Why have my girls stopped laying?!

[Cindy in PA]

Not unheard of, but 10 month old chickens should not be molting. How much corn are you giving with the layer feed? Corn will really water down your protein % & depending on how long you have been giving it to them, it could have just hit them now. I give a cup or two of scratch to my 11 chickens each day that is 9% protein and they still lay pretty well. Some feeds are better than others also. Hope you figure it out.

 

[ADKChickenChick]

I had three eggs today :/. But...I stopped giving cracked corn completely. They've been getting straight layer mash for 3-4 days. Something new happened this morning as well. One of my roosters charged me...acted very aggressive. I gave him a shove with the side of my foot and he went after a hen. He's always been a bit squirrelly, but never acted like this. If he has a new found aggression, could this be affecting my layers? It would explain the dramatic change. He may have to be our first official chicken dinner!

 

[springchicken10]

I read your posts with interest because I'm having the same problem. Since February my three hens (Australorp, Silkie and Barred) have eaten 50 pounds of laying mash and some scratch feed and haven't laid but 1 egg. They are in with a 1 year old large aggressive (to me) Buff rooster. I never see them fighting or mating. If a snake is getting in there to eat eggs he wouldn't be able to get out according to my vet. Why aren't these girls laying? They are also can not be hiding them. The silkie is three years old. The barred is 11 months old, the autralorp is ? but when I got her in Feb she was laying every day for three weeks, then...0 They don't appear to be molting.
Anybody have ideas? Also, around here the farmers swear by apple cider vinegar as a wormer. This sounds like an old wives tale to me. What do you think? Thanks!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I had three eggs today

. But...I stopped giving cracked corn completely. They've been getting straight layer mash for 3-4 days. Something new happened this morning as well. One of my roosters charged me...acted very aggressive. ....IIf he has a new found aggression, could this be affecting my layers?...

If a rooster acting like a rooster could cause a flock of hens to stop laying then old Gallus Gallus Domesticus would have never completed its transition from a dinosaur into the bird we all love so well today. Since there are from 24 - 30 billion chickens on the Earth today, I would not be so fast to blame Earth's roosters for a dearth of eggs.

Google "How to force molt a chicken" and see if any thing on the sights that pops up rings a bell. There are also sights that explain which hen is currently laying. Read and study these sights carefully before contemplating chicken and dumplings because the information is designed for the commercial egg producer to tell him or her which hen is currently laying or not laying, and maybe how much longer you can expect her to lay, not which hen is coming into lay. August or September hatched chicks can now be going into their first molt. This is imo why the old timers put so much faith in "Spring Chickens."

Seriously, I think that something is beating you to your eggs. Either a snake or shakes or some other varmint, like a pet or neighborhood egg sucking dog. Skunks also love eggs for breakfast. There is also a species of two legged dog that is very adept at stealing eggs. As previously mention your hens may have found a nest place or two that they like better than the ones you provided. Feeding 18% or 22% game bird food may help get your hens over the hump.

Finally animals do not appreciate change or new things and that is doubly true for their food. If you change a flocks food it is best to do so slowly not abruptly.

Do come back and tell us what the problem was.

 

[NotableNancy]

I'm still relatively new to chickens as well but my first few thoughts are of having 'egg eaters'? Are the chickens eating the eggs?
I've seen it a few times in my coop. I think a few eggs broke accidentally and the girls ate them, shell and all. I just saw some light egg residue in the nest.
How about mites/lice or worms.
It must be terribly frustrating to see the empty nests every day.

 

[ADKChickenChick]

I am frustrated! I haven't been down after getting everybody out in the run this morning...hopefully I'll see some eggs down there! The way our coop is built and you have to access the nesting boxes I really don't think an outside predator is getting my eggs. There is no access for skunks, we live in the middle of nowhere with no real neighbors...so dogs are not an issue. Snakes are a possibility, but I recently gave my flock a Gardner snake my husband found for a treat and I don't think one would stand a chance in the coop. I may have egg eating chickens...but how do I tell that?

Another new problem is foot pecking. One of my poor brahmas has very sore and bloody middle toes from the others pecking at her feet. I have separated her, cleaned her feet, and applied antibiotic. She is resting away from the others until she heals up. I read that foot pecking is a stress thing...so is not laying. WHAT is stressing my girls out?! Oy Vey!

 

[springchicken10]

Hi again, When on the odd occasion I've seen that the chickens have eaten eggs I've always found the shell. They don't eat that. In my coop nothing can get in except a snake that is 1.5 inches in diameter. People I would see or catch plus there's nobody interested in that around here. I think something's wrong with the flock but I don't know what. I checked the hens' combs. They are red and pretty fat. I can't understand it. Will try some wild bird seed in addition to laying mash and scratch.

 

[Tuhmu]

I am frustrated! I haven't been down after getting everybody out in the run this morning...hopefully I'll see some eggs down there! The way our coop is built and you have to access the nesting boxes I really don't think an outside predator is getting my eggs. There is no access for skunks, we live in the middle of nowhere with no real neighbors...so dogs are not an issue. Snakes are a possibility, but I recently gave my flock a Gardner snake my husband found for a treat and I don't think one would stand a chance in the coop. I may have egg eating chickens...but how do I tell that?

Another new problem is foot pecking. One of my poor brahmas has very sore and bloody middle toes from the others pecking at her feet. I have separated her, cleaned her feet, and applied antibiotic. She is resting away from the others until she heals up. I read that foot pecking is a stress thing...so is not laying. WHAT is stressing my girls out?! Oy Vey!

If you have an egg eater you would see some signs of the egg in the nest boxes, part of a shell, the yolk mixed with the wood shavings etc.

 

[SavageDestiny]

Not unheard of, but 10 month old chickens should not be molting. How much corn are you giving with the layer feed? Corn will really water down your protein % & depending on how long you have been giving it to them, it could have just hit them now. I give a cup or two of scratch to my 11 chickens each day that is 9% protein and they still lay pretty well. Some feeds are better than others also. Hope you figure it out.

My 10 month olds just finished a molt...

 

[ADKChickenChick]

I'm in the same boat, springchicken! I know there is something going on, I just can't seem to pinpoint it.

And no sign of any egg yoke, membrane, she'll, etc, LeviS. I saw that two eggs were laid late this morning. I left them in the boxes to see what would happen. Still there when I returned later in the afternoon...my only two eggs today :/