White leghorn stopped laying

[dd6905]

Hi, I'm new here too. My white leghorn just stopped laying too. for a couple days she didn't sleep in the trees like she use to, and would sleep in her nest. I thought she was eggbound, but she was pooping ok. our leghorn is 8 months old, and was producing an egg a day without fail, then just stopped. i'm guessing ours was because of the cold weather, and maybe she is on a laying break. This is a first for me too and so am waiting for egg production.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

There could still be an egg stuck even if she can poop. If you suspect it feel her abdomen for swelling or gently stick a finger in her vent to feel for an egg. Do you feed oyster shell free choice?

 

[Sagenovese]

I am the same problem. My Silver Leghorn hen is almost a year old. She is a 2015 spring hatch.
She started laying her first few eggs right around Christmas 2015. An egg a day for about a month. Then she stopped. I was frustrated that my chicks were just starting to lay as winter was really hitting so I put in a light for the first time ever. It helped everyone lay through winter which was fantastic. But everyone else is still laying. I have not seen a white egg since January. Seems like a long time to be out of commission. I suspected she must be hiding them so finally, 3 days ago, I put her in a small enclosed tractor coop with 1 other chicken for company. She doesn't care for confinement. I feel terrible locking her up. Other hen doesn't care. We are on day 3. The other hen is laying and I am leaving the brown eggs there to encourage "Peaches". But still no white eggs. So, either she was laying "elsewhere" but now I've stressed her and she is not laying at all. Or she hasn't been laying eggs since January (it is 3rd week of March!) We have had amazing mild warm winter. Lots of sun... earlier than usual for us. She seems healthy. Looks pretty. Nice feathers. Chatty and pacing and protesting confinement.

I did dust everyone with DE and add a little to feed mid-Feb since I saw saw poopy bottoms, a few ragged tail feathers and then discovered lice. I waited a week and redusted. Have random checked girls several times since and no sign of creepy crawlies and cleaner eggs in nest boxes.

Thinking she is NOT egg-bound she seems too healthy. I guess I will turn her back to regular routine with rest of hens. I have nice hens, little bit of bossing and pecking but nothing truly aggressive and she is last for everything but plenty of food and water (purina layena and a local feed mill "Egg-Mash") I mix it up for them. Lots of meal worms. But now they are foraging again so will let them find there own worms.

Also, while everyone else laying solid hard eggs, I threw down some oyster shell for all, including Peaches, two days ago. If not enough calcium in diet, I would expect softer shells from rest of flock. But, if that was problem, could it be that she will finally start to lay in a few days?

She is my only white egg layer so will know hers when/if I see them.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
I am fairly newbie here.

Thanks!
Stephanie

 

[Sagenovese]

Adomen feels fine. She really is her normal active self in all respects. No sign of anything whatsoever besides no eggs. I turned her back loose with the others because she clearly isn't laying and seemed no point to lock her up. Yes, free choice oyster shell... I just sprinkle on the ground near water and they all come running and some had a few pieces, but there is lots still sprinkled on the ground near the water so they can have what they choose.

 

[eggypop]

Hi Sagenovese,

Did little peaches come back on the lay?

Am a new comer to chickens - just 10 months into it now. 2 chickens in the backyard in a 3M long X 1 meter tractor.

I have a little leghorn bantum - just 11 months and she stopped laying. She hasn't layed in since end of September (5 weeks) so I am started to get concerned.
She seems happy and lively, is not moulting, not eggbound, is eating well, loves the sun, dust bathing , digging in garden, doesnt seem to poo a lot at night but then lets out some whoppers in the first stroll in the garden.

She did get broody for a small while in August/ early September but we got her out of that by moving her from the box but she has developed a bad habit of sleeping in nesting boxes at night so we take them out at night now.

I have increased her protein intake and reduced the veggie treats down so she eats more layers crumble. Also have added more calcium via natural yoghurt, grit and water suppliment.
I thought it might be due to food stress as we take feeder out at night due to slugs and pop it back in the morning, so i made a hanging food basket that is slug proof that is in there all the time now.
I have also stopped picking her up in case that causes her stress. House has sand base and we clean it out 2 / 3 times a day and change sand every 2 months.

She is always very skittish so am making clucking noises around her to keep her calm - my neighbours think I am losing it when I am out in the garden just in case it might be stress related.

We have 2 hens and they both spend some good time out free ranging (4-5 hrs on week days and 10 hrs per day at weekend).

The other hen is a new hampshire lays 6 days per week in the morning.

She is not sneaking off to lay anywhere in the garden and the 2 chickens dont peck or fight with each other. The new hampshire does dominate at the food bowl but doesnt stop the bantum eating or push her away or anything - she is just big and food motivated so little eggy needs to run around to get her head into the feed.

I have covered most of the reasons that would stop her from laying that i have found on the internet so am really now at a loss.

Am really baffled so am interested if peaches naturally returned to laying or if there was something you were able to do?

Am thinking of a vet trip just in case there is something else going on inside and I just am missing something.

Cheers,
EP

 

[Sagenovese]

I really wish that I had an answer for you. Sadly, no, she never laid another egg for me. But, I do believe she was healthy, overall. We uncovered a predator issue that might have been the problem. I lost several chickens from two certain causes. My neighbor's dog and a fox family that moved in. The neighbors dog killed for fun during the day. Sadly, their dog trainer told them that the dog was not capable of learning the difference of killing some things and not others... like killing the groundhog eating from their garden vs a neighbor's chickens. I am disgusted with the dog trainers. I taught my dogs the difference. But I love my neighbors and their dog. So, I had to lock the chickens up for a few months to keep them predator proof. Peaches, the silver leghorn was definitely not laying when she was locked up... no where to hide eggs. I think the stress of being witness to and running for life from losing 6 other chickens on six other days interrupted her cycle. Sadly, she then lost her life the same way. So, perhaps if I could have kept her alive, she might have cycled back to normal again.

So, my best guess is that she stopped laying due to young age, fear and uncertainty. Could your hen be stressed?

 

[eggypop]

Very sad story and makes it so hard to have some chickens in that situation.

I think it could be stress as well.
A possum comes in to the garden each night to search for avocados and we have some neighbour cats that drift through but never saw them near the coop. They tend to move along the walls. A dog lives a few doors down but cant get into the yard but barks occasionally.

We did have a large bush turkey drop in a while back and I had to chase it off. That was unexpected as the nearest nature area is 1K away so he came looking for some action.
Never seen him since,

I am going to setup a IR camera in yard and check out if we are having any night visitors who are causing stress to them.

Sorry again about peaches and her friends.

I lost one chicken so far due to ill health last July. She spent 5 days and nights over a month with the vet and had all the treatments they could think off.
They never figured out what she died from as - in the end it was quick as she had sudden death syndrome. They ruled it to genetics and even sent me a condolences card as they were upset about what happened.

EP

 

[CuzChickens]

Hello there, and welcome to Backyard Chickens! How many hours of daylight do you have right now? Shortening daylight hours can make them stop laying, and it can also trigger a molt, which leads to zero egg production.

 

[eggypop]

thanks Cuz. Is that an ancona in your pciture. The one up high at the back. The one i lost in July was a bantam ancona - a really great personality - always on look out trying to get higher ground to keep sentry, running around making little squeaks when she found a nice bug - unfortunately the others would follow and eventually take it off her..

In Sydney and we are up to 13 hrs daylight at the moment. Up from around 10 in September when she started getting a bit broody and sitting on the other hens eggs.
She was laying ok maybe 3 eggs eggs per week through the shorter winter days in June and July (8hrs light)

Talked to the man at the chicken supplies today and he thought as long as she is eating and looking and behaving ok just leave her at it and she'll eventually come back to laying.

 

[Sagenovese]

That's a really good point! Moult and daylight. Both stop laying. I wasn't thinking along those lines I guess because you said she stopped laying several weeks ago and your other hen is still laying. However, here is another possibility... of your two breeds, New Hampshire Reds, I believe, tolerate confinement well. I would not say that about Leghorns. I think confinement may actually be a source of stress for these birds.