Will chickens stop laying eggs if they're mad?

[jarasz]

Well I think I have successfully ticked off my chickens. Let me start from the beginning. I have about 22 chickens some EE and some RIR and some sex-links. They are all of laying age and have been laying fine. They slowed down when it got really hot here, which was a first for me, but other then that lay well. They live in an A frame chicken coop and I will let them out to free-range sometimes. The coop square footage to chicken ratio is ideal. I researched it before buying more chickens.

Here comes the problem, my grandparents bought me 18 more chickens!! They asked over and over again if I wanted more chickens, because they knew someone selling sex-links for a dollar each, my grandma can't pass up a good deal. Anyway I kept telling them "no!" the chicken to square foot ratio is just just where it needs to be anymore chickens would be too many. Anyway long story short I now have 18 sex-links added to my coop! They are about 5 months old,but are not laying yet. In fact I'm only getting 1 egg a day now!!! What is going on?! Are my old chickens mad are have quit laying, is it too crowded? Okay I know it is too crowded , but will that cause them to stop laying? I'm really frustrated! I got chickens because I enjoy having them and sell the eggs for extra cash. But right now I have about 40 chickens sitting in my back yard eating loads of food and only getting one egg per day

HELP PLEASE!!!

 

[digitS']

When I was a kid on the farm, I had rabbits for awhile. They were mostly pets. I'd made the cages and purchased 5 does and 2 bucks. I had a "deal" from the old guy I bought 'em from that he would buy any surplus that I wanted to sell him. I was kind of his associate in crime and everything was going fine - lots of room, not much mess, low feed bills, having fun.

Then my older brother noticed what I was doing and decided he needed rabbits, too! Except, he bought 50 does!! Within a few months, I wanted nothing more to do with rabbits! Unfortunately, he came to same decision even before I could liquidate my stock.

Nothing is so upsetting as too much, too many, too fast. Your grandparents did you no favor by dumping these birds on you. And, it was no favor for the hens you already had.

No doubt, the crowded environment is putting a lot of stress on them. Just the change of having all these newcomers around has been upsetting to your hens. They are probably burning a lot more calories just trying to get thru each day. And, they may have started losing weight. You aren't going to get any eggs in a situation like that.

My advice? Get ahold of your g'parents and tell them how things have deteriorated for you with these new birds. Insist that they find another home for the newcomers or you plan on running in place and screaming the next time you are all together in a public place.

Steve

 

[jjthink]

Yes, if too crowded it will stress them out and they can stop laying, amongst other things.

Sorry this happened - yeesh, what a dilemma!
JJ

 

[Omran]

I will try to sell the new comers I believe you can get of them like candies for $4 or $5 a hen.
Good luck.

 

[debilorrah]

Yeah you have successfully made then mad, or irritated at the least. You should isolate the new hens for 4 weeks to protect your current flock from disease. And for them to get to know each other before they are integrated.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the othe posts. They aren't happy about the newbies moving in.`Is there a way you can separate them or find new homes for the new ones?