Where did all the eggs go?

[Graham K]

My three chickens (Gingernut Rangers) have all but stopped laying over the past couple of months. We have gone from a regular three eggs a day to no more than three a week (if we're lucky).

All three look well, are eating and drinking ok, have no mites or other nasties and have recently (in the last two weeks) had their six month worming with Flubenvent.

Has anyone else had their chickens go without laying for such a long time and still been healthy or can chickens simply go "on strike" and stop laying?

They are all just over two years old and have been together since day one.

Any comments or feedback most welcome, thanks. Graham.

[RichmondHens]

If they have laid the whole time since you got them (presumably at point of lay approx. 5 months old) then they have just come to a natural break. Hybrids are bred to lay intensively for 12 - 18 months then they slow down or stop for a bit. This is when most commercial egg producers get rid of them and bring in younger stock. Yours will come back into lay after a rest period in which they will probably moult but will lay fewer eggs than before.

Pure breeds lay less intensively than hybrids, tending to lay well from Spring to Autumn then take a winter break for as long as 4 months sometimes. But their laying lifespan is much longer and if kept healthy will happily still be producing a few eggs well into their 5th or 6th years, sometimes even longer.