Poll: How long did it take your moved hen to resume laying?

[Jeffross1968]

I'm sure you've tried all kinds of things. About a month after my original post, we purchased 5 more hens...right around July 1st. 2 of them had just started laying. They laid once or twice, and stopped. Both of those and 1 more are back laying again after varying amounts of time. The other 2, who are the same age but different breeds, have not laid.

Of the two who "restarted" laying, both happened a couple days of me going protein crazy with them. Not only did I stop all treats like scratch, BOSS, and bread, but gave them an extra protein jolt by feeding them canned tuna and leftover chicken. Maybe it was just a coincidence. But it's something to try.

 

[PrestonSloan08]

Check under the ground!! Haha my little jap hen likes to lay them on the ground instead of her nest!! I noticed she hadent been laying a couple of days so I was walking around looking really hard!! And then I heard a crunch!! She had been burrying them in the ground!! I dug around and found three more like this!! Dumb chicken!! I put her on a wire bottomed coop for a couple of days!! Then after that, she never did it again!!

 

[Momhen]

i recently reintroduced my barnevelder hen & her chicks to the rest of the flock. There haven't been any problems and establishing the pecking order has been mild. But 2 weeks on and there's been no sight of any eggs. Living in Northern Ireland the nights are getting dark quickly and soon it'll be dark by 5 pm, at which point the hens stop laying until spring. I miss getting eggs and hope they readjust to being all together so they start laying. Guess I'll just have to wait it out like everyone else does.

 

[poseygrace]

I have been giving extra protein, but hadn't thought to cut out some of the carbs, like BOSS and Oatmeal (a favorite treat!) Like I said, they have till Sept 1st, so I will try boosting the protein and cutting out extra carbs. Atkins for chickens!

 

[Momhen]

The same day I posted the comment about my hen not laying - she laid an egg and seems to be back on "schedule". yeah!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Any bare spots? Feather loss? Stress of a move can force them into a molt.

 

[poseygrace]

WOO HOO! I just wanted to post a final update. After 4 long months, both of my hens started laying again. I think I figured out why it took so long, maybe the insight will help someone else. I moved the 2 hens (18 months old) in with 7 pullets that hadn't started laying yet. The two older hens didn't start laying again until all 7 of the pullets were laying. I think maybe it's a hormonal thing, and when they were around other hens that weren't laying, they stopped too. Point of story... don't give up!

 

[farmwife]

My situation is very similar to yours and I'm puzzled and frustrated that I don't know what is happening. My 4 hens are about 18 months old and have been consistently giving me 3-4 eggs daily. Almost 6 weeks ago, I moved my 4 hens into a newly built coop and moved my 7 12 week old pullets into the coop where the hens had been. I free range my girls so we started with supervised free ranging between the 2 groups and moved to unsupervised free ranging during the day with everybody sleeping in their own coop at night. This however confused the heck out of my hens who constantly wanted to go back to their old coop and wanted to lay their eggs in the old coop. Long story made short, everybody is now in the big coop but I'm lucky if I get 1 - 2 eggs per day..some days I get 0 eggs. If I remember correctly, the hens were still laying fine once I moved them (even if they did go and lay them in the old coop) but I think the drop in egg production happened when the new pullets started bunking in the new coop too. Everybody appears to be healthy so my thoughts have been the typical thoughts....stress due to the move, stress due to the new roommates, laying their eggs outside, something taking the eggs, hay for nest box bedding instead of sawdust like I did in the other coop, nest boxes on the floor level in this new coop, etc... Looks like your theory is starting to make a lot of sense in my situation... Just curious....when did your pullets start laying? Mine are going to be 18 weeks old this Friday so the thought of actually having to purchase those store-bought so-called eggs for the next few weeks is killing me... Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[Nanook]

My girls must take to moving very well because I had 1 egg the very next day but they came from not the best place to me and what an upgrade they got!

 

[bannerdb]

My three ISA Browns laid the following day as normal when I moved them into their new coop from the farm where bought them. But it all depends how different the environment is I suppose.