pullet stopped laying

[allieloveschickens]

I have a flock of five hens, they are all approximately 6 months old now, the first to start laying was my RSL Lady, she has been laying for over a month and going strong. Several weeks ago my cuckoo maran Violet started laying too, but last week she stopped! I thought she was just taking a break, but it has been over a week and no eggs from her. The other day I found a soft shelled egg under the roost, so I have been putting out crushed egg shells for additional calcium. I don't know if the soft shelled eggs are from Violet, or from one of my other girls, my BA looks like she could lay any day now so I thought maybe they were from her. Violet's behavior has not changed at all, I am really at a loss for why she stopped laying. Any ideas?

 

[the Pollo Loco]

have you changed their food???

 

[allieloveschickens]

No, their food is the same- they do free range all day so they eat lots of different insects and plants but my RSL Lady has still been laying every day, so I don't think it's a feed issue.

 

[allieloveschickens]

well I didn't get many replies to this thread, but just an update for you Pollo Loco- Violet laid a little tiny egg today! It is as though she is starting all over again, hopefully she will keep laying and we won't have to go through this every month.

 

[AngelzFyre]

Sometimes it does seem to take them awhile to get started. Also heat and other issues can stress them and make them not lay or lay smaller eggs.
I would suggest putting out oyster shell in a feeder or bowl for them to have access to 24/7. Crushed eggshells may not be enough, especially if they are not getting enough calcium from other sources. The shells would be lacking also. You can also try adding more protein to their diet to give them more nutrition to lay better as well. Scrambled eggs, quinoa, things like that will help too. You cook the quinoa and let it cool and I also put golden flaxseeds in mine. They love it!
I know here, with the heat in the high 90's to heat indexes of 110 all of mine have slacked off laying and are just now picking back up a little since it's been in the 80's to lower 90's without the humidity.

 

[allieloveschickens]

It could have been the heat, it has been warm here- their feed has high protein and calcium, and my other hen Lady was not affected at all, she has been laying hard shelled eggs every day. I will definitely pick up some oyster shell though, crushing egg shells every morning is getting time consuming when I need to be out the door and at work! Thanks for your suggestions

 

[MareeZoCool]

I gave my girls 1/2 my bowl of cereal. They went crazy! I never thought about giving chickens milk to drink. My girls act like milk is just the best thing on earth! They actuall drink every drip and drop in a bowl. And egg production is much improved. we're getting an egg daily from each lady rather than one every other day.

 

[the Pollo Loco]

I thought I heard on the news today that egg production was down, they were attributing it to the high heat that most places have been experiencing... hopefully as the weather cools some, and we give them the right nutrition, our hens will lay more productively