My chickens stoped laying. I was up to 5 eggs a day.(I only have 5 hens) I increased the amount i feed them feeding them 2 a day instead of once (to make up for the lack of garden scraps they were getting when i was canning ) I have tryed only going to get the eggs in the afternoon. We are now up to 2 . I have one rooster in there with them .I did move there pen recently, and we also had heavy winds from the last hurricane. thanks becky

-- Becky Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), September 22, 1999

Answers

Relax,feed them some layer mash from the feed store. Stress will make them slow down on their laying,make sure they have fresh water at all times. Daryll,a nwfla farmer.

-- Daryll (twincrk@digitalexp.com), September 22, 1999.

I agree that it's most likely stress. Also consider, are the days getting shorter in your area. It might be time for a light. Are they approaching their molt?

-- Kendy Sawyer (sweetfire@grove.net), September 23, 1999.

I forgot about lights,14 hours a day,on a timer. Works for me .

-- Daryll (twincreek@hotmail.com), September 23, 1999.

corrected e-mail address

-- Daryll (twincreek@digitalexp.com), September 23, 1999.

again

-- Daryll (twincreek@digitalexp.com), September 23, 1999.

my chickens are going thru molt and production has dropped dramatically, from 9-10 per day to 3-6 per day. give them time and production will go up again.

-- snod (snod@texramp.net), September 26, 1999.

If your birds are not in the molt, I would go with the previously mentioned lights. I have found that putting a light on a timer to come on in the morning, rather than off at night, makes it easier on the birds, since with the gradual natural darkening of the coop, they will have plenty of time to get on their roosts and get settled for the night. Having the lights go off abruptly at night leaves the birds confused and disorganized, which could stress them.

-- dan (dshaske@excel.net), September 27, 1999.

Age of the hens? No matter what you do for hens older than 3 (give lights, hi protien food, no stress), they will turn egg laying off in fall, and slowly start up in Spring again. The roosters know whose hormones are working - they are the hens that get all the wear & tear on their feathers...from mating - one way to tell who is still laying. Anyhow, comes a time, like Nov-Dec, when all of them will slow down, even halt egg laying, again according to age. You can certainly fool the 1 yr olds into laying continuous (but less often) thru the winter, and they will stop temporarily only if it gets real cold.

-- Barb Lathrop (bflfish@aol.com), October 04, 1999.

One other possibility......If you have been feeding them tomatoes that will cause them to stop laying. Not just a tic but say a whole week with tomato in the diet will cause problems.

-- Doreen Davenport (livinginskin@yahoo.com), March 18, 2000.