We have an assortment of chicken's.Ranging from Dom, Reds,Rocks,to what have you.Our's where laying quite well, then we bought an assortment from a friend. He raised them to show but got out of the show. We bought them they laid at first but now after months not on is laying anything!! We have about 30 chickens and not on egg(My wife gets about 1 every 48 hours.)Any ideas about what could be the problem.Different feed(we feed basic scratch,laying crumbles and sometimes oyster shell)ideas or anything.We are willing to try or maybe have chicken for the next 30 days!-Thanks

-- Mike from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 11, 2001

Answers

If I understand right the chickens you had before are STILL laying? Chickens react to changes by not laying well. Also, it may be that they are moulting( although I kind of doubt they would all at one time).

1.They are stupid. Perhaps they don't know where to lay. Put those free buckets you get at construction sites or bakerys on their side. Push some straw in them with your foot and put a golf ball in it. They will know then that that is where they are supposed to lay. Also it discourages snakes and discourages from trying to taste the eggs.

2. Protein can change laying. I feed all cracked corn now. Perhaps you could supplement with more protein (I've heard dog food as cheap supplement) to jump start them.

3. Maybe they need oystershell on a more regular basis.

4. Put vinegar and a little cayenne in their water.

Hope these ideas help. Keep us posted.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 11, 2001.

How old are your original chickens? They stop laying after they get older. You usually only want to keep a chicken a year - 1 1/2 tops. By the way -- the oyster shell does not help them lay, it is to make for a better shell on the egg if you are having a soft shell problem. Hens that are not laying should not have oyster shell.

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), October 11, 2001.

If this just started it is a good chance that they need more light as the days get shorter and with the move they will quit laying a small light or lantern for a couple hours each night and good feed and they should be back. P.S. mine just stopped laying also

-- leroy Hamann (yorel_56714@yahoo.com), October 11, 2001.

Respectfully disagreeing with Karen, we are happy to keep our hens for several years. They may not lay every day after they get older, but still lay fairly well, and often larger eggs, as well as making wonderful mothers....My inclination on this is twofold--one, as noted above, any change can put chickens "off". It may be that they are still working out the new pecking order and generally distressed. Also, since laying is so influenced by light, this time of year when the days are getting shorter, it is a natural tendency for hens to lay less. Putting a light(on a timer) in your coop to extend light hours sometimes helps.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 11, 2001.

If you have not been getting eggs for months and are feeding and giving water correctly I think something is eating some .Yes they can slow down with age or the winter , yes they will slow with changes in enviorment they will not allstop at once for months .Look for a way something may be getting into the coop.Depending on how secure your coop is it could be rats, racoons,weasels,or skunks .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 11, 2001.

Patty - or crows.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 11, 2001.

Crows ??????? Will they really take eggs ?

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 12, 2001.

Yes, crows will steal eggs,, they will walk through the hen house door,, up the little walkway, into the enclosed nest box, walk right back out with an egg in their beaks, look at you and fly off!

-- Bergere (autumnhaus@aol.com), October 12, 2001.

Depending on when they started to lay, they could be just shutting down for the season. If they are molting, they won't lay for a while either--how long depends on breed. Some of the "egg machines" are faster with their molt than the old breeds. Our production reds molt much more quickly than do the Australorps but I can't complain about them either.

I have a bunch of New Hampshire pullets that were hatched in mid May. They are just coming into their first laying cycle and will provide eggs through until late next fall. Our older hens (Australorps, Production Reds and a White Rock) are really slowing down because they are molting but when it's over, they will begin laying again. We'll be moving them into the hoophouse this weekend and I'll begin supplying a few hours of supplemental light in the early morning and allow them to go to roost with the natural light.

The problem I have now is that they are all wanting to hide their eggs and I'm having to leave them penned until about noon to force them to lay in the nest boxes before I turn them out. Since the hens support themselves with sale of surplus eggs, I don't need any muddied eggs of unknown age.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), October 12, 2001.

Marilyn: I haven't been through a moult yet. When/how often can I expect with my austrolorps? Do they all go through it at the same time because they are the same breed and age?

I'm suspicious though about the moulting theory of these birds because they are all different types (are they different ages?)so would it not be less likely they are moulting together? Also, she doesn't mention any other moulting symptons like feather loss after so long a time. Not an expert, just supposin'.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 12, 2001.

The original chickens started loosing their feathers a couple days before we recieved the new chickens. I am not so much worried about those, but the new ones who were laying before we got them and now are not. The pen is secure from outside preditors and top is covered.Thanks for all the advice so far!-Mike

-- Mike from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 12, 2001.

Yes, crows will do that - they take the eggs and fly away to a place of their own choosing, so you don't get to see the broken egg-shells as evidence. Like foxes with lambs - no evidence - just something missing that you never saw. It's only when you solve the problem that you suddenly start getting what you should have been all along.

You can roof-in the poultry-yard with wire netting, then keep the hens locked up until about midday or 1 pm - most of the eggs are laid by then, gather them and then let the hens out.

Otherwise or as well shoot the crows - I don't know about your laws for protection of birds - did see something recently about some idiot law or regulation by city-raised protectionists that protected crows in one state being reversed. However, crows are very cunning - they'll sit and watch you all day, but go inside and come out carrying a rifle or shotgun and they're gone. Best way, if your situation allows it, is to put up some sort of a blind or hide, and a way of getting to it from the house that doesn't have you visible to the crows, then invite in a varmint shooter. Either that or have a keen shotgunner walk up to them one time with a high-capacity- magazine shotgun like we aren't allowed to have in Australia anymore, and get most of them at once. If you can get close enough, even a high-speed air-rifle will work; but crows are big on feathers and low on kill-zone. One more example of how firearms are essential farm tools.

Another possibility is baited eggs. There are two ways I bring to mind to do this. One is relatively kind, and somewhat effective - it involves blowing eggs, then painstakingly re-filling them with something like mustard. The other involves getting eggs, then batch- processing them by setting them up on end (the egg carton is fine), sucking some contents out of the ends with a syringe, replacing the contents with a poison (say undiluted insecticide - the sort you normally dilute in many gallons of water and then spread over many acres), then putting a little patch of sticking-plaster over the end. Leave the eggs out to be stolen (a few at a time so the one crow won't get them all). Note that this leaves poisoned packets of ex- crow around, and some things will chow down on them - make up your own mind about this one, but it sure gets rid of crows.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 12, 2001.

I've also heard of filling the blown out eggs with salt.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 12, 2001.