Where are the eggs? Gone,..Missing! :(

[Up-the-Creek]

Okay, my hens have been laying since last fall pretty much non-stop. I kept a light on them all winter up until about a month ago. When I took the light away I knew the laying may decrease and it did. I was still getting 7 or 8 eggs from 10 hens. Then I decided to let them out and free range. All went well for a week or so, they was returning to the house to lay and was still getting the usual 7 or 8 eggs. Yesterday I only got 1 egg all day!

I thought okay something is wrong, so I watched them, nothing. Only thing I saw was a bunch of extremely relaxed lazy hens sun bathing. I thought they may be laying somewhere else is the reason I watched them and I saw nothing. Then today I got 2 eggs, and of course one got broke,my luck!

I watched them all day today and seen nothing and I looked everywhere they were relaxing around and found nothing. The funny thing is that a few of them have been going in and setting on the nests, but not producing nothing. Like they go in and change their mind

. YES I know,..I have way too much time on my hands to watch chickens all day, right

? Anywho, does anyone maybe have any suggestions on what this problem ,if one, may be???? Maybe they are taking a break from being overworked?? They all look good and healthy,...I just wish they would get back to work! I need eggs!

Any ideas would be great, Thanks!

 

[KattyKillFish]

my gest guess is that someone is trying to go broody.
another guess is actually a question.
are they free-ranged? they may have a "secret nest" somewhere. mine have done that before. i found over 4 dozen in a nest in the woods when i was younger

 

[Up-the-Creek]

No, as I said in my first post, I watched them and there is no secret location where they've been laying.

 

[selinagil]

You may have a sneaky pest eating your eggs.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I dont think there is any pests,.. I have spent the last two days watching them and haven't seen nothing out of the ordinary. I just think they are being lazy and think they are on strike.

I hope anyway.

 

[selinagil]

Hey we're in a recession--maybe they think they shouldn't be the only ones pulling their weight!!!!

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Quote:

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Anybody else have any ideas????????

 

[Judy]

You did not give their age. They could be headed into moult. Chickens lay less in winter, and from what I have been seeing on BYC and in my own flock, this seems to be a time of year for them to slack off. My hens are around 11 mnths. I have not seen a real moult, but they did slack off about a month ago, and there were more feathers lying around about a month ago as well. Maybe mine did a partial moult and I did not see it on the birds. Another thing could be a sort of incomplete broodiness; I have seen this as well. They didn't actually stay on the nest 24/7, but more than usual, and I think those that did this for a while did not lay then. Seems to me that since they started breeding chickens not to go broody, we are going to get all sorts of in-between stuff in broodiness.

 

[bragabit]

I am REALLY new to this so consider that when you see my response. We just got 8 hens a couple weeks ago. The people who gave us the hens told us they were giving them 6-7 eggs a day and they were eating a whole pitcher of layer mash. Well when we got the hens we built a nice hen house and put it in a big pasture to free range. Our hens eat maybe 1 cup total of mash a day between them. I offer more but it goes untouched. They sit and eat bugs all day long. We only get 3-5 eggs a day. I think when they free range they eat less mash...possibly reducing their production??