why have my chickens quit laying

[kycowgirl78]

We just quit giving so many fresh veggies

I too was giving them a lot of fresh veggies, which I thought was a good thing, and got a better laying response. I now given them "salad" just once a week. Maybe that was the key, I don't know, was doing it every day. Now it's been raining and their pens are really muddy today so only got 5 and then the game hen busted hers but usually when it's really muddy, don't get many.

 

[Crazy4cochins]

OK,they did it again.They have outsmarted me.again...
I found 17eggs hidden in the coop.
We will take a count tomorrow, to see if these brats are back up to the job.

 

[Masonic Chicken]

kycowgirl78

Well its good to know it wasn't just me.

 

[trueblueshowgirl]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned broodiness as a cause.

I had to go away for a week, a couple weeks ago. I returned to find the chicken sitter had not been taking the eggs. Every one of my hens was parked on some eggs- some two and three to a nest box.

I pulled the eggs, but now I have these hens that just want to set and brood and aren't laying.

This is a real problem since I sell fertile hatching eggs. My production has really decreased at the worst possible time for selling. It will be another couple of weeks, I estimate, before they let it go and start laying, again. A full hatch cycle.

That's the thing about keeping animals. They aren't machines- I just have to go with the flow and accept what I can't control, sometimes.

 

[Crazy4cochins]

Ok this is now getting out of control. I got my first prolasped egg and a flat sided egg!!! Now they seem malnutrtioned.
They are wanting to free range all day. So now I am keeping them penned up for a few days to see if they will eat more food and I need a suggestion on a vitamin supplement.

And yes alot of my hens are trying to set in the nest too long and my female Turken Vanessa got really mad when she saw me taking her hidden clutch of 17. She squaked for like 2 hours.

 

[Shesapip]

Wow, guys, I'm having poor egg counts, too, but I think I can tell who isn't laying eggs, because I have 4 hens, each one a different breed, and two RIRs, 1 year old - one lays dark large eggs and the other a much lighter color.

Then I have 4 pullets about 16 weeks old, all RIRs, one of whom is laying a cute little egg daily. From what I can tell, another one is getting ready to start laying because last week I had two "shell-less" eggs dropped in the back yard as though they had just slipped out unexpectedly, which is how the 1st RIR pullet started laying.

I got 4 layers from a gal who was rotating them out of her flock and rotating in new pullets. 3 of these haven't produced in the last week, which is when I began keeping records in earnest. I hate to say this, but I'm beginning to wonder if they are really 1 year old, as I was told, because their production has dropped dramatically since I got them (although the Red Leghorn is reliable). They were my only layers at first, so I know their egg shapes and colors and I know they were doing better.

I added two "yearling" RIRs to the mix about a month ago and these gals are popping out beefy eggs nigh on every day. There is some competition for nest space, though, because although I have four nest boxes, two are favored and one is favored more than the other. (I got an education about chicken sounds the first time Bossie and Baby had a nest standoff - growling, hissing, screaming!)

So - the reasons I've read for not laying are:

broodiness - n/a with mine
diet change - I just started them back on sunflower seeds, as they were used to those when they got here but I let 'em go for a while
emotional stress - they all seem very happy - no picking, lots of happy chatter - except for the nest competition. I DID have to move one of the nest boxes higher because the dogs would go into the coop and climb into it, but they never took an egg that I saw. But that was weeks ago. Oh, and I WAS in the hospital unexpectedly for 5 days and too sick to give instructions for good care to my daughter. That was 3 weeks ago.
moulting - n/a
old age - no way to be sure - I tried to check the teeth, but no luck

hiding eggs - there's just nowhere to do that here

 

[trueblueshowgirl]

One more for the list: parasites.

Internal (worms) and external (mites) parasites will cause chickens to stop laying.

 

[Crazy4cochins]

I got 12 eggs today I am 1 short but she has a baby.
Soooo whatever they still have something wrong. I think it's leg mites. And to much free ranging.
So I am going to look up this process, I have about 50 chickens now28 new babys so this is going to need to be a big process.

 

[EricShane]

man Ive been getting Overloaded with Eggs.. and i dont do anything special.. Not even any lights in the coop or anything! It just seems like, Ive been letting them free range more, lately.. and im getting more eggs on some days than I have hens!

so, someones been laying twice a day!

 

[Shesapip]

truebluesshowgirl wrote:

One more for the list: parasites.

Internal (worms) and external (mites) parasites will cause chickens to stop laying.

Thanks for that insight, trueblues! I have notice somebody's dropping runny red-brown poopies. Time to get the DE going! Is there a dosage chart for DE anywhere?
I've just been adding a bunch to their pellets.