Whole flock stopped laying? 20+chickens!

Blupen495

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My first post here so sorry if its not allowed or in the wrong place!
We are at a complete loss!
We have an established flock of 20+ hens, they haven't had a rooster for quite a long time now, we have 6 young but the rest are all several years (3-6 years) into laying age. Up until recently we had been getting roughly a dozen eggs daily and we know this wanes with molting brooding etc.
But the issue now is that we are getting 1 a day if that!
Food and feeding frequency hasn't changed, they dont seem sick, we've added mealworms and electrolyte water supplement to see if that would help and no change. The only major thing that has changed is they went from being completely free range to having a large fenced in area. However this was 6ish months ago and egg laying didnt slow down so much until about a month ago.

Hopefully you all can give us a few ideas of what is going on with our girls. We are at our wits end with them!
 
My first post here so sorry if its not allowed or in the wrong place!
We are at a complete loss!
We have an established flock of 20+ hens, they haven't had a rooster for quite a long time now, we have 6 young but the rest are all several years (3-6 years) into laying age. Up until recently we had been getting roughly a dozen eggs daily and we know this wanes with molting brooding etc.
But the issue now is that we are getting 1 a day if that!
Food and feeding frequency hasn't changed, they dont seem sick, we've added mealworms and electrolyte water supplement to see if that would help and no change. The only major thing that has changed is they went from being completely free range to having a large fenced in area. However this was 6ish months ago and egg laying didnt slow down so much until about a month ago.

Hopefully you all can give us a few ideas of what is going on with our girls. We are at our wits end with them!
Hi Blupen and welcome to BYCs!! :welcome I hope that you enjoy talking with other chicken keepers here.

As for you laying issue, I’m sure that as an experience chicken keeper, you’ve noted before that egg production stops during the fall molt. Given that most of your chickens are over 3 years old, their productivity will be falling off and they may stop laying altogether, especially the 6 year old hens. How old are your six younger hens? Could they be going into a fall molt as well?
 
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Any chance the eggs are being eaten?
Not that we know of, they are in a large fenced in enclosure and the nest boxes are inside of another enclosed coup. In the past 6 years we had 1 snake get in but we still got more eggs than 1 or 2 even with it there. We did have an issue with a couple old hens eating eggs but they have since been processed and we haven't seen any signs of egg eating by any other chickens.
 
As for you laying issue, I’m sure that as an experience chicken keeper, you’ve noted before that egg production stops during the fall molt. Given that most of your chickens are over 3 years old, their productivity will be falling off and they may stop laying altogether, especially the 6 year old hens. How old are your six younger hens? Could they be going into a fall molt as well?
Ditto Dat^^^

Welcome to BYC! @Blupen495
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
1602848401106.png
 
Could they have hidden them somewhere?

I used to have ducks that would cover their eggs over with pine shavings!
 
Could they have hidden them somewhere?

I used to have ducks that would cover their eggs over with pine shavings!
We thought about this too and we've looked everywhere inside their enclosure but couldn't find any. They've never taken to hiding eggs before, occasionally we'd have a hen that would get broody and create a nest in the compost bin. It would take us a while to find hers but even so we'd still have other regular egg layers.
 
Ditto Dat^^^

Welcome to BYC! @Blupen495
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 2375037
No I haven't added to my profile yet but were in Ohio. And while yes it is starting to get cold here and egg production should be naturally slowing for the wintertime soon, never has egg production almost completely stopped like this. And when this started it was still very warm consistently outside and leaves hadn't even started to change yet. We understand to have some natural waning from eggs but this situation is puzzling us for sure.
 
And when this started it was still very warm consistently outside and leaves hadn't even started to change yet.
Some of mine stopped laying and molting back in early Sept.
Rooster started molting mid Aug.
It's the shortening days, not the temps.

We thought about this too and we've looked everywhere inside their enclosure but couldn't find any.
Might be time for exams:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

Then maybe....
Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop/run for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.
 
We will have to try locking them in for a bit to see if that helps. We put out fake eggs at the end of last week actually to see if that would help. However so far we are still getting 2 eggs a day so not doing much just yet.
 

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