Not Laying Eggs

[Cardboard]

Hello! We have 8 chickens, 4 of which are easter eggers that have been laying for months. Usually been getting 3-4 eggs a day in total for the past couple of months and now - for the past couple of weeks - we're only getting 1 egg a day. Diet hasn't changed, they look healthy and happy, all other behavior seems fine. I'm not finding any secret laying spots in the places that they frequent. This is their first fall and first upcoming winter so maybe having to deal with that? We do have some newer Sapphire Gems that are almost laying age, so maybe that can be a factor as well. Thoughts?

 

[DobieLover]

How old are the birds?

 

[Cardboard]

How old are the birds?

about 7 months old.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Depending on where you are, many chickens stop laying about this time of year due to the light and winter. It's totally dependent on the bird too. We had some(Brahma) lay through winter last year, but had a hard molt and haven't laid for a couple weeks now. Our 1&2yos have paused for the winter already here in Indiana, but our 7 month olds are still sort of laying, they are EE and not laying as much as they were to beging with. We feed a 20% protein,free feed, and it does help them molt easier.

Lack of daylight, winter, molting, can all cause lack of laying.

Then there are causes such as stress.

Not knowing setup, can't give much advice on other scenarios

 

[Got13now]

Our chickens stopped laying. We have 9 hens which 4 are brown egg layers and the rest Easter eggers plus a gentle rooster. They stopped loosing feathers, they are now fed Purina layer feed cause Scratch and Peck got to expensive. This is their second winter but it’s been unusually warm. I’m puzzled because they usually laid 5 to 10 eggs daily. They are fed table scraps and mealworms but they don’t seem to be interested in laying eggs. I am about to give up

 

[aart]

Our chickens stopped laying. We have 9 hens which 4 are brown egg layers and the rest Easter eggers plus a gentle rooster. They stopped loosing feathers, they are now fed Purina layer feed cause Scratch and Peck got to expensive. This is their second winter but it’s been unusually warm. I’m puzzled because they usually laid 5 to 10 eggs daily. They are fed table scraps and mealworms but they don’t seem to be interested in laying eggs. I am about to give up

Days are still shortening....they won't start laying again until after(days or weeks) Solstice when the days start to get longer again.

 

[paintedChix]

Also, you stated brown egg layers, but not what breeds. Some breeds very rarely lay thru winter their 2nd year.

Day length as well as "quality of light" affect them. We had girls laying well through winter until we hit a 2-3 week time frame when it was cloudy/foggy daily (not a regular occurrence where I'm @ in NC) several years ago. All stopped laying before Christmas & didn't fully restart until March. Some 1st year pullets started "spottily" laying mid-way through Feb.

A few were production breeds whom were getting close to 3 yrs of age & had laid almost non-stop the previous 2 years, I had been expecting them to slow down & molt. A few were heritage breed hens from hatchery & had layed occasionally through previous winter. A few were 1st year pullets from breeders & hadn't started laying yet - those were ones started laying here & there in mid-February.

I don't use lights to extend the daylight. I figure if their bodies said "take a break", then that was ok.

Because we had roosters w/ all hens, we fed an all-flock feed. I often gave scraps (including meat) through the winter, we sometimes have green grass for free rangers in Dec - Feb, but few bugs. We added BOSS as treats & occasionally dried meal worms.