Suddenly no more eggs

[Raindrops]

I have a silver laced Wyandotte that is about 6-7 months old. She recently started laying eggs! She laid an egg every single day religiously for about 2 weeks and then just like that... nothing!!! It’s been about 10 days since her last egg. She is contained in a nice run so I know she’s not going to a secret nest or anything.

I read about hens stopping egg production for various reasons but none of what I read seems to explain this very SUDDEN change. Surely if there’s less light because the days are shorter, a hen doesn’t just flat out go from 1 egg a day to absolutely nothing out of the blue.


I noticed she was acting kind of different though. She was sitting around a lot more than before and her wattles are no longer red but now they are pink. It’s almost as if she’s going backwards with maturity??

Anybody got a clue what’s going on? Thank you!

 

[Raindrops]

Oh and here is a picture of my lovely Wyandotte. I’m worried about her!

 

[Acre4Me]

Is she sitting in the nest?

Where are you located, generally?


Are there other chickens?

 

[Raindrops]

She does sit around but not in her nest. Yes she seems a bit broody but I don’t understand... Texas

I have 2 others. They are bantams.

 

[Acre4Me]

It’s good she has company with the bantams. Also if not hanging out in her nest, not likely broody. Texas... not exactly extreme temps right now. So, might be light related. Many birds naturally respond to less light by not laying as much (or not st all) as days shorten and they do not get enough light. You could try to supplement light so they get at least 14 hours/day. Or wait it out and should pick up laying in a few weeks. You could give her a good exam to see if she has lice or mites or something else wrong.

 

[Raindrops]

Thank you! I will check her out for anything but I guess I’m buying grocery store eggs for a while! lol

 

[JeanetteDunn]

Look for a chicken snake. I thought mine had become little slackers, but found a 5 foot chicken snake was eating the eggs.

 

[Raindrops]

Wow! Thanks for the suggestion. The thing is... I’m not seeing her sit in her “I’m workin on an egg” position and no egg song or anything either. She just plain decided to stop laying.

I checked her with a flashlight and no mites, no fleas. Also checked coop at night - not a single insect to be found.

 

[Raindrops]

Update: she just laid an egg yesterday and is working on another egg today. I guess she took a break for some reason... maybe was just broody and it went away.