what happened to my eggs?

[rnoyster]

Hey all.....I have a question. All of my hens just suddenly went on strike about 3 weeks ago. Not one egg has been laid by over 25 hens! Someone said that with the change in seasons that they weren't getting enough light to keep them laying, so I installed a big light in the coop and put it on a timer so that just before the sun goes down the light turns on and stays on for 4 1/2 more hours. It has been buring every night for 10 days now without any success. What am I doing wrong. I am using a shop light for this. Do I need to get a different type of light for it to work or did someone just yank my chain?
Dick

 

[TigerLilly]

They aren't yanking your chain; chickens do best (apparently--I'm still new as well) with 16 hours of light per day.
Another reason they stop laying is when they go through a molt. Notice lots of feathers lying around? If that's the case, they'll resume laying when their molting is finished. Mine did.

 

[Ema]

you will get lots of different opinions on this topic by different members, but I will tell you what I do. A lot of people say chickens require 14 hours of light. so I have a light in my barn (I have an in barn coop) it gets pretty dark in there so if I didn't have one it would always seem like night to the chickens. My light goes on at 530 am (the time where I have learned they wake up and make so much noise I can actually hear them from the house) and it goes off at 7p.m when they voluntarily go to bed on their own. My Dh wanted to give them a Flood light, I stopped him cause well I don't think super bright light would be all that good for them. Before I decided on which times to set the light to go on and off I had to learn my chickens cycle.

If during the day you got good natural light int he coop you will likely only need a couple hours before sunrise and a couple hours after sundown.

It seems like the to light or not light issue is very much split with BYC members, some prefer to provide the 14 hours of light so the chickens keep laying, some prefer to allow the chickens to live as naturally as possible even if egg production slows during winter. Its all on personal choice.

what are you feeding your chickens? how old are they? can you provide more info, just before they stopped laying was there any change to their diet or living conditions or did you add any more to the flock?? did they go through a stressful event? in any event I am sure this is just a temp thing and they will go back to normal as soon as they feel more comfortable.

 

[speckledhen]

Chickens normally take a break when they are in full molt, light or no light. I don't add light and have no plans to because I like them to rest when their bodies tell them to (have lost a bunch to internal laying and don't want to add to their issues), however, I am getting 3-8 eggs daily from 29 layers. Most of mine are older, though; I have only 13 hens under 3 years old and some are as old as 5 yrs.

 

[chicks4kids]

I have a light that comes on at 6 in the morning and stays on all day until 6 at night...that works for my girls

 

[oesdog]

I don;t put a light in my coop. - To be honest I am a little scared of burning it down!!!!!! I would hate for that to happen. Also I am pretty sure DH would murder me when the Electric bill came in.

I have one Hen who has not laid since June. Another has not laid since April when she started Brooding!!!!!! I have 3 pullets too young to lay and three Roos who will never lay!!!!! Gerty is in a bit of a strop because I wont let her brood mice ( DOn;t ask?) Isobella is Gerty's best friend so she wont lay if Gerty isn;t laying ( I call them the buzzards!) And little Caroline well she just follows what everyone else is doing or not doing! She isn;t very popular so she kind of has to go with the flow!

So that is my girls - NO EGGS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! - but then this morning when I looked there was AN EGG! Perfect and speckled and creamy brown!!!! BUT it was not in the the coop it was in the day play hut where Bertha brood her chicks - I have no Idea who laid it - just that it couldn;t be one of the babies????

I told DH everyone is the same NO eggs!!! ( Then the lady up the road put her darn eggs for sale sign out) Dh has sharpened the axe! - I am buying eggs and hiding them in the nest boxes next week!!!!!

Oesdog

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I have a light in each pen that comes on at 3 AM an goes off at sun up 3 seasons a year. Keeps them laying most of the year but they wont lay while in molt no mater what you do.

 

[chicmom]

I light my coop from 6am until around 8pm. It's working great because all my layers seem to be laying. I don't think it's quite bright enough during the day here in Ohio, so that's why I keep the light on all day. It's kind of dim in there without the lighting.

I would try leaving it on all day.

 

[jacksboro_red]

i dont use a light at all and have 9 hens laying 6-9 eggs a day. yours arent molting are they?

 

[debilorrah]

Because I recently had a problem that took us a while to figure out.... Do you have ravens? Nasty buggers and rocks just barely miss them. They were stealing ALL our eggs every day and we though because some were molting, blah, blah. Nope RAVENS. We fixed that issue and now we are getting 20-30 a day from a mixed age flock of 50 chickens. Some of mine, about 12 of them are far past the age of consistent laying. My EE's also go on strike 6 month out of the year.