- May 3, 2014
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Im no expert, but I read a lot of forums on BYC.
1. If they are over a year old they will take the winter off unless they have at least 12 hours of daylight, so just being outside in the winter is not enough daylight. If you want them to keep laying you need to turn on lights. Here in NY it doesn't get light until 7 am and the sun goes down at 5 pm. So I get up in the morning at 5 to go to work and I turn on a light in the chicken yard and open the pop door. From 25 chickens, I still get 12-14 eggs per day. Ten of my chicks are 3 years old.
2. If they are moulting they will stop laying due to the stress of getting new feathers. Provide feed with added protein and less calcium during moulting.
3. If the cats scare the chickens, then yes that could totally be the reason. It sounds like your chickens are free range, you could fence them for a bit to see if that will make them feel safer and begin to lay again. Remember cats jump well so it would have to have some type of netting on top as well.
good luck and let us know how it goes!
1. If they are over a year old they will take the winter off unless they have at least 12 hours of daylight, so just being outside in the winter is not enough daylight. If you want them to keep laying you need to turn on lights. Here in NY it doesn't get light until 7 am and the sun goes down at 5 pm. So I get up in the morning at 5 to go to work and I turn on a light in the chicken yard and open the pop door. From 25 chickens, I still get 12-14 eggs per day. Ten of my chicks are 3 years old.
2. If they are moulting they will stop laying due to the stress of getting new feathers. Provide feed with added protein and less calcium during moulting.
3. If the cats scare the chickens, then yes that could totally be the reason. It sounds like your chickens are free range, you could fence them for a bit to see if that will make them feel safer and begin to lay again. Remember cats jump well so it would have to have some type of netting on top as well.
good luck and let us know how it goes!
and Welcome To BYC and Happy Holidays! There is a nice thread which covers a lot of reasons hens may not be laying 
