Chickens Stopped Laying Eggs!

[aspenlucas]

We have 28 hens, some are older 2 years, but some are just 6-8 months. We were getting 9 eggs a day and now have gone to ZERO. With the occasional egg found in the goat trough. They are not hiding, they are just not laying.

We stripped down the chicken coop and added new shavings on the floor. Took the hay out of the nesting boxes and added shavings, thinking they may prefer that. Nothing! We have 13 nesting boxes. We do allow the chickens out to free range from about 8AM til they go to bed around 5. We have searched the farm and they are not hiding eggs. Any ideas?

I have egg customers and no eggs!

[kasjordan]

Are your chickens under lights? I live in Central PA and mine stopped back in November, they are just picking up again and starting to lay. Mine are not under lights. As the days get longer, they will start laying more regularly. I think most molt in the fall, but that’s a possibility too.

[aspenlucas]

[QUOTE=kasjordan;6832943]
Are your chickens under lights? I live in Central PA and mine stopped back in November, they are just picking up again and starting to lay. Mine are not under lights. As the days get longer, they will start laying more regularly. I think most molt in the fall, but that’s a possibility too.[/QUOTE]

They aren’t under lights. But they were laying about 8-9 a day just 3 weeks ago and the days were shorter then. I’m willing to wait if I need to. It is just boggling my mind!

[aspenlucas]

Also 14 of the chickens were just born in May and June of 2012, so they wouldn’t be molting yet. They started laying and then they just stopped. We are feeding them a combination of layer feed and scratch grains (half/half) plus they pick from the barns. Plenty of fresh clean water. We also offer free choice oyster shells.

[halo]

They havent stopped laying. The days are getting longer, they should be picking it up. Either something is eating them, or they are laying them somewhere else. You need to lock them up for a day or two and see what you have.

[Alagirl]

are you sure you don’t have somebody helping themselves to your eggs?

BTW, it won’t hurt the birds to give them a bit extra light in the AM/PM…you can put the lights on timers.

[kasjordan]

I think maybe you were lucky Most everyone I know around here with hens, they’re just now starting back up!

[aspenlucas]

We did lock them up for one day…no eggs at all. I do know most people around here say their chickens are slowing down. Except the one girl from work. She has 11 chickens and gets 10-11 eggs a day. Hers are the same age as my young ones. No lights.

[Crackerdog]

Could they be molting early?

[aspenlucas]

[QUOTE=Crackerdog;6833039]
Could they be molting early?[/QUOTE]

Well everyone is in full feather, beautiful coats, and some just aren’t even old enough to molt.

[Megaladon]

Try locking them up for more than one day as it takes about 25 hours for a hen to produce another egg.

Also, it depends on their breed. Are they production birds?

Stressed? Are they eating the eggs themselves?

[RedmondDressage]

Ahhhhhh welcome to my world. I have 27 chickens and I’m now getting 2 eggs per day. It is maddening. You might have some egg eaters like I did in one of my pens. If you do you can try a few things:

1. Blow out some eggs and fill them with either hot mustard or dish soap, then put them in the nest box. Mustard didn’t work on mine but dish soap does seem to be doing the trick.

2. Build a roll away nest box so they can no longer reach the eggs.

They also may be laying somewhere else. I have at different times found stashes of eggs in bushes, behind rocks, in my hay loft, and in the grain bucket of an unused stall!

[JLMet]

Light and feed are my first two things during the winter. They need the light to keep them in production, you really were just lucky if they were laying that well without light. They also need more or better feed this time of year because just like horses they are spending some energy keeping warm and their nutrition is going to go there first. Make sure your girls aren’t eating their eggs too, that is a lot harder to find out because they will eat it all including the shell

[StGermain]

Start making loud comments about how good some nice chicken & dumplings sound. “Hmmm…I wonder which chickie I should chose…” They’ll get the hint.

StG

[aspenlucas]

I don’t think they eat the eggs, because IF I get an egg sometimes it’s sits there for a day or two before it’s collected. So I doubt that is the case. I’m sure I was just lucky and it is the lighting issue. They are all production, Black Australorp, Delaware, and Barred Rock Hens, with two Americaunas. I don’t know that I want to do artificial light for them. We tend to do things naturally for the animals, breeding our horses and goats for foals when the weather is kinder. I don’t want to lock them in the coop longer just to be under lights. The coop stays fairly warm in the winter (water does not freeze overnight). I’ll talk to them about what happened to the meat birds…just kidding. We love the girls. They each have colored bracelets so we can tell who is who.

[Megaladon]

Hmm, well…BA, Delaware, BR and Ameraucanas are known to produce a good number of eggs, but I’m not really surprised at their lack of laying right now. They are certainly not laying machines like Golden Comets or other sex-linked commercial layer types. I have Welsummers that have not laid an egg in, actually I can’t remember the last time they produced an egg. So, it happens.

Check their skin for mites too, those buggers can come up quickly!

[aspenlucas]

[QUOTE=Megaladon;6833715]
Check their skin for mites too, those buggers can come up quickly![/QUOTE]

Will check them in the morning. We got ONE egg today! LOL. Their feathers and coats seem very nice, but I will check for lice/mites. Thanks guys!