds should not have calcium, those that need it to form eggshells will help themselves.

And keep in mind that most hens take a break in fall/winter due to shorter daylight hours. They should pick back up again in the spring, or shortly after winter solstice when the days get longer.

So reduce the scratch grains and I'll get them grower feed....i had a thought that it was their feed but didn't think it was a too big of a deal.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

But is it possible for them to stop laying 3 months prior to the cold weather?

Mine did, once! They quit laying one August, I assumed bc it was incredibly hot that year. When it started to cool off in the early fall, BAM! They went into molt. About the time they feathered out, BAM! Winter, short days, no eggs. We had no eggs, or precious few, from mid-August till early March, about six months. Since then I've been giving supplemental light. Remember, it's not the cold weather that slows production, it's the short daylight hours. It's my understanding that battery hens receive 14 hours of light to keep them laying. I don't do that to my hens.