Stopped laying... Ugh

[DoozyWombat]

I wonder if she was in such bad shape and close to death maybe her reproductive tract was damaged.

Could well be. She actually fell over on her side without moving her wings, like she was a stuffed animal. She didn't revive until I dipped her beak in the water a few times and fed her some mealworms and cracked corn. She's still a young bird--only about 14.5 months, so I've been hoping she'll bounce back.

She's also the most interesting bird in the flock. The rest are Dark Brahmas, which are beautiful but not quite as bright, and my remaining CX, which are dumb as the proverbial doorpost. The Leghorn is always the first to figure anything out, and the most complex in her behavior.

At the moment she's looking good, aside from no eggs. I just wonder if there's anything I can do to stimulate her to start laying again.

 

[NatJ]

At the moment she's looking good, aside from no eggs. I just wonder if there's anything I can do to stimulate her to start laying again.

Proper food and water are a good start, and it sounds like you're doing that.

Since you found her sitting on eggs, she may have gone broody.

Broody hens naturally stop laying eggs, and it can take them a while to start up again after they quit being broody.

Broody hens are also supposed to get themselves off the nest for a little while every day to eat and drink, but apparently your hen didn't figure that part out

 

[Murdy]

For anyone of the many helpers on this thread... I'm now almost positive that the heat was the issue. We're back up to 3 or 4 eggs a day.

I'll stick with grower/layer as the main source of their food now though, just in case.

 

[bruceha2000]

Broody hens are also supposed to get themselves off the nest for a little while every day to eat and drink, but apparently your hen didn't figure that part out

I believe that is true IF there are fertile eggs developing. Somehow the hen can tell after about 3 days and will then get off the nest for daily food and hygiene runs. She will clamp back down 3 days before hatch.

I've never had a broody hen with fertile eggs but every broody I've had wouldn't get off the nest for love nor money. As soon as I put them in the broody buster they head straight for the food and water.

 

[NatJ]

I believe that is true IF there are fertile eggs developing. Somehow the hen can tell after about 3 days and will then get off the nest for daily food and hygiene runs. She will clamp back down 3 days before hatch.

I've never had a broody hen with fertile eggs but every broody I've had wouldn't get off the nest for love nor money. As soon as I put them in the broody buster they head straight for the food and water.

I've had a number of broodies that sat on wooden eggs, or sometimes on an empty nest. They did take themselves off for meals, so I didn't have to worry about it.

If I did take them off the nest and sit them by the food & water, they would eat & drink quickly (as if they were starving), then go back to the nest.

But I mostly didn't bother to do that, because I could gently feel the crop and know that the hen had already gotten off the nest and eaten breakfast or dinner when I wasn't watching. (I rarely saw them off the nest, but I knew they were eating because the crop would be empty at some times and contain food at other times.)

And no, none of mine got to the point of having health issues from not eating. They were fine when they quit being broody, or when I decided to break them, or when I bought chicks for them to adopt.

I don't know why your hens didn't, unless they actually did when you weren't watching. But I do know that some hens do things differently than others, so that's probably the explanation.

 

[Malamute1]

Yes.

My peeps are 1 yr older than yours. I ran into a similar problem this time last yr. I went from 6-8 eggs a day down to 6-8 a wk if I was lucky. I'm in central Florida. By Aug I was lucky with 4 eggs a wk. Do your girls combs look paler than usual, are they kind of scruffy looking, are their tail feathers starting to look like toothpicks with little feathering on the shaft?. They might have started molting. Though not all mine went at the same time. The heat can be a big issue. I keep 3 half full water bottles in the freezer. Drop 1 in their water mid day to help cool water and encourage more drinking. You can add some all flock feed to your mix to up the protien during their molt. If their not eating the layer feed, stop mixing in the seeds n grains. Give the seeds n grains as scratch feed. I have 6 Buffs, 2 Ameraucana, 1 EE. My EE is 9 and still laying. I give 1 28oz can 3/4 full of scratch morn n eve for 9 hens. Cold melon, fruit, in the afternoon are great for cooling down in the heat. No sodium, canned corn devided into muffin cups and added water, then frozen make great hot weather treats too. Have you checked for mites? Do they free range? You can add DE to their favorite dust bath wallow or catch n dust them with DE. Good luck. I know its very frustrating when something's not right.

 

[Murdy]

My peeps are 1 yr older than yours. I ran into a similar problem this time last yr. I went from 6-8 eggs a day down to 6-8 a wk if I was lucky. I'm in central Florida. By Aug I was lucky with 4 eggs a wk. Do your girls combs look paler than usual, are they kind of scruffy looking, are their tail feathers starting to look like toothpicks with little feathering on the shaft?. They might have started molting. Though not all mine went at the same time. The heat can be a big issue. I keep 3 half full water bottles in the freezer. Drop 1 in their water mid day to help cool water and encourage more drinking. You can add some all flock feed to your mix to up the protien during their molt. If their not eating the layer feed, stop mixing in the seeds n grains. Give the seeds n grains as scratch feed. I have 6 Buffs, 2 Ameraucana, 1 EE. My EE is 9 and still laying. I give 1 28oz can 3/4 full of scratch morn n eve for 9 hens. Cold melon, fruit, in the afternoon are great for cooling down in the heat. No sodium, canned corn devided into muffin cups and added water, then frozen make great hot weather treats too. Have you checked for mites? Do they free range? You can add DE to their favorite dust bath wallow or catch n dust them with DE. Good luck. I know its very frustrating when something's not right.

Wow.... Lots of good info, thanks for the reply!

Things are back to normal.... I'm almost positive that they just got to hot and decided to take a break from laying.

 

[SmotherHen]

Do hens ever molt in the winter and then have trouble keeping warm?

 

[NatJ]

Do hens ever molt in the winter and then have trouble keeping warm?

Yes. It's not too common, but it does sometimes happen.

Some hens molt very slowly, losing just a few feathers at a time. They do fine no matter when they molt.

Some hens molt very quickly, losing most of their feathers at once, and can look almost naked for a bit. Those are the ones that can have trouble with getting cold, but because the feathers all grow back at once, the situation doesn't last for long (a few weeks at most.)

 

[bruceha2000]

Do hens ever molt in the winter and then have trouble keeping warm?

I had one that waited until the end of January when she was 1.5 years old for her first adult moult. Coldest time of the year, negative temps quite common. Somehow she managed to stay warm.

In fact that year the nipples in my heated water system failed the day before Thanksgiving. Given it was built into the bottom of the nest box I couldn't fix it til spring. The girls' waterer was a regular one with a heat lamp over it. Only the side of the tray closest to the heat lamp had water in it. But not one of the hens, including the half bald one, hung out anywhere near the heat except to get a drink.