hens stopped laying

Greengrass1

Around 20 hens here. Not an iota of an egg in last 6 wks. Mam fed them dairy nuts one day when layers pellet's ran out
Reckon that fcuked them up. Anything I could try?

Sam Kade

They normally stop laying this time of year even though I bought pullets last Feb and they are still laying every day. I give them 50:50 of layers pellets and oats.

Greengrass1

Sam Kade wrote: »

They normally stop laying this time of year even though I bought pullets last Feb and they are still laying every day. I give them 50:50 of layers pellets and oats.

Ye they were getting burst oats. Put in bottom of cooker at night in water..majority of these are over 1.5yr ikd I think

Sam Kade

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Ye they were getting burst oats. Put in bottom of cooker at night in water..majority of these are over 1.5yr ikd I think

The first batch of layers that I got in 2010 gave up laying from November to February every year and lost a lot of feathers during winter, they were hybrids. I bought them in Macroom the batch I bought last spring are also hybrids that I bought at Killmallock mart they seem a lot hardier than the first batch no feathers lost and laying well. One or two might rarely only lay every second day this time of year most of the time they lay every day. I mix the oats straight from the bag.

farmersfriend

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Around 20 hens here. Not an iota of an egg in last 6 wks. Mam fed them dairy nuts one day when layers pellet's ran out
Reckon that fcuked them up. Anything I could try?

I leave a light on with them, helps keep them laying.

Greengrass1

farmersfriend wrote: »

I leave a light on with them, helps keep them laying.

Have that too

Base price

What breed are the hens - commercial hybrids, pure breds or a mix/mash of same.
If you have a light on with them and still no eggs then they are probably spent hens or rats/magpies are stealing/eating the eggs.
I doubt the cow nuts would cause too much of an upset unless fed over a prolonged period of time.

aonb

Hens require 8-ish hours of daylight to maintain egg production
During winter, they will naturally slow down laying, due to lack of light.

If you are feeding them a decent diet (layers/oats is fine) and they dont have issues like worms/mites etc you should get a few eggs at least

Its very odd that you have had no eggs from 20 hens in 6 weeks - I would
definately investigate further. Even in these dark days my neighbours 20 hens are producing around 10 eggs a day, my four are producing 2 eggs a day (both 'flocks' are hybrids)
Can RATS be taking the eggs?
Magpies/crows?
Are there any shells in the area/run - could the hens have started eating their own eggs?
Could the hens be laying out someplace? (Ive found nests with dozens of eggs in at various times)
Check in the mornings if there are hens sitting in the nest boxes...

Greengrass1

Thanks for the replies guys.
Ye there a mix of hybrids and rare breeds. Don't think the rare breeds ever layed

No shells to be seen any where. They get let into a fenced garden evert day until 6 in the evening let out about 10 ish
No birds can get in shed when door us closed. Rats maybe a possibility. But haven't seen a rat here in a long time.
There was one nest box where they all laid even though there was 10 for them. All roost up at night but nothing in morn.

aonb

Have you gone over every inch of their enclosed garden? Look under all the hedges/shrubs for a 'secret' laying spot. If one starts laying in a nice dark corner, the others will join/follow.

My pure breeds 'retired' from laying years ago, but the hybrids are fairly reliable layers. With 20 hens, you really should have some eggs/daily, even allowing for the slow-down of winter...

Are their wattles/combs nice and red?
Are they moulting?
Have you checked their sleeping place for red mite (rub your finger along the ends of their roosting poles)
Do they eat layers pellets? (i.e. balanced diet)
Are they regularly wormed (if not, have you checked for evidence of worms in their poo?!)

Greengrass1

aonb wrote: »

Have you gone over every inch of their enclosed garden? Look under all the hedges/shrubs for a 'secret' laying spot. If one starts laying in a nice dark corner, the others will join/follow.

My pure breeds 'retired' from laying years ago, but the hybrids are fairly reliable layers. With 20 hens, you really should have some eggs/daily, even allowing for the slow-down of winter...

Are their wattles/combs nice and red?
Are they moulting?
Have you checked their sleeping place for red mite (rub your finger along the ends of their roosting poles)
Do they eat layers pellets? (i.e. balanced diet)
Are they regularly wormed (if not, have you checked for evidence of worms in their poo?!)

No shrubs fence all the way around the garden with a tree they hop into during the day
Yes combs nice and red.
Had one loose her feathers since died.
Yep still getting the layers pellets and oats everu day.
Never wormed them

foxylock

Greengrass1 wrote: »

No shrubs fence all the way around the garden with a tree they hop into during the day
Yes combs nice and red.
Had one loose her feathers since died.
Yep still getting the layers pellets and oats everu day.
Never wormed them

not being smart, but could be human intervention, is there a neighbour feckin your eggs?

Greengrass1

foxylock wrote: »

not being smart, but could be human intervention, is there a neighbour feckin your eggs?

Haha don't think so

aonb

All very strange - 20 hens ZERO eggs - its not that cold... red combs and free ranging - would indicate that they are/should be laying ... final suggestion, you have never wormed them - have you checked poo :P to see if they are worm-laden?

Hopefully they will all return to lay very soon and start firing eggs at you

Oh, final one - is their shed very draughty??

Greengrass1

aonb wrote: »

All very strange - 20 hens ZERO eggs - its not that cold... red combs and free ranging - would indicate that they are/should be laying ... final suggestion, you have never wormed them - have you checked poo :P to see if they are worm-laden?

Hopefully they will all return to lay very soon and start firing eggs at you

Oh, final one - is their shed very draughty??

Never wormed.
Would you actually see worms in poo?
Nope door on stable for them and. Very cossy nearly sleep in it yourself

aonb

yes, could see worms in their poo if they were v.worm-laden though they would be loosing condition...

Im stumped really, if their combs are red, I definately think its very odd that there are zero eggs from 20 hens when they are free-range, lamp at night, good coop and well fed... how old are the hybrids? if they are 2years + they will definately start to slow down laying, but still zero eggs is very strange (even my 3 year old hybrids are still laying daily, and as I said my neighbours 20+ hens are producing around a dozen eggs/day)

solargain

It could be nature cutting in , they usually go off lay from November - mid Feb

aonb

solargain wrote: »

It could be nature cutting in , they usually go off lay from November - mid Feb

True. But todays hybrids are 'designed' to not completely stop laying.

Ive kept hens for 10 years and Ive never had zero eggs from my tough
little hybrids in the winter. My neighbour has more than 20 hens, she sells the eggs, shes always managed to have eggs all winter too...

I have found that my pure breeds would definately slow down during the winter, but not completely stop either...

What do other hen keepers find with their hybrids in the winter viz laying??

solargain

I have been keeping them for the same amount of time & I find that the only ones that lay all over winter are the current years pullets. By mid Feb , the majority are back in lay again . I just let nature take its course

Joemassey

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Around 20 hens here. Not an iota of an egg in last 6 wks. Mam fed them dairy nuts one day when layers pellet's ran out
Reckon that fcuked them up. Anything I could try?

Pretty sure its nothing to do with the dairy nuts, but i've no idea why they arent laying, my 12 are giving me about 6 a day,

tomieen jones

Get a bag of wheat grass seed from your local health store and mix a ration in forget the amount but google wheat grass for hens!! I kid you not ! They will start laying again

ike

Our 4 hens 2 x RI Red and 2 x Plymouth Rock, haven't stopped laying, until last week when we couldn't find any eggs in their boxes for 4 day in a row.

Turns out for some unknown reason they made themselves a nice little nesting area in a hidden corner of the garden. Went out early and heard one of them clucking and laying and that's how we found 16 missing eggs!!

aonb

ike wrote: »

Our 4 hens 2 x RI Red and 2 x Plymouth Rock, haven't stopped laying, until last week when we couldn't find any eggs in their boxes for 4 day in a row.

Turns out for some unknown reason they made themselves a nice little nesting area in a hidden corner of the garden. Went out early and heard one of them clucking and laying and that's how we found 16 missing eggs!!

YUP! First thing I do when my lot dont produce the goodies, is go look for a nice little nest somewhere other than in the coop

Snow here, the hens freaked last night - hid under a bush, couldnt get them out to put in the coop - they were afraid to walk on the snow! Dont expect any eggs today

glaswegian

i have six hens,two light sussex,one wessex supreme and three hybrids. i haven't had an egg in over a month. they are free range and roost in a concrete shed,are well fed and watered. this is the first year without eggs.

Shrap

aonb wrote: »

True. But todays hybrids are 'designed' to not completely stop laying.
..............
What do other hen keepers find with their hybrids in the winter viz laying??

I have hybrids and pure breds - either way I've noticed over the years that the pullets that started laying in autumn will lay through the winter and not moult, the year olds will sometimes do the same but will sometimes go right off and moult till they're bald and not lay another egg till March, and the seasoned hens will lay a few times over the winter (maybe remembering their routine) and not lose so many feathers as the yearlings. Haven't noticed much difference between the breeds apart from the bluebells. Very pretty hens in summer, awful looking yokes in winter with no eggs for half the year.

tomieen jones wrote: »

Get a bag of wheat grass seed from your local health store and mix a ration in forget the amount but google wheat grass for hens!! I kid you not ! They will start laying again

Not tried that. Ta much ;-)

For what it's worth to the OP, hens are creatures of very little brain really. When one goes and lays somewhere else, the others will think "Ooh, there's the new place now" and also lay there. Then we humans think there's no eggs when we can't find them. I had missing eggs and a missing hen last summer until the hen came back from the ditch with 14 chicks! They'd all been laying in her nest.

If you make a nice cosy nest box in their shed (as far as possible from the door, deep box, lots of hay) and actually put 2 eggs in it (marked, so you know the old ones), they'll all explore the box and think "Ooh, there's the new place now". They're a bit like goldfish that way. Easily fooled. I have 5 or 6 stone eggs that I put around the place where I want them to lay.

glaswegian

found one egg in the coop this morning,maybe they're on their way back to laying.

solargain

By 14th Feb you should see a big change in that