No More Eggs??

[Kelly Klumpp]

My 4 hens have all been laying quite well up to around a couple days ago. They laid 4 eggs a day, but sometimes bringing the egg count up to 5 or 6. But around two days ago, all egg production stopped. It didn't even dry up, it just stopped. As in the day before we got 4 eggs, and the day after 0 eggs. Some side information, the weather has been wonderful here, and their ages are all around a year or so. What type of behavior is this? We are confused at this end!

 

[Kelly Klumpp]

Could they be molting? Maybe something scared them (like they saw a hawk or something?) and they were shocked and stopped producing. I’m not really sure though.

I think I would look around your yard area.
They may gave found a different spot to lay, like under a bush.
If there is no molting, and no broodiness and their combs are red. They are laying somewhere

Our chickens got scared out of egg-laying previously. We have had to deal with heat stress, chicken stress, periodic moults (a mini-moult plus the regular annual moult) and even changes in their food amounts can reduce or stop egg-laying. Good luck! #chickenlove

I'm thinking since I read a post somewhere that you free range your birds, you may want to look for a place where they may be laying them. Good luck...

Are they hiding their eggs, by any chance?

Your story makes me think an egg predator suddenly showed up. Most critters that eat the eggs leave evidence behind, either egg shells or wet spots in the nest. In Virginia the ones that immediately come to mind are raccoons, possum, skunks, or maybe even the chickens themselves. Rats should not eat that many at a time. Sometimes the hens will clean up the egg shells but from what I've seen they are not always perfect when they do that. Have you checked closely in the nests for any evidence.

The molt is a main cause of hens not laying, but if that were the case you'd see a lot of feathers flying around. Besides, the molt is not going to hit all your layers in one day. Same thing for hens hiding a nest. That's a very common cause of you thinking they stopped but not all of them overnight. Highly unlikely.

In Virginia I'm aware of three things that take eggs without leaving evidence, snake, canine, and human. I've had snakes eat eggs before. One shows up and eats eggs (how many depends on the size of the snake) then it goes away for two or three days to digest them before it comes back. I had a 5' black rat snake eat eggs out from under a broody hen. It ate four eggs the first time and came back three days later to eat more. If it is all of your eggs every day it's is not likely to be a snake.

Most canines like a fox or coyote would more likely to be interested in your chickens instead of the eggs, though they will eat both. However a dog will often eat eggs and not bother the chickens. Does a dog, either yours or another one, have access.

A human doesn't necessarily mean a thief. Some people have been known to play practical jokes of this type.

So what can you do. If you can lock them in a coop/run a couple of days instead of letting them free range, see if eggs start to show up. That could mean you are keeping them from laying in hidden nests or you may be locking an egg eater out. Or take a couple of sacrificial eggs and discretely mark them. If they disappear something is getting your eggs. This may allow you to determine if they really have stopped laying.

Good luck. This type of thing can be very frustrating. Many of us have been there.

Then yeah, I'd keep them confined for a few days to a week.
Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop/run for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

Thank you guys so much for the help. After hunting around for a while the other day, I found ALL of the eggs that had been missing from the last few days in a chicken-made nest behind a shed. Although I'm not quite sure why everyone would hide their eggs, I just wanted to let you know the eggs have been found. Again, thank you so much for your advice and insights.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your story makes me think an egg predator suddenly showed up. Most critters that eat the eggs leave evidence behind, either egg shells or wet spots in the nest. In Virginia the ones that immediately come to mind are raccoons, possum, skunks, or maybe even the chickens themselves. Rats should not eat that many at a time. Sometimes the hens will clean up the egg shells but from what I've seen they are not always perfect when they do that. Have you checked closely in the nests for any evidence.

The molt is a main cause of hens not laying, but if that were the case you'd see a lot of feathers flying around. Besides, the molt is not going to hit all your layers in one day. Same thing for hens hiding a nest. That's a very common cause of you thinking they stopped but not all of them overnight. Highly unlikely.

In Virginia I'm aware of three things that take eggs without leaving evidence, snake, canine, and human. I've had snakes eat eggs before. One shows up and eats eggs (how many depends on the size of the snake) then it goes away for two or three days to digest them before it comes back. I had a 5' black rat snake eat eggs out from under a broody hen. It ate four eggs the first time and came back three days later to eat more. If it is all of your eggs every day it's is not likely to be a snake.

Most canines like a fox or coyote would more likely to be interested in your chickens instead of the eggs, though they will eat both. However a dog will often eat eggs and not bother the chickens. Does a dog, either yours or another one, have access.

A human doesn't necessarily mean a thief. Some people have been known to play practical jokes of this type.

So what can you do. If you can lock them in a coop/run a couple of days instead of letting them free range, see if eggs start to show up. That could mean you are keeping them from laying in hidden nests or you may be locking an egg eater out. Or take a couple of sacrificial eggs and discretely mark them. If they disappear something is getting your eggs. This may allow you to determine if they really have stopped laying.

Good luck. This type of thing can be very frustrating. Many of us have been there.

 

[50-45-1]

I think I would look around your yard area.
They may gave found a different spot to lay, like under a bush.
If there is no molting, and no broodiness and their combs are red. They are laying somewhere

 

[cherrybombuk]

I'm not quite sure about molting; most of their feathers seem to be right. Maybe our Rottweiler scared them, because they try to eat his food which he is very protective of, can chickens get scared out of egg laying?

Our chickens got scared out of egg-laying previously. We have had to deal with heat stress, chicken stress, periodic moults (a mini-moult plus the regular annual moult) and even changes in their food amounts can reduce or stop egg-laying. Good luck! #chickenlove

 

[cmom]

I'm thinking since I read a post somewhere that you free range your birds, you may want to look for a place where they may be laying them. Good luck...

 

[aart]

they have are free ranged

Then yeah, I'd keep them confined for a few days to a week.
Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop/run for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Could they be molting? Maybe something scared them (like they saw a hawk or something?) and they were shocked and stopped producing. I’m not really sure though.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I'm not quite sure about molting; most of their feathers seem to be right. Maybe our Rottweiler scared them, because they try to eat his food which he is very protective of, can chickens get scared out of egg laying?

Sometimes if there is a predator attack, my chickens stop laying for a little bit. Not just the ones who were attacked, the whole flock. So I would assume, yes, they can get scared out of laying, but I think it’s more like a traumatic experience that really does it.

 

[aart]

My 4 hens have all been laying quite well up to around a couple days ago. They laid 4 eggs a day, but sometimes bringing the egg count up to 5 or 6. But around two days ago, all egg production stopped. It didn't even dry up, it just stopped. As in the day before we got 4 eggs, and the day after 0 eggs. Some side information, the weather has been wonderful here, and their ages are all around a year or so. What type of behavior is this? We are confused at this end!

Maybe those 2egg days finally caught up to them. (joke)

Do you free range?

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