Why aren’t my chickens laying?

[gyzmo]

My flocks stoped laying and I’m not sure why. We feed them daily with oyster shells in their feed. They always have water. There’s nothing getting in and hurting them and the rooster we have with them doesn’t hurt them enough for it to stop egg production. They used to lay constantly now we don’t get any eggs between our two flocks(12 chickens) I don’t think it’s because of the weather because it’s been happening for so long.we just grew a new flock and 1/5 lays daily and all the others don’t lay much either. Is it because of age? One of our older flocks was given to us so we aren’t sure how old they are. Does anyone have any ideas? We recently had a chicken die from an unknown reason so I’m worried they might have some kind of sickness. Any answers are appreciated!

 

[Yardmom]

Do you live where days are getting shorter this time of year?

 

[WingItRanch]

You ask about age.. how old are they? I believe egg production is decreased significantly after 2 years old.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

If you are on the US side of the world-

First season layers will usually lay through winter, but second season the shorter daylight hours in most cases causes them to slow down to stop laying starting in the fall.

 

[gyzmo]

If you are on the US side of the world-

First season layers will usually lay through winter, but second season the shorter daylight hours in most cases causes them to slow down to stop laying starting in the fall.

That would make sense but it has been an issue for several months now. How soon do they stop laying?

 

[gyzmo]

You ask about age.. how old are they? I believe egg production is decreased significantly after 2 years old.

That makes sense. I believe they are at least at the two year mark. One flock we don’t know because it was given to us and the other we’ve had for about two years.

 

[gyzmo]

Do you live where days are getting shorter this time of year?

I do but, this has been going on for several months. We’ve just gotten to the point where we’d like to know if it’s worth keeping them when they don’t lay.

 

[nuthatched]

I do but, this has been going on for several months. We’ve just gotten to the point where we’d like to know if it’s worth keeping them when they don’t lay.

They might have been molting and went into winter break.

 

[aart]

How old, in months, are the newer birds?
Do they free range?

 

[gyzmo]

How old, in months, are the newer birds?
Do they free range?

We hatched them in April. We have a runn we keep them in that we move every few days-week. They lay consistently 1-2 eggs a day.