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

[aaltamare]

Well, I came home from the auction today and......

An egg! Words truely cannot express our excitement.I was proud because it was a pretty nice size and nice shell too for a first egg. We put the newbies in the coop while the old were locked out in their yard. We let them go for a couple hours and when we came down to mix them up we had two more eggs from the newgirls! What a day! Not too much of a pecking order battle so far.

Thanks for the info on the coop. I had heard so much about heat, heat, heat. But I've read that some enjoy the snow. Nice to hear from someone so close to PA.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

Hello to all, I have another question,( what a surprise), How on earth do you tell when a chicken is getting to it's "Golden Years" I have two hens that wandered onto my property about 6 months ago and at the time they both layed really well. Suddenly the black chicken stopped laying and just parks in the nest box all day. She has been deloused successfully and is putting weight on again, but no eggs yhet. My three roosters are coming of age and have tried (unsuccessfully) to breed her but it looks more like a gang rape as my husband so tastelessly put it. But to be true that is exactly what it looks like. My 87 year old dad leans toward maybe she is just getting older and not interested (he should know

,I love my Dad) but in reality I have no idea how old this girl is. It's not like I can check her teeth or count her rings. What are some of the surefire ways to spot an older bird? And wherecan I find info to make her Senior years more comfortable?

 

[lazy gardener]

Hello to all, I have another question,( what a surprise), How on earth do you tell when a chicken is getting to it's "Golden Years" I have two hens that wandered onto my property about 6 months ago and at the time they both layed really well. Suddenly the black chicken stopped laying and just parks in the nest box all day. She has been deloused successfully and is putting weight on again, but no eggs yhet. My three roosters are coming of age and have tried (unsuccessfully) to breed her but it looks more like a gang rape as my husband so tastelessly put it. But to be true that is exactly what it looks like. My 87 year old dad leans toward maybe she is just getting older and not interested (he should know

,I love my Dad) but in reality I have no idea how old this girl is. It's not like I can check her teeth or count her rings. What are some of the surefire ways to spot an older bird? And wherecan I find info to make her Senior years more comfortable?

No answers here, just one question: is she also sleeping in the nest box? If so, might she be broody and looking for some eggs to hatch? If I were her and being chased by 3 adolescent hormonal males, I'd hide too.

 

[lazy gardener]

Well, I came home from the auction today and......

An egg! Words truely cannot express our excitement.I was proud because it was a pretty nice size and nice shell too for a first egg. We put the newbies in the coop while the old were locked out in their yard. We let them go for a couple hours and when we came down to mix them up we had two more eggs from the newgirls! What a day! Not too much of a pecking order battle so far.

Thanks for the info on the coop. I had heard so much about heat, heat, heat. But I've read that some enjoy the snow. Nice to hear from someone so close to PA.

congratulations. Both on the eggs, and the successful integration.

 

[Cass]

Hello to all, I have another question,( what a surprise), How on earth do you tell when a chicken is getting to it's "Golden Years" I have two hens that wandered onto my property about 6 months ago and at the time they both layed really well. Suddenly the black chicken stopped laying and just parks in the nest box all day. She has been deloused successfully and is putting weight on again, but no eggs yhet. My three roosters are coming of age and have tried (unsuccessfully) to breed her but it looks more like a gang rape as my husband so tastelessly put it. But to be true that is exactly what it looks like. My 87 year old dad leans toward maybe she is just getting older and not interested (he should know

,I love my Dad) but in reality I have no idea how old this girl is. It's not like I can check her teeth or count her rings. What are some of the surefire ways to spot an older bird? And wherecan I find info to make her Senior years more comfortable?

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 birds.

 

[Katt66]

This is wonderful information and I will definitely take the parts about molting and extra lighting to extend the days in the winter into consideration. Seems tempting to increase lighting to keep the hens laying. Even moreso though I'd think they actually NEED that break in the winter to molt and rejuvenate themselves from producing all spring and summer and fall. I think I'm leaning more towards letting them have shorter days in the winter. I want them as egg producers but also as adored pets and don't want to jeopardize their health for the sake of a few eggs.

 

[csweenlis]

This is our first year with chickens. This is Bonnie, a Welsumer who hatched mid-march. No eggs yet. does she look mature enough to lay? Seattle days are getting shorter already.

 

[Cass]

This is our first year with chickens. This is Bonnie, a Welsumer who hatched mid-march. No eggs yet. does she look mature enough to lay? Seattle days are getting shorter already.

Yes she LOOKS old enough, but she might not be hormonally ready to lay. Is she kept in a coop until a reasonable time for her to have laid her egg? Are you hearing the "egg song" from any place in the yard. She could be laying someplace other than in the coop if she free ranges all day. (She is just 6 months old, so any day she should start laying according to the books. LOL)

If you have or can get power to your coop you might want to use a time to add enough light to her day (12 - 14 hours of light). Most people add the light in the morning so the chickens do to roost at regular sundown.

 

[dsfrango]

If your trying to break the broodiness, im sure there's a couple ways but I was successful with the cage separation method. I put her in a large metal dog crate for about a 5-7 days. Keep an eye on her when she's first let bk in the main coop. If she goes bk to the box and sits or acts protective still, do another 5-7 days. If she's plucking around and acting normal then it's successful!

 

[Cass]

If your trying to break the broodiness, ok sure there's a couple ways but I was successful with the cage separation method. I put her in a large metal dog crate for about a 5-7 days. Keep an eye on her when she's first out bk in the main coop. If she goes bk to the box and sits or acts protective still do another 5-7 days. If she's plucking around and acting normal then it's successful!

Didn't work with my hen. Like I said before, everyone has something they think works, because it worked for them/the breed of chicken they have. NOTHING works universally. Well, except letting them hatch out a chick or two.