Why Are My Chickens Not Laying Eggs Is It Because They Re Stressed

A backyard chicken raiser might feel betrayed, anxious or stressed because he/she has invested a handsome amount of money and time in raising their chickens but they have stopped laying eggs unexpectedly.If you are also wondering as to why are my chickens not laying eggs? Please be mindful that there might be numerous reasons like your chicken might be ill or feeling stressed or she is old in age.Ideally, a chicken lays an egg every 24-26 hours, but poultry animals may stop or reduce laying eggs for a short period of time. This is natural for your chicken to stop laying eggs for a short period of time. But this does not mean that you should feel anxious or hostile, there is nothing wrong if your chicken is taking a break. If you are blaming yourself by consistently thinking that is it because they’re stressed? Take a deep breath, relax and stop tearing or blaming yourself! It is not always the owner who is the reason for chickens not laying the eggs, the reason may be natural and your chicken may resume laying eggs very soon. Your backyard poultry animals will grow new feathers every year after they molt. Then do make sure to know how are chicken eggs fertilized and why do chickens eat their eggs?Why are my chickens not laying eggs in the egg box?There might be a constant concern in your mind as to why my chicken is not laying eggs in the egg box. But this is not an issue of serious concern unless you are finding it hard for you to collect the eggs from the floor or you are accidentally stepping on eggs laid on the floor.Try increasing the nesting space area. Generally, there must be at least one nesting box for every four to five laying hens. But if you think that you have this recommended number, then you might consider increasing the nesting space just by installing a temporary nest box. If your broodies are returning to normal, you can remove the additional egg boxes. But if you think that your hens were laying eggs outside the egg box, then you can install more permanent nests to encourage your hens to lay eggs in the egg box.When the hens are young and are just beginning laying the eggs, they might take some time to figure out the right place to lay the eggs. Poultry animals might take their time to get comfortable and get in the habit of laying eggs in the egg box. To encourage your hens to lay eggs in the egg box, install some enticing and comfortable egg boxes for your hens. Always remember that hens are creatures of habits, so install nest boxes that are comfortable and attractive for your hens. Laying hens typically prefer dark, peaceful, and out-of-the-way places to lay the eggs. There are high chances of them laying the eggs in the box if there are already some eggs in the box. The position of the box must be lower to the ground than your roosts. You can keep them closed in the chicken coop for some time to make them used to lay eggs inside the egg box. Otherwise separate the hens in case the pecking order is getting aggressive.Sometimes, laying hens do not lay eggs in the egg box because the breeds might find another more attractive place to lay eggs. They may lay eggs in the hidden nest, and you might be thinking that they have stopped laying the eggs. This can be avoided by encouraging them to lay eggs inside the egg box by closing them in the chicken coop for a few days.Is it possible for a chicken to never lay an egg?It might be a bit frustrating for a backyard chicken raiser to know that few girls in the flock have never laid a single egg. There is no breed of hens that never lays an egg.Roosters never lay an egg. If your girl is not getting proper nutrients or daylight, she might feel unhealthy which eventually might cause a reduction in egg-laying capacity or no egg-laying at all. Once a chicken retires, she would never lay an egg again after attaining the age of maturity which is three to four years of life.How do I encourage my chickens to lay eggs?Laying hens need a proper balance of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and other nutrients for the healthy production of fresh eggs. Over treating or over supplementing hens can also lead to decreased egg production.To put it simply, chicken health is of utmost importance and overweight laying hens are generally considered unhealthy and they won’t be able to lay eggs properly as extra treats and scraps can adulterate the nutrients in an entire layer feed. So encourage your hens to lay eggs properly, try to use a good quality layer ratio, and ensure that your laying hens are getting a sufficient supply of calcium to form the eggshells. For better chicken health, their diet should be inclusive of at least 90% complete feed. Improper food in their diet can throw off the balance of your laying chickens. You must provide complete layer feeds to provide balanced nutrition to your poultry animal for a long and healthy life. Sunlight plays a crucial role in egg production. Not getting the proper amount of sunlight might be one of the reasons for the reduction in the number of egg production. Ideally, a laying hen should get at least 16 hours of light in a day for the best production of egg. Not getting adequate and sufficient lighting can cause your laying hens to molt, which ultimately can reduce egg production. You can opt for artificial lighting if it is naturally not possible for you to expose your hens to daylight for at least 16 hours.If the laying hens have stopped producing eggs unexpectedly, they might be feeling sick. Look for the signs of illness in your laying hens and if you find any signs in any chicken, separate that chicken from the flock to prevent spreading the illness in other chickens. The chicken’s health can be ensured by providing them easy to eat food and scrambled eggs. Electrolytes, nutrients, and vitamins can be added to their water to help them recover from the illness.Do chickens stop laying eggs when stressed?Laying hens are very delicate and they can become stressed quickly. Just like other animals and human beings, the stress affects them psychologically, which eventually affects the production of eggs.The chicken can get stressed and stop laying eggs because of many reasons. A few reasons may be extremely hot or cold weather (extreme winter months or summer months), barbaric or untamed dogs near their nesting box, noisy or over-excited children, or an owner who treats his girls very badly. They can get stressed if they are moved to a new chicken coop or additional young chickens are added to their flock. All these reasons can make your chicken stressed and distracted because of which they can stop laying eggs. To avoid getting your chicken stressed, you should not bring any drastic major change in their nesting box, chicken coop, routine, or environment. Another solution is to protect them from predators and make them comfortable in their flocks. Try to ensure that they are getting adequate hours of sunlight in a day. The egg production decreases when chickens are getting exposed to a drastic change in their weather. They might get stressed or think that this is not the right time of the year for them to produce eggs.How can you tell if a hen is too old for laying?Usually, chickens start laying eggs after they have completed the age of 18-20 weeks. They will be at the peak of her egg production during her initial years.Generally, they produce around 230-280 eggs in their first year of laying eggs. Gradually, this number gets reduced and after the age of three to four years, their body does not support them in egg-laying. However, for some lucky owners, few hens can produce eggs for a longer period of time. But this is one of the worst reasons for your chicken to stop laying eggs because you cannot do anything about it except let them enjoy their retirement at this point because they cannot start laying again. Chickens also have a limited number of ova, and after all of them are converted into eggs they cannot lay eggs anymore. Usually, laying hens reach this stage at three to four years of age, after which they cannot lay anymore. However, these hens can be a great asset to your flock, even after they have stopped laying eggs. Older hens have good companionship and leadership qualities, which will help your younger hens a lot.Why have my chickens stopped laying eggs in summer?One of the reasons might be molting, it is also known as the period of regrowth and feather loss for the chickens. Naturally, these girls molt for a period of 8-16 weeks.Molting is a natural process for laying hens to shed their feathers to prepare their body to grow more and beautiful plumage. Though this is natural for your chickens to not lay eggs during this time period, you need to be a little more vigilant to ensure that your chicken is getting proper protein and calcium in their diet during this period so nothing goes wrong after they stop molting. The good thing about molting is that your chicken may start even bigger eggs when they resume producing eggs after the process of molting is over for them. So don’t get bothered about the egg production as it will return to normal after your chicken has a new set of feathers. The best temperature for your laying hens is between 55 to 90 F (12.8-32.2 C) for best egg production.It might be possible for them to survive in extreme temperatures but they might stop laying in extreme summer or winter. Breeds like White Leghorns are prone to get affected more by the cold temperatures. Your chicken aged 20 weeks can also not lay eggs in the winter months because of the extreme cold, they will start laying eggs once the spring arrives.When the summer arrives and the temperature is scorching hot, they might feel stressed and uncomfortable in laying the eggs as most of the hens need their desired weather. You can help your hens by installing a fan in the chicken coop and providing them with plenty of fresh cold water.Your chickens may stop laying eggs when they are suffering from discomfort because of fear from predators or parasites resulting from any recent predator attack on the flock. This might cause them trauma and the production of eggs can be affected because of their discomfort. You can make them comfortable by adding extra protection to the chicken coop to protect them from the predators and parasites in the coop.Thus, as explained in the article, there might be various reasons when your chicken can stop producing eggs. If you are a backyard chicken raiser, you would be able to find out more easily that some of these reasons are under your control, while others are beyond your control. We hope this article was helpful for you in some or another way.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for why are my chickens not laying eggs, then why not take a look at when do chickens start laying eggs, or prairie chicken facts?