Question about laying habits

[jenniferrose]

I have a chicken who seems to have just stopped laying. She is not quite a year old. Started laying around late August. She is 1 of 2 of my Easter Egg'ers and was laying light blue eggs (along with her sister). The other one lays HUGE eggs and the one in question is a smaller girl and layed pretty standard sized eggs. The last probably month it does not seem like she is laying at all. We are only getting a blue egg every other day, or every 3rd day, and they are huge which leads me to believe it is the other EE'er laying and I never see her in the boxes. She does not seem egg bound as she is acting normal, eating, etc. and I have felt her abdomen and it didn't feel hard. Can a chicken simply stop laying? Or, could she be laying eggs that are light pink/brown all of a sudden?

Thanks!

 

[newwestchick]

She might be having a very mild molt - have you seen any extra feathers laying around in the coop or chicken run?
If this is the case she will resume when ready, anytime from 2-4 months after she laid her last egg.
Best wishes!

 

[aldarita]

I had an EE that did exactly what yours is doing. When she was a young pullet, she stopped laying for few months and then resumed laying after that with the exception when she molted. I attributed her behavior due to being at the bottom of the pecking order and being stressed because of that, the other hens pecked on her. Once she adjusted to her life, she started laying again. I hope this helps you, if there are not health issues and she act normal, you shouldn't worry about it, just give her time to adjust

 

[jenniferrose]

I had an EE that did exactly what yours is doing. When she was a young pullet, she stopped laying for few months and then resumed laying after that with the exception when she molted. I attributed her behavior due to being at the bottom of the pecking order and being stressed because of that, the other hens pecked on her. Once she adjusted to her life, she started laying again. I hope this helps you, if there are not health issues and she act normal, you shouldn't worry about it, just give her time to adjust

You could be on to something. She is the smallest of our "bigs" (our first group of girls) and has always kind of been at the bottom of the pecking order), we got 3 "little's" who are about 6 months old now and she was above them but now they are all bigger than her. I don't see them picking on her at all but this could be causing her stress.

Thanks so much for the feedback! I feel much better.