Young Hens not laying/ Rooster not crowing

[rdaddario]

Hello, my name is Richard and my wife, Cindy, have had chickens for six or seven years with limited success. We have them for the beautiful eggs they usually lay. We now have 10 hens and one rooster, most of them born in March 2008.

Up until a month or so ago they were laying eggs, although not as frequently as we expected, and the rooster was crowing and doing his rooster thing. Recently, however, we have had no eggs, and I can't tell you how long ago the rooster last crowed or was seen on the back of one of his hens.

Can someone help me with this situation? We have not changed their living environment or their feed and they have the run of the back yard which they like.

I know that they usually lay less in winter, but this total drought is unusual. Plus the rooster's behavior is puzzling.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[digitS']

Welcome to BYC, Richard

!

Could they be molting?

Steve

 

[Wifezilla]

Post their normal foods. They might be missing some nutrients...maybe not enough protein?

 

[cjeanean]

Mine did the same thing as the result of their first molt. Now I'm starting to hear my roos crow a little more, and I've actually seen one mount once. Other than that they just gotta get back into the swing of things. I'm glad I'm not the only one having this chicken problem!!!!

 

[swtangel321]

You could try adding some extra light to there coop to help them lay better (or at all) Chickens need 14 hour of light a day to lay good !! And easy way of doing this is to get one of those timers (they have them at walmart) and set the lights to come on in morning and off at night (dont keep it on 24/7)

As far as the rooster goes I have no clue, Are you 100% sure he isent crowing ?? Maybe he does it while your at work ??

What are you feeding them ?

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. All in due time.