Plymouth chickens won't lay!

[livestockchick]

My flock of fifty Plymouth rock hens are not laying eggs anymore! They are only about a year old, but were laying a week ago.
They are well-fed, I don't think they are over-fed though. They all seem healthy.
Is this just a seasonal thing or am I doing something wrong?



Any advise would be appreciated!

 

[PD-Riverman]

My flock of fifty Plymouth rock hens are not laying eggs anymore! They are only about a year old, but were laying a week ago.
They are well-fed, I don't think they are over-fed though. They all seem healthy.
Is this just a seasonal thing or am I doing something wrong?



Any advise would be appreciated!

Yes, I am guessing they are the same age?? I get a few , then I get some more in a month, some more in a month etc. I have never been where I was not getting some eggs---might be 10 our of 20 hens at times----A few weeks back I was getting 5 to 6 out of 16 hens, now In the last few days I been getting 12 to 14. They will start back----adding some light in the early AM's can help----makes their days longer.

 

[livestockchick]

Yes, they are all the same age, at the peak of production I was getting about two dozen eggs per day, half of them, but it slowed down, and now stopped. I had lights in there, but I took them out yesterday since they are not laying, and it isn't cost-effective to use electricity. I also was told that it is a big fire hazard, and since I have hay in there, it isn't worth the risk.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Yes, they are all the same age, at the peak of production I was getting about two dozen eggs per day, half of them, but it slowed down, and now stopped. I had lights in there, but I took them out yesterday since they are not laying, and it isn't cost-effective to use electricity. I also was told that it is a big fire hazard, and since I have hay in there, it isn't worth the risk.

I did a lot of testing to see how extra light effects egg production. It does help. I only use compact florescent bulbs or similar. They draw very little and as long as the light fixtures are secure there would be no problem, BUT all my lights were outside the coops where the feed and water is(I do not feed in the coop). I would have the lights coming on about 3am, at 3:15 all the chickens would be in the yard, eating, drinking, doing chicken stuff then it would be getting daylight about 7am and the lights would turn off a little later. It worked, no doubt in my mind because I cut the lights off and egg production started falling in the next week---about 3 weeks later they fell from 7 to 8 dozen a day to less than 3 dozen-----so I turned the lights back on and a few days later the amount of eggs started going back up a egg or two more a day till they got back up to 7 to 8 dozen a day----I had about 100 layers.