Went on vacation and my hens stopped laying

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PepeDeSilva

PepeDeSilva

Chirping
Mar 12, 2019
21
33
69
Livonia, MI
Looking for some possible causes for this problem and how concerned I should be.
I have three coturnix quail from left from my first batch, two hens and one roo. They are about 3 months old now. The two hens have been laying an egg a day regularly for over a month. Everything was fine until I left for week long vacation. I got back on Monday and haven't gotten an egg since (4 days now). The person who was watching the quail for me said they picked two eggs a day every day we were out of town.
The thing that is confusing me is that the birds appear completely fine. They are eating and drinking regularly and don't look lethargic or fluffed up. I gave them some fresh lettuce from the garden and live mealworms this morning and they went after it with the usual enthusiasm.
Given the energy levels I don't think they are both egg bound but I'm not sure what would cause the hens to suddenly stop laying. We are undergoing our first big heat wave of the year right now but the birds are kept in the shade and I know other people keep quail in much hotter temps. Any ideas?
 
PepeDeSilva said:
Looking for some possible causes for this problem and how concerned I should be.
I have three coturnix quail from left from my first batch, two hens and one roo. They are about 3 months old now. The two hens have been laying an egg a day regularly for over a month. Everything was fine until I left for week long vacation. I got back on Monday and haven't gotten an egg since (4 days now). The person who was watching the quail for me said they picked two eggs a day every day we were out of town.
The thing that is confusing me is that the birds appear completely fine. They are eating and drinking regularly and don't look lethargic or fluffed up. I gave them some fresh lettuce from the garden and live mealworms this morning and they went after it with the usual enthusiasm.
Given the energy levels I don't think they are both egg bound but I'm not sure what would cause the hens to suddenly stop laying. We are undergoing our first big heat wave of the year right now but the birds are kept in the shade and I know other people keep quail in much hotter temps. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Well that’s a shame, It doesn’t give any signs of being egg-bound based on your description. Give them a few days, sometimes chickens will put egg production to a halt. They are most likely to lay again soon. They’re just chickens, not machines.
 
It could be the heat. It could be the food or water ran out while you were on vacation and they got stressed. It could be the change in routine because you were gone and had a sitter. It could be the male is being too randy with only two females. It could be they are trying to mess with your head.

Unfortunately there's a lot of reasons they can stop laying. If they aren't acting sick and their abdomens feel normal, I would just wait and see if they start laying again.
 
Sara L said:
It could be the heat. It could be the food or water ran out while you were on vacation and they got stressed. It could be the change in routine because you were gone and had a sitter. It could be the male is being too randy with only two females. It could be they are trying to mess with your head.

Unfortunately there's a lot of reasons they can stop laying. If they aren't acting sick and their abdomens feel normal, I would just wait and see if they start laying again.
Click to expand...

:goodpost:
 
My chickens have slowed down laying in the Texas heat. We’re getting about half of what we usually do. Our winters are so delightful that hens keep laying and mid-summer is our slow down time.

Everyone says to watch what you feed hens so it doesn’t generate too much heat. I gave our free range girls some beef fat trimmings today, which they devoured, and I’m curious to see if egg production jumps from the extra fat. They seem to be getting lots of greens right now.
 
Mine stop laying every time I leave them for a holiday...my sitter says she gets eggs....then on my return it’s egg strike, after a week in Spain last month I had 7 days with no eggs, a dog not talking to Me and my goldfish dropped dead
 

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