Stopped laying? Old age?

[77horses]

Our two red star hens, Abby and Penny, have stopped laying for some reason!

We don't know how old they are, but they seem pretty old. They have been laying large-X large eggs until the past weeks.

There have been no major changes lately. Now, only our young hen is laying. Here's some info about them:

age: unknown(may be pretty old)
gender: both females
weight: unknown
height: unknown
usual eggs size/color: light brown, large to X-large
stopped laying: few weeks ago
any physical issues: Scaly leg mites
Penny: Sneezing past weeks, not as much now.
Color of hens: light brown and white
Breed: Red Star(maybe mixed with bantam?)
Shape of hens: Short legs, small body, looks normal but just smaller than usual
Coop conditions: fairly good
Nest boxes: Yes. 3 neat boxes.
Food: Laying mash and cracked corn, all natural
Water: always available
eggs have been normal when they were laying(no bumps, odd shapes/sizes, etc...)


Sorry, no pictures.

Does anyone have any idea about why they haven't been laying???

Thanks!

 

[bigzio]

I would cure the scaly leg mites first. Healthy chickens are happy chickens and lay more eggs.

Optimum laying requires 14 hours of daylight....if your days are becoming shorter than that, it's a problem. Adding a light in the coop will take care of the shorter days.

bigzio

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

I would suggest adding more hours of light and I didn't see any calcium in there diet ether.

 

[Chirpy]

I agree, take care of the scaly mites.

Could they be molting?

I agree that they may also have stopped due to light issues. However, if they are that old, they probably deserve the winter off, without adding artificial light to force them to lay. But, it's your decision.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
mmm...Penny's chest seems to have lost some feathers(no signs of broodiness) and they both seem to be acting much more lazy and Abby seems to be fluffed up a lot?

I never knew that they had scaly leg mites until I saw a picture here on BYC and I thought, "WOW! That looks like our hens' legs!"
But they stopped laying BEFORE daylight savings time.

 

[beautifulbirds]

I was given an older wyandotte hen who I think is a white rock, anyway she looked past her use by date so I started giving her fresh wheatgrass juice straight down her throat which has increased her nutrition and now she is coming back into lay because the rooster is interested in her, which he wasn't before. Three squirts straight down their throat, do it at night when they are on the roost as the fresh wheatgrass juice has all night to 'work' in their system. It's really good for them. It has to be fresh though and one shot will do them for three days when you have to chuck it out and get some more fresh. Keep it in the fridge between dosings. Cheers Lisa.

 

[cmom]

Leg mites, increase the light, calcium, such as free choice crushed oyster shells.

 

[digitS']

Layer feed should have quite a bit of calcium in it but you'll be diluting it and the protein with the cracked corn. Best to use it very sparingly.

Here's something I never knew how to do until PaintedMeadows instructed me. I believe this should tell you if they are getting ready to lay again. I've read that with the "fatties" - it is sometimes difficult to figure things out. And no, you don't need to pull all the feathers off their rear-ends to do this test .