No one is laying

[mscallisto]

I got 5 chicks last February. They started laying about the middle of summer. I have one brown leghorn, one australop, and 3 sex link mutts. One of the red mutts and the brown leghorn started molting 2 months ago, but the others seem to be fully feathered. The problem is, no one has layed for over 2 months. They all act fine. Eating, drinking, running around. We live in Colorado and have had some cold nights, but I have a radiant heater in the coop and heated water. I haven't seen signs of mice in the coop. They are locked in the coop unless I'm home due to a large population of raccoons in our area. I can't figure out why no one is laying. They barely turned a year old. I've had Australops before and they even layed wome through a molt. I'm at a loss as to why I have 5 healthy looking birds and have to buy eggs.

 

[Banditschickens]

What are you feeding?

 

[OldEnglishGameBantam33]

I got 5 chicks last February. They started laying about the middle of summer. I have one brown leghorn, one australop, and 3 sex link mutts. One of the red mutts and the brown leghorn started molting 2 months ago, but the others seem to be fully feathered. The problem is, no one has layed for over 2 months. They all act fine. Eating, drinking, running around. We live in Colorado and have had some cold nights, but I have a radiant heater in the coop and heated water. I haven't seen signs of mice in the coop. They are locked in the coop unless I'm home due to a large population of raccoons in our area. I can't figure out why no one is laying. They barely turned a year old. I've had Australops before and they even layed wome through a molt. I'm at a loss as to why I have 5 healthy looking birds and have to buy eggs.

What season is it there?

 

[wamtazlady]

Many times chickens stop laying when the days are short. Since your chickens are locked up much of the time, how large is your coop? Are there a lot of windows for them to see daylight? If it isn't large enough the birds can get stressed and stress does not help them to lay. Normally the rule of thumb is 4 square feet per bird and 10 square feet in the run.

 

[OldEnglishGameBantam33]

Many times chickens stop laying when the days are short. Since your chickens are locked up much of the time, how large is your coop? Are there a lot of windows for them to see daylight? If it isn't large enough the birds can get stressed and stress does not help them to lay. Normally the rule of thumb is 4 square feet per bird and 10 square feet in the run.

If it is around winter where you are, your birds will decline in laying. It is perfectly normal and they will start back up as the days get longer.

 

[aart]

What are you feeding?

Many times chickens stop laying when the days are short. Since your chickens are locked up much of the time, how large is your coop? Are there a lot of windows for them to see daylight? If it isn't large enough the birds can get stressed and stress does not help them to lay. Normally the rule of thumb is 4 square feet per bird and 10 square feet in the run.

Good questions^^^^

 

[mscallisto]

What are you feeding?

Kalmbach feeds layer crumbles. Plus leftovers from the kitchen.

 

[mscallisto]

They have quite a large run. I just replaced my coop and run with this larger one, and with the smaller one I had my chickens still layed in the winter. I've never had production come to a complete halt for months. Since the days are shorter, would it help if I put a light inside the coop?