troubles with laying

[scrubbers]

I am new at the chicken-raising experience. My hubby built a coop for me and I got three laying hens from my friend, who has lots of chickens. We got three eggs in the first two days and NONE since then. It has been over a month. I keep the hens in a coop, where my friend had let them free range a bit more. Would that make a difference? They started losing a lot of feathers at first but that seems to have slowed down some. Is it possible that they have been too traumatized? Will they ever lay for me? Do I need to buy different ones and give these back? I am so disappointed!

 

[melodylee]

were they molting? sometimes the weather to, makes them quit, and being somewhere new is stressful.. a month seems like a long time tho...

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Don't panic yet! Sound like they were/are simply molting and they usually don't lay during that time. What are you feeding them? How much room do they have to explore in their home? They should be over any moving trauma so it is probably a simple solution thing...

 

[Matt A NC]

Sounds like the stress of the move triggered a molt. That is when they replace all their feathers. It can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months for them to get through the molt and start to lay again.

Matt

 

[Kittymomma]

How old are they? It's about the right time of year for hens going into their second winter to start molting and the move may have jump started that process a bit. They usually quit laying (or at least slow wayyy down) during a molt.

 

[scrubbers]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies. I guess I will just see what happens with them. They are a year old and were laying just fine before I got them. I feed them the bagged food from the feed store, plus scratch and scraps. I'll keep my fingers crossed.: