Chickens that Don't Lay

We've been raising chickens for about 10 years now. Every year we get 5 or 6 chicks, raise them in a separate coop, and after they start laying, mix them in with the general population of existing chickens. 

This year, 8 months after getting the chicks, only 2 of the 5 are laying. We're certain which 2, but baffled why the other 3 are not. We've gotten roosters before, and have 2 roosters already, but we're fairly certain these 3 are not males. But we've never had chickens not lay after 6 months or so. It's getting to the winter season, and we need to start making some decisions about the flock; there isn't enough room to keep a bunch of non-layers around. 

Anyone had experience with non-laying hens?  How do you "fix" that problem, if it can be fixed?  

This is interesting, because as you know, probably better than me as you've had them longer, chickens will slow way way down on laying in the winter, but some breeds also take a lot longer to start. 

Some solutions to the slowing down I've seen are keeping a light in the coop to keep their average light at 12-14 hours, as well as increasing temperature in the coop.

We have 19 layers currently, got 3 eggs today. One of our 8 brahmas, and most likely the Rhode Island reds. This is down from 13 a day average around Halloween. 

As for getting them to start in the first place, I have no clue. Could they be hiding eggs? Have you checked if they're bound?

We get a period every year this time of year when they just stop laying for 6 weeks or more. In fact this year it was more like 10 weeks. But they started up again and now we get five eggs from seven hens everyday like normal. So it might be a seasonal molt thing or maybe they just all stopped laying at the same time whereas with a flock of mixed age perhaps in the past they have stopped laying randomly so you did not notice the drop in production.

My flock is down to six birds now.  Three are quite old, the other three maybe four years old.  I haven't seen an egg in months.  Seemed like they started their molt a bit early this year, and with the shortest days of the year upon us, they haven't yet resumed laying.   I suspect I'll start seeing eggs again when the days start getting longer.

With birds born in the late Spring, I've had some wait until March of the following year to begin laying.  Others surprised me and started laying in the Fall and more or less carried right through Winter.  Young birds lay a lot more often than older birds.

Putting a light on a timer in the coop will get them to lay during Winter.

I've had the same experience as 1988RedT2 with hens born later in the Spring, some lay in the Fall, others wait until the next Spring. It all depends on when they molt, and how quickly the seasons change. They could just be at the lower end of the pecking order, getting bullied a bit more than others and not ready yet. 

I call them soup.

In reply to preach :

I was gonna say sandwiches.  But soup works!

preach said:

I call them soup.

popped in here to say exactly this.  "hens" that don't provide food (eggs) before /through the winter become food.

Yeah, we've been considering calling them soup.

We've done the same thing pretty much every year.  We have this separate, smaller coop that we keep the little chickens (and only the little chickens) in until they start laying.  This coop is about 6 x 12.  No place to hide eggs, and completely screened in to keep out predators, plus it's inside of our fenced-in garden.  2 of the 5 new chickens are laying on the regular- we know this because they are the two laying blue eggs.  The other 3 should be laying brown ones.  We get about 1 blue egg per day.  Some days we get 2.  We have gotten zero brown eggs.

We've never, ever before had a new hen not start laying before November.  

Fairly certain the 3 slackers are not roosters.  They have no rooster distinguishing features, and make no noise.  

Typically the first egg or two a chicken lays will be smaller.  We call them starter eggs.  We haven't even gotten a brown starter egg from these 3.   They're not oddball varieties, we get pretty much the same 3 or 4 types of chickens, Mrs. VCH and the kids like a mix of colors, both in the birds and the eggs. 

The rest of our flock is in a larger coop/ run area.  I do run a light in the winter to increase their egg production.  They also have a submersible water heater to keep their water from freezing.  We've been through broody cycles, etc. and all that.  

We're at the point where we kindof need to make a decision about the new chickens.  I hate to butcher them, but if they're not going to lay, I don't know what else to do.  We already have 15 hens and a roo in the main chicken coop/ run.  One of the hens is going on 9 years old, she's the oldest, from the first batch we ever got.  So she's obviously not laying, but the kids love her, she's kindof the mascot.  The roo is a big fluffy bluish gray guy, who crows loudly and often, keeps everyone in line.  The other 14 hens are anywhere from 2-4 years old; on a good summer day we'll get a dozen eggs; lately with the cold and shorter days, even with the coop light, we're down to 4-6.  

Are they kept in a coop or free-ranged? If they're free-ranged, are you sure there's not a clutch you can't find?

We've had some luck putting some easter eggs in the nesting boxes so that they tend to congregate and lay there. If they're not laying at all my next look would be to diet; are they getting enough protein and calcium? 

Failing that, others have had smart things to say about pecking order and molting.

Happy hens lay eggs.  Are they in an environment that they feel "safe enough" to lay?  Also, we would usually place a fake egg in the nesting area to signal to them that this is where you lay the eggs.

I would not make a decision based on not laying this time of year.  If they're not laying by Spring, then you could whack 'em.

1988RedT2 said:

I would not make a decision based on not laying this time of year.  If they're not laying by Spring, then you could whack 'em.

 

This is a financially losing position to take.  You will have to feed them all through the winter with no return.  I've found it's much cheaper to cull the non-producers, and then buy laying replacement hens in the spring.

volvoclearinghouse said:

 

This year, 8 months after getting the chicks, only 2 of the 5 are laying....

Are they boy chickens? 

In reply to Indy - Guy :

LOL.  That's one way to look at it.  I know that if I added up my costs and compared that number to the amount required to buy the same number of eggs in the supermarket, I'd be significantly in the red, so there must be another reason I'm keeping chickens, but I'll be dipped if I can tell you what it is. 

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

All the plus ones.  Eggs could be a dollar apiece and it still would probably be cheaper for me to buy them.  Mrs. VCH likes them, the kids like them, and apparently I don't complain enough such that we still have them.  

Thought I'd offer up an update!

My chickens, which took a few months off starting with their molt which began around October/November, have begun laying again.  In fact, the days had only just started to become noticeably longer by the end of January when some of the birds started laying.  Now, I have all three of the younger birds, and at least one of the older Buff Brahmas laying regularly.

Saved from the pot.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

Same here.  We decided to give the new birds a chance, tagged them, and mixed them in with general population.  About a month ago egg production picked up; we now have like 6 dozen eggs laying around the kitchen.  Anyone want some organic fed, free range eggs in zip 21158?  $5 a dozen.  ;-)

And yesterday Mrs. VCH and the kids came home with 6 more day old chicks, which are now cheep cheep cheeping away in the bathroom under a heat lamp.  

Mind if I hijack a little and ask about the feed and care cost of raising chickens?

In reply to Stampie :

I've got 19 birds, they eat about $25 worth of food a week, 2 40lb bags. We buy a bunch when it goes on sale every month. They also get most of our table scraps, stale bread, and occasional treats. Birds themselves, I pay a little extra for sexed and weirder breeds, but $5-7 each. 

Otherwise, my cost has been minimal. $15 for nipples for water buckets, probably $6 a bucket because I like the lids with a pour spout and those cost extra.

Biggest expense has been the "run" we use, which was around $200 on Amazon. The new one I'm hoping to build this year is going to cost about $400 in materials, but I want hardware cloth instead of chicken wire. Most likely I'll use 1" PVC to build a hoop tunnel, wrap the outside with hardware cloth, and build a door. 

Starting chicks was a $20 heat bulb, a clamp light I already had, and a dog cage I already had. Couple bags of wood chips, some adapters for mason jars for food and water. 

It is NOT cheaper than buying eggs by the dozen, but, they last a hell of a lot longer with no refrigeration. And come peak laying season I damn near give them away to stop the flood. 

Same here, we have them because the rest of the family likes them, but we are doing it as cheaply as possible.  At least it is more entertaining to give table scraps and wasted food to these happy little buckers instead of the boring compost pile.

We had late hatchers this past year, who should have started laying around October but just didn't.  They finally started laying as soon as the days got noticeably longer in mid january, however that coincided with me getting tired of the useless freeloaders and putting a lamp in the coop providing light for 12 hrs a day...so i can't say which it was but one way or another the longer 'day' got them started and now we're averaging 4.5 eggs a day from those 5 even in the dead of winter.

RevRico said:

In reply to Stampie :

I've got 19 birds, they eat about $25 worth of food a week, 2 40lb bags. We buy a bunch when it goes on sale every month. They also get most of our table scraps, stale bread, and occasional treats. Birds themselves, I pay a little extra for sexed and weirder breeds, but $5-7 each. 

Otherwise, my cost has been minimal. $15 for nipples for water buckets, probably $6 a bucket because I like the lids with a pour spout and those cost extra.

Biggest expense has been the "run" we use, which was around $200 on Amazon. The new one I'm hoping to build this year is going to cost about $400 in materials, but I want hardware cloth instead of chicken wire. Most likely I'll use 1" PVC to build a hoop tunnel, wrap the outside with hardware cloth, and build a door. 

Starting chicks was a $20 heat bulb, a clamp light I already had, and a dog cage I already had. Couple bags of wood chips, some adapters for mason jars for food and water. 

It is NOT cheaper than buying eggs by the dozen, but, they last a hell of a lot longer with no refrigeration. And come peak laying season I damn near give them away to stop the flood. 

Wow I had no idea chickens ate so much.Or,maybe it's that our ducks forage a lot on their own so they aren;t going through their store food as fast. We have 12 ducks, 2-5 geese and four ibis and we do mybe two 50lb bags a month. In the summer when the geese aren't here that cuts down by as much as half. 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

They're more reliant on the food in the winter, but my 9 Brahma are all around 9lbs each and eat a lot all by themselves.

The flock cleared the grass in a matter of days after we built the run, but they get a lot of bugs, mice, snakes, and weeds that grow the holes in the summer months. 

Part of the plan for the new area is to build some 6 inch tall wood frames with 1/2" hardware cloth on top that they can't peck through, just to leave paths where grass stands a chance to grow for them to graze on. 

Are they social in that they need a big flock?  What's the minium amount of birds?  I assume you can do all hens?