7 Reasons why your chickens will stop laying eggs

You wonder why your chickens stopped laying eggs? and the good news is, there is something you can do to solve and get your chickens back to laying eggs daily again.

There are many reasons why your chickens will stop laying eggs,
1. illness
2. stress
3 old age
  Some of this is in your control as their keeper, and some of it isn’t.

Let’s dig deeper into the issue to get to the causes of why your chickens stopped laying eggs in the first place.

These are 7 reasons why your chickens will stop laying eggs, and what to do to correct the abnormal situation.

1.Improper Diet

When your hens have stopped laying, diet is the first thing you should examine. Chickens need access to fresh, clean water all day long. A lack of water for even an hour on a hot day can disrupt the laying cycle. In the winter, make sure to keep your hen’s water from freezing.  It’s important to also make sure you’re feeding your flock a high quality layer feed and ensure each hen is getting enough to eat every day. Even the best treats, including chicken scratch, should be fed sparingly as they can really pack on the pounds without offering much nutrition, kind of like your favorite snacks!

2. Extreme Weather
Extremely hot weather and extremely cold weather can cause a decrease in egg production for your hens. To combat this, try to make them as comfortable as possible by insulating the coop in winter. Keep them cool and supplied with plenty of water in summer. 

You can also give your chickens some delicious chicken treats to improve their health and well being when the weather gets tough. Hot oatmeal with fruit in the winter or other winter chicken treats will be much appreciated and in the summer chickens just love frozen fruit!

3. Molting
Another reason that your chickens stopped laying eggs could be due to molting. Molting is when chickens shed their old feathers and re-grow bright shiny new ones. This process is taxing on the chicken’s body, and many take a break in egg laying so their body can put its energy into growing new feathers.

Most chickens molt in the fall, but we’ve seen our ladies molt at all different times during the year, some even molt in the winter! Poor girls!

Some chickens molt so lightly you can barely tell it’s happening. For these light molters look for ruffled feathers or bald spots on the head or around the vent. 
If your hens are molting, be sure to give them some extra protein. We love giving our hens Tasty Grubs when they’re going through a molt to help boost their system and grow those feathers back more quickly so they can get back to laying delicious eggs!

4. Change of Season
As summer moves into fall, the decrease in daylight signals the chicken’s body to lay less eggs. Chickens naturally take a break in laying eggs in the winter and hens can slow down to one egg per week or cease laying all together.

We here at Backyard Chicken and turkey bussines firmly believe in giving our beloved hens a much needed laying break in the winter, but every chicken keeper has their own views on this topic. If you don’t want to allow your hens a laying break, you can artificially light the coop in the winter. 

5. Age
We’ve found this to be the worst reason that chickens stop laying eggs, because there’s no fixing it. Just like females of any type, female chicks hatch with only a certain number of ova in them. Once those ova have all transformed into eggs and been laid, that’s it, they’re gone and there won’t be any more. This can happen at any time, but most hens reach this point in their life around two or three years of age.

We have some hens that are 6 years old and still lay eggs on occasion, but have mostly stopped production. They’re just enjoying their retirement at this point!

6. Illness
Hens will stop laying eggs when they are ill. If your hen stops laying unexpectedly, watch her carefully for signs of illness. If you spot any of these signs of illness, be sure to separate her from the rest of the flock and give her some TLC. We like to keep a folding rabbit cage on hand just in case we need to separate chickens for any reason. While chickens are in the sick bay they receive easy to eat foods like yogurt and scrambled eggs and we put electrolytes and vitamins in their water. We’ve had many hens recover from illness and injury this way. 

Common Signs of Sickness in Hens:
Drop in energy level
Refusing to leave the coop
Droopy tail
Glassy, watery, or droopy eyes
Coughing, sneezing, wheezing, gasping
Vent discharge
Diarrhea
This handy printable offers even more signs your chicken is sick.

7. Stress
Chickens can become stressed very easily. Like any animal, stress affects chicken physiology and can lead to a decrease in laying. Try to keep your hens stress-free by avoiding swift changes in their environment, protecting them from predators, and keeping them comfortable year-round.

So, as you can see, there are a lot of reasons hens stop laying eggs. Some of them are in your control, and some aren’t. Eliminating stress, checking for pests, and making sure your birds are happy and healthy are the first steps to take when your nesting boxes suddenly go empty!
   Hope this list will help you identify reasons your chickens stopped laying eggs, and how to get them back on track.