Suggestions please?? One chicken hasn't laid in 9-10 weeks

[salleecarvalho]

Hey y'all. I need help. My Americana is just over one year old. Beginning within the normal range - she started laying her green eggs. She normally laid 4-6 eggs a week last summer. In the winter she had taken a 5-6 week period with not a single egg (which I assumed was normal for her breed and the time of year). She began laying again just fine. Now it has been more than 9 weeks since she has laid. The only thing that seems different is that is seems as though she is larger under her vent in between her legs. It does feel squishy - but not really like a water balloon - but it feels almost the same as her crop. It may have always been there - but after I started feeling around about 5-6 weeks ago I noticed it. I have done a vent exam to check for egg and there is none. The funny thing is that she does not seem to be at all sick, in pain, or abnormal in any other way. She eats, drinks, walks normal and hangs out with the other chickens... excited to get her meal worms like usual. I see no bugs on her or worms in her poop. Her butt is clean - vent looks normal. (I did the warm soak just in case.) Her comb is red and looks no different than it had. I have caught her in the nesting box maybe 3-4 times - just sitting there... not straining - and then when she sees me - she just gets up and walks away. What the heck is going on?? Is she sick?? Or just lazy and not earning her keep?

 

[Sarahal88]

Could she feeling just slightly broody enough to stop laying and hang out in the box, but not enough to really insist?

And she is not molting I assume? Were you doing any lighting in the coops that stopped or decreased suddenly? Could throw the internal clock off.

Once my chickens stopped laying and I was trying to find the problem. They were eating through their food really fast. Finally I put up a camera and it turned out a bear was eating all their food during the day time.

 

[ChickonLand]

Hey y'all. I need help. My Americana is just over one year old. Beginning within the normal range - she started laying her green eggs. She normally laid 4-6 eggs a week last summer. In the winter she had taken a 5-6 week period with not a single egg (which I assumed was normal for her breed and the time of year). She began laying again just fine. Now it has been more than 9 weeks since she has laid. The only thing that seems different is that is seems as though she is larger under her vent in between her legs. It does feel squishy - but not really like a water balloon - but it feels almost the same as her crop. It may have always been there - but after I started feeling around about 5-6 weeks ago I noticed it. I have done a vent exam to check for egg and there is none. The funny thing is that she does not seem to be at all sick, in pain, or abnormal in any other way. She eats, drinks, walks normal and hangs out with the other chickens... excited to get her meal worms like usual. I see no bugs on her or worms in her poop. Her butt is clean - vent looks normal. (I did the warm soak just in case.) Her comb is red and looks no different than it had. I have caught her in the nesting box maybe 3-4 times - just sitting there... not straining - and then when she sees me - she just gets up and walks away. What the heck is going on?? Is she sick?? Or just lazy and not earning her keep?

Is she still squatting when you go up to her? Could she be laying in a bush or somewhere away from the coop? (If she's free range).

 

[salleecarvalho]

Is she still squatting when you go up to her? Could she be laying in a bush or somewhere away from the coop? (If she's free range).

 

[salleecarvalho]

Once in a blue moon she squats. She is semi-free range...in a fenced in area of the yard. I look for eggs every few days and have not seen any or any remnants...

 

[salleecarvalho]

Could she feeling just slightly broody enough to stop laying and hang out in the box, but not enough to really insist?

And she is not molting I assume? Were you doing any lighting in the coops that stopped or decreased suddenly? Could throw the internal clock off.

Once my chickens stopped laying and I was trying to find the problem. They were eating through their food really fast. Finally I put up a camera and it turned out a bear was eating all their food during the day time.

 

[salleecarvalho]

Nope...not molting...When she stopped for 5 weeks in the winter..she was having a light molt, but not now. We had not been lighting.. and nothing is different than it had been.

 

[aart]

I have an EE(Easter Egger sold as Americana at hatcheries, probably what you have too)that did the same thing. They are often not stellar or consistent layers. She started back eventually and now is laying fine.

You can check her pin bones to see if she is laying or not.
Vent Appearance:
Dry, tight, and smaller - usually not laying.
Moist, wide, and larger - usually laying.

Pelvic Points, feel for the 2 bony points(pelvic bones F-F) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.
(Spacing is relative with chickens size and humans finger size.)

 

[salleecarvalho]

Thank you...I will take a look tomorrow. And I'm curious...how long did your chicken go without laying and which season was it?

 

[aart]

Thank you...I will take a look tomorrow. And I'm curious...how long did your chicken go without laying and which season was it?

She molted in late fall, started laying again in maybe February, laid for a couple weeks then stopped again, started back up in April. I don't have definite dates.

After 4 years with chickens I've come to accept that many will not be laying machines,
unless you get sexlinks, and eggs are mainly a seasonal food. There are huge ebbs and flows of egg production. It's not like the grocery store where you get what you want when you want it or as @Blooie sez: "they're not Pez dispensers"