There are several reasons why chickens will stop laying eggs. Anything from stress, the wrong food, weather changes, molting, and being bullied by other chickens. Literally, anything!
The questions to ask yourself are:
Why has my flock stopped laying?
What can I do to help?
Depending on the reason they've stopped laying, you can determine how you can help.
If it's stress from predators, find ways of protecting your flock. (I'll dive in more on this in another post).
If it's the wrong food, change their diet to a good chicken feed and add in a layer feed. The layer feed is your key to getting so many eggs! In fact, it's best that if you don't have this in their diet, go ahead and add it on in!
If you're dealing with weather changes, hot weather = maybe give them cool water and some treats with ice. Cold weather = If they're too cold, you can add a heat lamp or extra hay.
Molting is another reason, it's kind of like going through chicken puberty. They are having a big change with the seasons and with that change, they will just stop laying for a couple of weeks, this will pass. I promise!
Bullies can also add to stress so in this case, you'll need to find a way to get rid of your bullies or get them to stay away from your girls who are being bullied.
Health problems/pain are another one, the key here is to let your girls rest and get to the bottom of their health issues. Whether it be bumblefoot, infection, or whatever it may be, help them with it!
If you don't see a reason for not laying eggs that applies to your situation, let me know and we can dive into this deeper together! The way to get your eggs back is by helping them solve their issues, then we can move forward with egg cartons in hand!
-Lady of the Farm
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