Why did my Chicken stop laying?

[mikechickens]

Hi Folks

I was hoping to get some advice. I have eight hens. The first to lay (easter egger?) started at about 18 weeks, but stopped at about 23 weeks when the other birds started laying. She was laying sporadically for a week or two, now no eggs for the last three weeks. This is the only bird that lays a green egg, so I am sure she hasn't layed. She seems to be eating and acting normal. I thought maybe she need to adapt to other birds laying, as she was spending a lot of time in the nest box before (I have two nest boxes). However, there has been no change.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be really appreciated!

 

[Peeps61]

Hi - mine are taking some time off to molt. My only producing hen right now is my RIR and she's not molting.

What part of the country do you live in? Hens need around 18 hours of sunlight a day to lay at their full potential. The slowdown may be because of shorter daylight hours. Yours are too young to be molting - they normally do that their second winter and continue to lay through the first winter.

If you choose to add extra light, that may help. Some will tell you not to do it as the hens need a break from laying from time to time (I agree) and others will tell you as long as their diet is well-maintained that it won't hurt them to lay at full speed through the winter. Just that they will stop laying sooner as they age as a result of this.

Mine did not get extra light, but laid normally all winter long since we live in NW Florida.

I think it's probably the light if all else is normal.

 

[mikechickens]

Thanks for the response!. Just to be clear it is only one bird that has stopped laying, hence the concern. I am in Northern Virginia.

 

[aknewlin]

If she is a free-range hen, she could be laying in a secret spot. I had some young pullets that started laying in their nesting box, then suddenly no more eggs. I found out a week later that they all decided that laying under the front porch was a great idea. I found out when I heard the egg song from beside the porch.

 

[Peeps61]

Yes, assuming your hen is locked in, I would say it's the light - also, if she is a new layer, she is still working the kinks out of her system and some delays in a regular schedule are to be expected. If you hen is free range, she may have a hidden nest. I had a RIR who decided to leave the flock and lived out front in our azalea bushes. I looked and looked and finally found a nest with 14 eggs in it! They can be quite clever when they decide to hide their eggs.

 

[blankchicken]

I had a similar question, except it's more than one bird. I'm guessing it's the light thing too. Can it be any light? Ordo I need a specific kind? I have a timer that can turn it on In the morning.

 

[mikechickens]

Yup she is locked in. I suppose others might not be laying but it is more obvious that I haven't got a green egg in three weeks .

 

[keeweekid]

I also have a gl wynadotte which has not been laying for over a month. She was laying an egg a day until she went broody. I had broken her of that after 4 days by isolating her so that she would not have any eggs to sit on. This worked and was fine walking around with the flock. But then the laying did not come back. At first I suspected she was laying somewhere else but I cannot find a cache of eggs anywhere and never any egg laying squaks. She is lowest on the pecking order, and has since become very afraid of the other chickens. And at first I thought she was being pecked at on her neck and head, but somebody suggested that she might be molting. She is only seven and a half months and this will be her first Fall. Nobody else is molting and even though we are getting into shorter days, I still get eggs from all the others. And by the way, when all were laying, I knew which eggs belonged to whom because they are all so distinctly different.