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

[DLunow]

I am new to this site. I am having a problem. I have had hens for YEARS. I have always had good luck with them and love to be with them. HOWEVER, last spring a Bobcat got in and killed my 30 hens, one afternoon. SO, in last July I purchased 20 hens (Barred Rock 24 weeks old) They came here and promptly, the next day, laid 5 eggs. They have NEVER laid another egg, since. I attributed that to the weather being so hot here. I did expected them to lay again in the fall. STILL no eggs. I have done lights, no lights, music, no music, leaving them in. (I do usually let them out each morning.) They look healthy and have good feed and clean water all of the time.
ANY help would be appreciated!
D

 

[CheerioLounge]

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Could they be laying somewhere that you aren't looking? Do they free range? It seems a little odd that they would not have laid an egg since July at the age they are.

 

[Cass]

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I'm so sorry for your loss last spring.

The new girls aren't laying.....there could be sooo sooooo many reasons this is the case. Since you have had hens for years I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting they are laying some place you are not looking or the eggs are being eatten before you pick them up.

Since you bought them as POL Pullets have they been wormed and dusted for other bugs that might cause them to be to anemic to lay?

Are you like me? Over indulgent in the treat department? (As soon as I stopped feeding them extras they started laying. So much for my hens filling my empty nest need to feed something in my life. LOL)

Have you contacted the original owner to see if the remaining flock is having a similiar problem?

I have a BYC friend who never ever buys "older" birds....including the age you purchased....her reason being "if they were such good birds, why is someone REALLY selling them?" She got a couple of really nice birds, she really wanted once and it turned out that one of them was an egg eater and that was why the previous owner was selling them....selling them together so they wouldn't be "lonely". Her egg production went down to almost nothing in one coop, while the other coop kept laying. She finally caught the culprit on video. Guess her Hubby is some kind of a computer wiz or something. I'm not sure how I would have gone about diagnosing the problem myself, but I now subscribe to her theory on "older birds" and don't buy anything older than 2 - 3 days.

Edited to add: I just figured out how I would diagnose "egg eating" as the problem. STORE BOUGHT EGGS. Put a few in the nest boxes and see if they dissappear. Mark them, just in case they don't dissappear, but multiply, so you know which are the new ones.

 

[CheerioLounge]

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Sorry DLunow! I didn't mean to insult your intelligence. It was just the first thing that popped into my head! Cass has made some excellent points and suggestions.

 

[Cass]

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Sorry DLunow! I didn't mean to insult your intelligence. It was just the first thing that popped into my head! Cass has made some excellent points and suggestions.

*giggling* Cheerio, you did notice I managed to work the concepts into the post tho, right? Sometimes the obvious is overlooked, esp by experienced people, cuz they are hearing hoof beats and thinking "zebras" instead of the more likely "horses"

 

[CheerioLounge]

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Sorry DLunow! I didn't mean to insult your intelligence. It was just the first thing that popped into my head! Cass has made some excellent points and suggestions.

*giggling* Cheerio, you did notice I managed to work the concepts into the post tho, right? Sometimes the obvious is overlooked, esp by experienced people, cuz they are hearing hoof beats and thinking "zebras" instead of the more likely "horses"

No worries Cass!! Your post was totally on point! It really was the first thing that popped into my head! I don't have to worry about missing eggs since my girls don't have the luxury of free-ranging.

It's not like they would find anything foraging through this desolation I call my 5 acres!

 

[cowgirl67]

When chickens are traumatized, they will quit laying, also when daylight is shorter (as in winter time) they will stop laying.

 

[Cass]

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True, but these chickens have been in place since July, so I doubt that either of those are the problem; unless the ghost of the murdered chickens are still around and scaring the new flock.

 

[flocksalot]

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True, but these chickens have been in place since July, so I doubt that either of those are the problem; unless the ghost of the murdered chickens are still around and scaring the new flock.

I wonder what a ghost chicken would say? It couldn't be BOO. Mabe it would be BuuuUUUUUuuuuak. Or a ghost roo could go BOOOOOoooooOOOOOooooOOOOOO. So if your chickens all turn white overnight do you know you have a spooky coop?

 

[DLunow]

I have looked all over. They are free range. However, I have tried leaving them in and find no eggs any place in or out.
I did contact the man I bought them from. He bought an extra 100 for him at the same time. He is having the same problem. They have all been wormed and dusted.

I will try the "Put a few eggs in (Marked) and see what happens.

I will let you know what happens.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

D