My hens have completely stopped laying. Is that common? Haven't gotten anything out of them in nearly 2 months. I know they will lay inconsistently with the temp drops and decreased daylight, but NO eggs?? :/ I'm worried about them becoming egg bound or something. BTW they have been exclusively coop chickens since we have had an issue with preditors during the day so they couldn't be hididng them anywhere..
It's probably the lack of daylight as well as colder temperatures. Check their combs. If they are a light pinkish they are not going to lay. The hormones that control laying eggs also control the comb color. They won't lay any eggs unless their comb is bright red. Day light and temperature effect the hormones. Good luck!
There are a lot of factors: What breed of chicken are they? How old are they? What are you feeding them? Are they getting as much natural light as possible? Where do you live? How cold has it been for the past 2 months?
If they are in their 2nd year of laying, they are most likely molting. Have you seen a lot of feathers lying around the coop and yard?
They are not yet a year old. Got them early March and they started laying in August. They are easter eggers.. They eat grit, pellets, scratch, pumpkin, apple, various fruits and veggies.. hard boiled eggs.. some table scraps meal worms.. they get natural light in their coop and also have solar lamps in there. We live in Kansas and the temperature has ranged anywhere between 15º-high 50º's low 60º's.. I realize there are a lot of things that effect their egg cycle, just concerned that it has stopped all together and wasn't sure if that was something to worry about, or if there is anything I should be doing differently. Thanks
