# We need some help from the "Egg-sperts", please.



## grlight (Jun 26, 2020)

Hey Everybody! Here is what we have going on.

18 month old flock of Barred Rock chickens with a clean, roomy (8+ sq ft per bird), well lit and ventilated coop. It is on artificial lighting to maintain a 16 hour day. Large fenced outdoor area. All are well feathered and normal behavior. Poop is normal on all. They have free choice grit and oyster shell and, of course, food (all purpose flock - 19% protein) and water. By all indications they are happy, content and well fed. No overt signs of parasites.

Once they began laying last fall, we were averaging 5 eggs per day from 6 hens from last autumn until mid-summer this year. Then egg laying began to taper off mid July until we would go a few days or so between any eggs. We just assumed it was a normal molting period (they did molt at that time) combined with the warmth.

Around beginning of September it was one or two eggs per day, but sometimes nothing. They are still at this roughly 1 egg per day average from 6 hens.

There is definitely no predator or disturbance (game camera in coop to confirm). No sign of anyone eating eggs at all. No changes to diet, environment, behavior, etc. They just have stopped laying eggs. We are at our wits end trying to figure it out.

Please, any help at all? Thanks!


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## Animals45 (May 11, 2021)

Molting typically occurs each year when sunlight hours are decreasing in the lead-up to winter. They will probably spend anywhere between 8-16 weeks regrowing their feathers, and may not lay until after winter.
They still might be in the molting period and probably won't be laying until sometime. This could not be the case though, so you might need @robin416, @dawg53 or @danathome to help you out here!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It sounds as though everything is fine. 

To experiment, I'd turn off the light. There's a reason why laying slacks off during the shorter days. They might really need that time off.


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## grlight (Jun 26, 2020)

Thanks for the thoughts guys. We will take a look at the lights as well as just waiting longer for them to come out of molting.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Barred Rocks are my favorite breed. In addition to what everyone else has mentioned, keeping lights on for extended egg production will burn them out sooner. 
Commercial operations keep the lights on and they replace birds in two years because their birds dont lay enough eggs and are replaced with newbies.


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## lovely_chooks (Mar 19, 2021)

I am an eggspert and it’s because artificial lighting is bad . You need natural sunlight..


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## grlight (Jun 26, 2020)

lovely_chooks said:


> I am an eggspert and it’s because artificial lighting is bad . You need natural sunlight..


They have access to full sunlight (weather dependent - obviously if it is cloudy or rainy there is less light) from dawn until dusk. Literally nothing has changed from last year to this year and they went from 5 eggs per day to essentially zero. This started in July (which we wrote off initially as molting) when there was 16 hours of natural sunlight. They currently get 10 hours of natural light which is supplemented with broad spectrum light. Under identical conditions last year and even last January, February with less natural light, still averaged 5 eggs per day for 6 hens.


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## lovely_chooks (Mar 19, 2021)

grlight said:


> They have access to full sunlight (weather dependent - obviously if it is cloudy or rainy there is less light) from dawn until dusk. Literally nothing has changed from last year to this year and they went from 5 eggs per day to essentially zero. This started in July (which we wrote off initially as molting) when there was 16 hours of natural sunlight. They currently get 10 hours of natural light which is supplemented with broad spectrum light. Under identical conditions last year and even last January, February with less natural light, still averaged 5 eggs per day for 6 hens.


Maybe they are laying in somewhere else and hiding the eggs.. or just moulting.


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## grlight (Jun 26, 2020)

lovely_chooks said:


> Maybe they are laying in somewhere else and hiding the eggs.. or just moulting.


Yes, originally last summer we assumed because they were moulting that they stopped laying eggs. But they are fully feathered out and have been for 6-8 weeks. We originally searched for a hidden nest somewhere, though truthfully did not expect to find one. Both because there really is no where hidden for them to lay as well as we have no longer heard them shouting about laying an egg (you know how many hens get after they lay an egg). 

This is why we are frustrated. We have exhausted every possible option that we or anyone else has thought of. Bizarre. Anyway, thank you for the effort and time to reply!


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## lovely_chooks (Mar 19, 2021)

grlight said:


> Yes, originally last summer we assumed because they were moulting that they stopped laying eggs. But they are fully feathered out and have been for 6-8 weeks. We originally searched for a hidden nest somewhere, though truthfully did not expect to find one. Both because there really is no where hidden for them to lay as well as we have no longer heard them shouting about laying an egg (you know how many hens get after they lay an egg).
> 
> This is why we are frustrated. We have exhausted every possible option that we or anyone else has thought of. Bizarre. Anyway, thank you for the effort and time to reply!


Are you giving them the correct nutrients they need? Like protein, calcium..


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## grlight (Jun 26, 2020)

lovely_chooks said:


> Are you giving them the correct nutrients they need? Like protein, calcium..


They have free choice grit and oyster shell and food (all purpose flock - 19% protein) and water. By all indications they are happy, content and well fed.


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## lovely_chooks (Mar 19, 2021)

grlight said:


> They have free choice grit and oyster shell and food (all purpose flock - 19% protein) and water. By all indications they are happy, content and well fed.


Then that is weird: they just all suddenly stopped laying?


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