Zero Eggs!😫

[Chickenzerbest]

I have 7 hens and 1 roster and they are laying just fine

 

[B_Chickle01]

I have 7 hens and 1 roster and they are laying just fine

I don’t understand what could cause this! I didn’t think it was normal to not have any eggs at all in over a week! They were laying great up until then! Do you know what could cause this and how I can fix it?

 

[TwoShepherds]

I get eggs daily (or every other day) from my seven pullets (hatched this May), but I rarely get eggs from my 1.5-year-old hens. I hope that they resume laying as the days get longer and they finish molting. Some people add lights to their coops to help prolong laying.

 

[Onyxflock]

Oh ok so this is normal for us because of location and season. I was starting to get really worried when I came on here and starting reading one thread about how many eggs people received for the day and saw everyone was still getting them! But I didn’t know where they were from so I figured It’d be best for me to post something. They look like they are going through a soft molt actually there’s feathers all over their coop and I JUST changed their bedding! Idk if you can see all the feathers I attached a photo to make sure they’re def molting.

That will do it for sure. Our advisor At the feed store says it's nature's way - fewer babies in harsh winter.

 

[Ohchickfarming]

This is our first winter together(my family and our flock) they’re 7months old.. I live in NY and it’s been freezinggg we haven’t had any eggs at all in over a week! Is that normal for them to go that long?! We have 3 pullets and 1hen.

I have 10 pullets 7 months old and one roo. I live in ohio and have been getting at least half dozen a day. Put them on layer feed and free choice crushed Oyster shell. I noticed when I don't put the Oyster shells in i get two eggs instead of 6. Before winter I was getting 9 or 10 a day

 

[B_Chickle01]

Well someone will be happy to take them off your hands, I'm sure, since it'll be prime time for them to start laying come spring.

I’ll take them too i love my babies even if they’re a bunch of freeloaders right now like Orrpeople said

 

[cmom]

I do give the birds higher protein feed during the winter months and when they are molting considering their feathers are made of mostly protein. In the summers here when it's hot then I switch them over to lower protein layer feed because they don't need as much then. My youngsters all get the higher protein feed while they are growing out. I don't know for sure if that makes a difference but I still get some eggs. I do sell my eggs so I want to make sure I have eggs to sell because the egg sales pays for the birds feed.

 

[rosemarythyme]

aart (or anyone else for that matter), are you saying that sometimes pullets will lay through their first winter but then shut it down completely in subsequent winters?

I basically went from 8-11 eggs a day to 1 every other day. Should winter make THAT much of a difference?

Yup, absolutely. Many of us get NO eggs from hens post molt (which for me started as early as July this year), all the way through winter solstice, and up until days start lengthing more noticeably. For me that'd be around March for the majority of the flock.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Well thank you for that response, which puts my mind more at ease. Just odd that this is not what I experienced my first two winters with chickens. Is it safe to say that was due to them being pullets?

The first year you can chock it up to pullets laying through the winter. After that, it gets more iffy and your results will vary based on your individual flock, and your local climate/daylight hours too.

Here in WA it's just gloomy through winter, and I don't supplement light, so no surprise that my hens don't lay.

 

[Kevin_87]

Normal to slow down, check for new hidding spots. My girls like to put them under the Daisy bush when I am not looking.