Why Aren't My Chickens Laying? Here Are Your Answers!

[jjsasfai]

I have a rescue hen that we brought home quite a while back. She laid an egg for us on labor day and every other day for about a week. No eggs since then. My others are just about old enough to lay but havn't started yet. They get a mix of crumble and starter (I have 2 young bantams in the coop) as well as any extra food we have after meals. Nothing to suggest that we have egg predators or that they are eating them. They stay in the coop unless I am outside supervising so they arent laying else where. I am outside several times a day so i dont think they are being stolen. Ideas????

 

[Cass]

I have a rescue hen that we brought home quite a while back. She laid an egg for us on labor day and every other day for about a week. No eggs since then. My others are just about old enough to lay but havn't started yet. They get a mix of crumble and starter (I have 2 young bantams in the coop) as well as any extra food we have after meals. Nothing to suggest that we have egg predators or that they are eating them. They stay in the coop unless I am outside supervising so they arent laying else where. I am outside several times a day so i dont think they are being stolen. Ideas????

Light is waning. There is no longer 12+ hours of daylight so they have stopped laying for the winter. IF you supplement the light in the coop to add enough to be 14 - 16 hours of light a day they may lay over the winter. If not, you feed them til about April and they start laying then. (Sometimes as early as March, depending on what part of the country you are in)

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

Thanks! Just saw this thread after I posted my comment about not getting any eggs. I will read it now

 

[Tacampbell1973]

There is no "sure fire way" to do anything with chickens. Actually with any animal, mineral or human. But with chickens especially. They do their own thing.

Someone suggested that she might be broody and that is a distinct possibility, since she thinks she has been bred by your gang of young roosters. There is a way to tell for sure if she is broody, however. Pick her up and check her chest area. If she has pulled the feathers from her chest down to midway to her legs she is broody. Hens do this to put their skin directly on the eggs for heat and humidity. Do you have some fertile eggs around? Give her 2 - 4 eggs to sit on. If they hatch, great, if she abandons them before they hatch, oh well....you didn't really want chicks this late in the year anyway, right?

Now you are going to ask me if there is any way to break a broody hen of her hormonal response to having a nice place to live and therefore she wants to settle in and raise a family. Of course the answer to that is "nope". No sure fire way to do that. The only way I have ever been successful in breaking a broody is to have her eggs hatch. I currently have a hen sitting for her THIRD 21 day stint in a ROW, to hatch some babies. (Someone keeps breaking her eggs and she won't be moved from the favorite nest box. Grrr) However, others report that putting the broody hen in a cage with no real bottom, just wire mesh works. Some say putting her in ice water works. Some say moving her to a different coop works. As you can see, everyone has a different idea of what might or might not work.

Now if she has all her chest feathers and is still sitting there looking lost, that might be the best way to make her Senior years golden. Just let her sit and provide the rest of the flock an additional choice of nest boxes to lay their eggs in.

Let us know what you find out. And blessings on you for taking in these homeless f birds.

Here is an update to my two volunteer hens....One I named Agnes. It was the most dignified name I could come up with. If she were a human she would wear a leather jacket and ride a harley. This hen pushes her way thru life and doesn't take **** from anyone, but I love her. She has the coolest feather pattern in shades of chocolate and Ivory and she is a work of art. The other is not so glamorous. She is my problem bird. I named her Begawky after a few other failed names. She Begawks at everything loud or unsettling. She has gone broody every other month since spring. I thought this last time I was going to lose her so i stepped in.She had sat on a plastic egg for two months nearly. So you would think just take the egg out right? nope she still sat there. I caged her for one day and lo and behold she snapped out of it. She has gone through a major lice infestation partly due to her beak, I think it is described as crossbeak. The tip of the top part is snapped off so I think it is difficult for her to pick any bugs off of her. She is a pro atthe dustbath though, she cranks around in circles like a doodlebug. I love watching her do it. But I pulled nits off of her and DE'ed her coop and eventualy used Malathion,extremely diluted. She got daily flea sprays and brushings with a toothbrush., She had had lice when she came to me but at first wouldn't let me pick her up so I had no idea. When she went broody I siezed the chance to check her over and thats when I found them. Agnes got them to but not as serious. Surprisingly none of my younger birds got them. Thankfully as they are cochins and about as fluffy as can be. They also get brushed with a horse brush.An extremely soft one. Anyway that is the update on my small birds and every day with them brings another surprise. For instance, did anyone else know how much one little chicken can produce poop? And my god the smell. Whew, my mother in law raised Macaws and Umbrella Cockatoos and they didn't smell near as ripe when they pottied. My dog won't even touch it and she usually rolls and bathes herself in anything foul (or fowl). But that is my family and I love them all.

 

[lost cowboy]

I have been reading every post as I had a question about eggs also. I only have three hens, Rhode Island Reds. When I first got them, about a month ago, all three would lay avery day. About a week ago, I only get two eggs daily. I watched each hen, and I know which one is not laying. She is the biggest one. All three are healthy, plenty of feed, plenty of water, and scratch every day. I'll keep watching BYC for what might be the answer. I know this is the place to find it.

 

[Cass]

I have been reading every post as I had a question about eggs also. I only have three hens, Rhode Island Reds. When I first got them, about a month ago, all three would lay avery day. About a week ago, I only get two eggs daily. I watched each hen, and I know which one is not laying. She is the biggest one. All three are healthy, plenty of feed, plenty of water, and scratch every day. I'll keep watching BYC for what might be the answer. I know this is the place to find it.

Too much scratch is not good for egg production. Lay off scratch for a week and just feed layer feed and see if she resumes laying.

Also, it's Winter. Many breeds of chickens do not lay in the lower lights/shorter days of winter. (The breed of chickens I have don't lay without supplemental light. Other breeds are not affected to the degree that mine are) There are two thoughts on supplemental light...one says "I need the eggs and won't feed freeloaders, so I add light to force them to continue to lay all winter"...the other is "chickens aren't supposed to lay all winter....not adding light will lengthen the number of years they lay because chickens are born with a certain number of "eggs" and stop laying forever when those are all used up."

 

[Duck77]

These are all great suggestions on why hens may not be laying. Unfortunately I think the only one that could apply in my particular situation is shorter days. My 4 hens are 26 & 28 wks and have not started laying yet. They do free range during the day, but I cannot find any eggs in their area. They seem to be very happy and healthy, they live on organic starter pellets (20% protein), organic scratch and whatever grubs, bugs, weeds and seeds they can find. No cockerel. I live in San Diego County so cold shouldn't be an issue. So some chickens start laying at 18 wks and some at 40. That's fair, but since I have 4 hens overdue and they are my first chickens, I feel like I am probably doing something wrong. My other reason for writing this is that I know as soon as I ask, Lana and the gang will start laying Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Tacampbell1973]

These are all great suggestions on why hens may not be laying. Unfortunately I think the only one that could apply in my particular situation is shorter days. My 4 hens are 26 & 28 wks and have not started laying yet. They do free range during the day, but I cannot find any eggs in their area. They seem to be very happy and healthy, they live on organic starter pellets (20% protein), organic scratch and whatever grubs, bugs, weeds and seeds they can find. No cockerel. I live in San Diego County so cold shouldn't be an issue. So some chickens start laying at 18 wks and some at 40. That's fair, but since I have 4 hens overdue and they are my first chickens, I feel like I am probably doing something wrong. My other reason for writing this is that I know as soon as I ask, Lana and the gang will start laying

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

chickens are funny about laying . You wouldn't think so sinceit is completely natural. Yet behold the human female, sorry for my being crude but it takes very little for the human female tohave problems with thier monthly cycles. Too much stress, too little protein, anything can svrew it up. I think our feathered friends may have similar problems.

 

[zoogirl26]

When I was originally having this problem, I read every suggestion, and tried everything. The one suggestion that ultimately made the difference was to stop giving them ANY scratch. They always preferred the scratch, but now that I'm feeding them only laying pellets, they are laying pretty consistently. Certain hens do not seem to be laying, but with 9 hens, I am getting 4-6 eggs most days. I do have an automatic light come on for most of the night (since days are getting so short), and they also eat whatever they find on the property, as they free range from sunup to sundown.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

When I was originally having this problem, I read every suggestion, and tried everything. The one suggestion that ultimately made the difference was to stop giving them ANY scratch. They always preferred the scratch, but now that I'm feeding them only laying pellets, they are laying pretty consistently. Certain hens do not seem to be laying, but with 9 hens, I am getting 4-6 eggs most days. I do have an automatic light come on for most of the night (since days are getting so short), and they also eat whatever they find on the property, as they free range from sunup to sundown.

That sucks, because I have been using the scratch mixed with All-Flock to make it stretch.I am feeding 20 birds total, a mixture of11 adolescent Guinea Fowl, 3 Roos, and 9 hens so i stoppedwith the Layena and All flock seemed to suit everyone. No one really liked the Laying Pellets except for my one older hen anyway. I too am only getting like two to three eggs a day but no matter. I only have them for pets anyway, I give away any eggs I do get.