I am in the exact same position you are! my hens will be two in the spring and I havn't gotten in agg in MONTHS! I prefer not to use light but still......
Why Aren't My Chickens Laying? Here Are Your Answers!
- Thread starter speckledhen
- Start date
- May 13, 2011
- 5
- 0
- 7
Hi all. We need a little advice. Our hens are not laying. Quick breakdown of our flock.
We received 2 2yr old Buff Orphington hens from craigslist in April. They laid about 2 weeks then quit. We decided to purchase 3 Buff Orpington chicks from a local feed and grain, then couple weeks later 3 more. So now the chicks are about 7 months old and we've had 4 eggs. 2 of the chicks developed into Roosters, clearly one is older than the other as it is much larger. The 2nd roo appears to be a month behind and is just starting to crow. Since the weather has turned colder they've all been going to bed around 4 so we gave them a light in the coop to prolong their day, now there are a couple hens who won't go in. Once we pick them up and put them in the big roo attacks them.
Is there something we are doing wrong? We've seen no signs of the roo's fighting each other. Should we get rid of 1? Which one should we keep? Why would the roo be attacking the hens?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!!
mommymem
Cape Cod, MA
We received 2 2yr old Buff Orphington hens from craigslist in April. They laid about 2 weeks then quit. We decided to purchase 3 Buff Orpington chicks from a local feed and grain, then couple weeks later 3 more. So now the chicks are about 7 months old and we've had 4 eggs. 2 of the chicks developed into Roosters, clearly one is older than the other as it is much larger. The 2nd roo appears to be a month behind and is just starting to crow. Since the weather has turned colder they've all been going to bed around 4 so we gave them a light in the coop to prolong their day, now there are a couple hens who won't go in. Once we pick them up and put them in the big roo attacks them.
Is there something we are doing wrong? We've seen no signs of the roo's fighting each other. Should we get rid of 1? Which one should we keep? Why would the roo be attacking the hens?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!!
mommymem
Cape Cod, MA
Quote:
It's not unusual for the beta roo (the second in command) to mature slower. It's a hormone thing and having a lot of testoterone in the coop already delays the second one's maturation.
No. Don't get rid of the second roo. The INSTANT you do, the first one will come down with an incurable disease or become human aggressive and have to be gotten rid of. I have three roos and they chase each other once in a while, but other than that they are not aggressive toward anything or anyone. One is very much shorter than the other 2, but the middle sized one is the alpha roo...just ask him.
It's the wrong time of year for lots of eggs. I have 15 hens and only 2 eggs a day. I figure I'm lucky as I am hearing people with 50 - 100 hens that are getting 2 - 3 eggs a day. That's a LOT of feed for very little return.
Are you sure the roo is attacking them? Breeding looks a LOT like an attack...grabbing the hen by the head and "sitting" on their back end. If he is actually attacking them to keep them out of the coop, grab him up and hold him until everyone is in the coop and then put him in. There are several threads on this forum regarding aggressive roos and how to deal with them. I do some of those things to my roos regularly and they have not become aggressive....I hope it stays that way, cuz I really like my roos a lot. All 3 of them. Keep the roo outside the coop until dark, then let him in.
I will tell you that there is a definate pecking order in every coop....and it takes time for the pecking order to be sorted out and any change in the coop causes a change (and regrouping) of the pecking order. Since your roos are recently sexually mature, it may just be your roo sorting out the pecking order so it favors him. You didn't say if it was the oldest 2 hens he was not allowing in....I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case...since they have been the "mother hens" for the first few months of the chicks lives and now the roos is saying "I am in charge".
I would caution you to limit the treats if your birds don't start laying in the spring. I overdid the treats and it greatly decreased my egg production. And "over doing" is subjective. I didn't *think* I was giving them things in a huge quantity, but when I stopped giving them anything supplimental for a week production picked up. Now I try to give them 1/2 of what I want them to have, 1/2 the number of times I am tempted to treat them.....It seems to work.
It's not unusual for the beta roo (the second in command) to mature slower. It's a hormone thing and having a lot of testoterone in the coop already delays the second one's maturation.
No. Don't get rid of the second roo. The INSTANT you do, the first one will come down with an incurable disease or become human aggressive and have to be gotten rid of. I have three roos and they chase each other once in a while, but other than that they are not aggressive toward anything or anyone. One is very much shorter than the other 2, but the middle sized one is the alpha roo...just ask him.
It's the wrong time of year for lots of eggs. I have 15 hens and only 2 eggs a day. I figure I'm lucky as I am hearing people with 50 - 100 hens that are getting 2 - 3 eggs a day. That's a LOT of feed for very little return.
Are you sure the roo is attacking them? Breeding looks a LOT like an attack...grabbing the hen by the head and "sitting" on their back end. If he is actually attacking them to keep them out of the coop, grab him up and hold him until everyone is in the coop and then put him in. There are several threads on this forum regarding aggressive roos and how to deal with them. I do some of those things to my roos regularly and they have not become aggressive....I hope it stays that way, cuz I really like my roos a lot. All 3 of them. Keep the roo outside the coop until dark, then let him in.
I will tell you that there is a definate pecking order in every coop....and it takes time for the pecking order to be sorted out and any change in the coop causes a change (and regrouping) of the pecking order. Since your roos are recently sexually mature, it may just be your roo sorting out the pecking order so it favors him. You didn't say if it was the oldest 2 hens he was not allowing in....I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case...since they have been the "mother hens" for the first few months of the chicks lives and now the roos is saying "I am in charge".
I would caution you to limit the treats if your birds don't start laying in the spring. I overdid the treats and it greatly decreased my egg production. And "over doing" is subjective. I didn't *think* I was giving them things in a huge quantity, but when I stopped giving them anything supplimental for a week production picked up. Now I try to give them 1/2 of what I want them to have, 1/2 the number of times I am tempted to treat them.....It seems to work.
Quote:
I respectfully disagree with Cass on the roo situation only the rest I concure. I would not keep 2 roos in the same coop with only 6 hens especially young hormonal roos. The hens will get overmated and that stress alone can cause you to have no eggs. You don't need a roo to have eggs unless you want to hatch out chicks then you need a fertile roo to mate the hens.
Now if you want to keep both roos then I would put them in a separate coop or area.
The attacking you see is more than likely mating as Cass stated. Young roos will do things like sneak attacks or cornering in order to sow their wild oats. I have two young roos right now that like to sit at the pop door and wait for the hen to come in so he can grab her. Some more timid hens will try to stay out as long as possible because of this. The more forceful hen will take the roo to task which is alway amusing to watch a roo get his hat handed to him.
If you are going to use a light to prolong their daylight hours just make sure that it isn't too bright so they can still settle in and sleep when they want too. I too use a light, although mine is on 24/7. The light is positioned low and over the feed and water, so really all that is lite up is the feed and water. Perches, nest boxes and most floor is in the dark. The girls don't seem to mind the light on and I do get plenty of eggs. We sold 67 dozen last week and have 146 chickens of which 8 are 8 weeks, 2 are 17 weeks (and momma is still mothering), 12 are roosters, and the rest are hens ranging in age from 20 weeks to 4 1/2 (or possibly more) years. About half of our girls are over a year old.
When did you first put the light on? If you waited until just recently then your girls may be already into winter molt/I'm taking a break mode which is possibly why you only had 4 eggs. How did you begin to increase the amount of light? I know many people just flip the light on at some point, but it's better to increase it over a period of time. Similar to mother natures way of getting them to lay. The slower increased lighting helps stimulate them to lay like the coming of spring. I would also look into egg thiefs. Your first two shouldn't have quit like that. Egg thieves range from rodents, snakes, small mammals and of course the ever popular human. The other reason eggs could go missing is a hen/chic eating them. Young chickens not at the point of lay will pick and eat eggs quit often. It's just one of the many reasons to not group all ages together.
Hope you figure out things.
I respectfully disagree with Cass on the roo situation only the rest I concure. I would not keep 2 roos in the same coop with only 6 hens especially young hormonal roos. The hens will get overmated and that stress alone can cause you to have no eggs. You don't need a roo to have eggs unless you want to hatch out chicks then you need a fertile roo to mate the hens.
Now if you want to keep both roos then I would put them in a separate coop or area.
The attacking you see is more than likely mating as Cass stated. Young roos will do things like sneak attacks or cornering in order to sow their wild oats. I have two young roos right now that like to sit at the pop door and wait for the hen to come in so he can grab her. Some more timid hens will try to stay out as long as possible because of this. The more forceful hen will take the roo to task which is alway amusing to watch a roo get his hat handed to him.
If you are going to use a light to prolong their daylight hours just make sure that it isn't too bright so they can still settle in and sleep when they want too. I too use a light, although mine is on 24/7. The light is positioned low and over the feed and water, so really all that is lite up is the feed and water. Perches, nest boxes and most floor is in the dark. The girls don't seem to mind the light on and I do get plenty of eggs. We sold 67 dozen last week and have 146 chickens of which 8 are 8 weeks, 2 are 17 weeks (and momma is still mothering), 12 are roosters, and the rest are hens ranging in age from 20 weeks to 4 1/2 (or possibly more) years. About half of our girls are over a year old.
When did you first put the light on? If you waited until just recently then your girls may be already into winter molt/I'm taking a break mode which is possibly why you only had 4 eggs. How did you begin to increase the amount of light? I know many people just flip the light on at some point, but it's better to increase it over a period of time. Similar to mother natures way of getting them to lay. The slower increased lighting helps stimulate them to lay like the coming of spring. I would also look into egg thiefs. Your first two shouldn't have quit like that. Egg thieves range from rodents, snakes, small mammals and of course the ever popular human. The other reason eggs could go missing is a hen/chic eating them. Young chickens not at the point of lay will pick and eat eggs quit often. It's just one of the many reasons to not group all ages together.
Hope you figure out things.
Quote:
I respectfully disagree with Cass on the roo situation only the rest I concure. I would not keep 2 roos in the same coop with only 6 hens especially young hormonal roos. The hens will get overmated and that stress alone can cause you to have no eggs. You don't need a roo to have eggs unless you want to hatch out chicks then you need a fertile roo to mate the hens.
Now if you want to keep both roos then I would put them in a separate coop or area.
The attacking you see is more than likely mating as Cass stated. Young roos will do things like sneak attacks or cornering in order to sow their wild oats. I have two young roos right now that like to sit at the pop door and wait for the hen to come in so he can grab her. Some more timid hens will try to stay out as long as possible because of this. The more forceful hen will take the roo to task which is alway amusing to watch a roo get his hat handed to him.
If you are going to use a light to prolong their daylight hours just make sure that it isn't too bright so they can still settle in and sleep when they want too. I too use a light, although mine is on 24/7. The light is positioned low and over the feed and water, so really all that is lite up is the feed and water. Perches, nest boxes and most floor is in the dark. The girls don't seem to mind the light on and I do get plenty of eggs. We sold 67 dozen last week and have 146 chickens of which 8 are 8 weeks, 2 are 17 weeks (and momma is still mothering), 12 are roosters, and the rest are hens ranging in age from 20 weeks to 4 1/2 (or possibly more) years. About half of our girls are over a year old.
When did you first put the light on? If you waited until just recently then your girls may be already into winter molt/I'm taking a break mode which is possibly why you only had 4 eggs. How did you begin to increase the amount of light? I know many people just flip the light on at some point, but it's better to increase it over a period of time. Similar to mother natures way of getting them to lay. The slower increased lighting helps stimulate them to lay like the coming of spring. I would also look into egg thiefs. Your first two shouldn't have quit like that. Egg thieves range from rodents, snakes, small mammals and of course the ever popular human. The other reason eggs could go missing is a hen/chic eating them. Young chickens not at the point of lay will pick and eat eggs quit often. It's just one of the many reasons to not group all ages together.
Hope you figure out things.
Opps, missed the part where there were so few hens. Listen to the above advice, I know I learned something about how some roos act from her/him. so, Yup, get rid of one of the roos or keep it separate from the hens. Some people have a Bachelor pad for their extra roos, so they are never without a roo. If you don't want to hatch eggs you don't have to have a roo at all. They do taste yummy.
Most advise 1 roo to each 10 hens. I have 3 roos and 15 hens....without problems, so far....but most of my hens are bigger than my roos right now, so they make the roos back down quickly.
Come Spring I am going to get rid of one of the roos and hatch a few chicks to bring my flock into better ratio.
I respectfully disagree with Cass on the roo situation only the rest I concure. I would not keep 2 roos in the same coop with only 6 hens especially young hormonal roos. The hens will get overmated and that stress alone can cause you to have no eggs. You don't need a roo to have eggs unless you want to hatch out chicks then you need a fertile roo to mate the hens.
Now if you want to keep both roos then I would put them in a separate coop or area.
The attacking you see is more than likely mating as Cass stated. Young roos will do things like sneak attacks or cornering in order to sow their wild oats. I have two young roos right now that like to sit at the pop door and wait for the hen to come in so he can grab her. Some more timid hens will try to stay out as long as possible because of this. The more forceful hen will take the roo to task which is alway amusing to watch a roo get his hat handed to him.
If you are going to use a light to prolong their daylight hours just make sure that it isn't too bright so they can still settle in and sleep when they want too. I too use a light, although mine is on 24/7. The light is positioned low and over the feed and water, so really all that is lite up is the feed and water. Perches, nest boxes and most floor is in the dark. The girls don't seem to mind the light on and I do get plenty of eggs. We sold 67 dozen last week and have 146 chickens of which 8 are 8 weeks, 2 are 17 weeks (and momma is still mothering), 12 are roosters, and the rest are hens ranging in age from 20 weeks to 4 1/2 (or possibly more) years. About half of our girls are over a year old.
When did you first put the light on? If you waited until just recently then your girls may be already into winter molt/I'm taking a break mode which is possibly why you only had 4 eggs. How did you begin to increase the amount of light? I know many people just flip the light on at some point, but it's better to increase it over a period of time. Similar to mother natures way of getting them to lay. The slower increased lighting helps stimulate them to lay like the coming of spring. I would also look into egg thiefs. Your first two shouldn't have quit like that. Egg thieves range from rodents, snakes, small mammals and of course the ever popular human. The other reason eggs could go missing is a hen/chic eating them. Young chickens not at the point of lay will pick and eat eggs quit often. It's just one of the many reasons to not group all ages together.
Hope you figure out things.
Opps, missed the part where there were so few hens. Listen to the above advice, I know I learned something about how some roos act from her/him. so, Yup, get rid of one of the roos or keep it separate from the hens. Some people have a Bachelor pad for their extra roos, so they are never without a roo. If you don't want to hatch eggs you don't have to have a roo at all. They do taste yummy.
- May 13, 2011
- 5
- 0
- 7
Thanks all for the advice!
Now which roo do we get rid of? The smaller one that's still developing or the larger, louder more aggressive one?
Now which roo do we get rid of? The smaller one that's still developing or the larger, louder more aggressive one?
Quote:
That's totally up to you. Either of them will do the job when there is just one of them around.
Personally I would keep both until spring and see how they treat the ladies. I have no room in my life for agressive roos. Period. I don't care if they are aggressive toward me, children or other chickens, they taste yummy and that's where agressive roos belong, in the stock pot, in my mind. However if putting the larger, more agressive roo in the coop last doesn't stop his agressession toward your hens, I'd get rid of him sooner than spring. Face it, no one needs the hassel of having hens who won't go to roost every night. Life is too short to chase chickens around daily.
With that said, it really don't have to have a roo AT ALL if you don't want to hatch eggs....if you want to hatch eggs keep the one that you enjoy the most.
That's totally up to you. Either of them will do the job when there is just one of them around.
Personally I would keep both until spring and see how they treat the ladies. I have no room in my life for agressive roos. Period. I don't care if they are aggressive toward me, children or other chickens, they taste yummy and that's where agressive roos belong, in the stock pot, in my mind. However if putting the larger, more agressive roo in the coop last doesn't stop his agressession toward your hens, I'd get rid of him sooner than spring. Face it, no one needs the hassel of having hens who won't go to roost every night. Life is too short to chase chickens around daily.
With that said, it really don't have to have a roo AT ALL if you don't want to hatch eggs....if you want to hatch eggs keep the one that you enjoy the most.
so....why aren't my chickens laying???????????? here is my answer...cause they are spoilt and lazy!!!!!!!!!
I got about 40 hens and several roos, I am getting 3 eggs per day if I am lucky. they have been doing this since August, they are fed well, got plenty of light, clean environment and are ubber healthy. have black stars, barred rocks, rhode islands and some columbians.
pretty much I can honestly say they have all decided to vacation at the same time, lol. Is there anything I can do about it...not really, so please hope with me that they will restart laying soon, good vibes people, good vibes...my customers are hounding me for eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ema
I got about 40 hens and several roos, I am getting 3 eggs per day if I am lucky. they have been doing this since August, they are fed well, got plenty of light, clean environment and are ubber healthy. have black stars, barred rocks, rhode islands and some columbians.
pretty much I can honestly say they have all decided to vacation at the same time, lol. Is there anything I can do about it...not really, so please hope with me that they will restart laying soon, good vibes people, good vibes...my customers are hounding me for eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ema
- Thread starter
- #469
My older hens are taking extra long breaks for their molts this year, so I feel your pain. However, one by one, they are slowly coming back into production. Days will be getting longer very soon, folks! Maybe things will be looking up for us soon!
Quote:
Have you tried the stock pot and wooden spoon rattle? Or feeding them less treats?
I feel for you. I have 15 hens and 1-2 eggs a day. Pretty darn expensive eggs at $15 a 50 pound bag of feed. I am hoping, come spring, I am whining "I have too many eggs".
Have you tried the stock pot and wooden spoon rattle? Or feeding them less treats?
I feel for you. I have 15 hens and 1-2 eggs a day. Pretty darn expensive eggs at $15 a 50 pound bag of feed. I am hoping, come spring, I am whining "I have too many eggs".
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