Nothing is more exciting for a new chicken owner than looking into the nest box and seeing the first egg. This is why we decided to get chickens in the first place: it’s finally starting! There’s also nothing more unsettling than when they stop laying eggs all of a sudden.
People who keep chickens in their yards often worry that something bad might be wrong with them. Stopping to lay eggs can be a sign of health problems, but most of the time it’s just something less serious.
Let’s look at the most common reasons why your hens aren’t laying eggs and what you can do to help.
1. Monitor Egg Laying
When keeping an eye on the health of your flock, a drop in egg production is an important sign to look for. If you know how often each bird lays eggs, it’s easier to keep track of them. Stopping to lay eggs can be the first sign that something is wrong, so it’s a good idea to keep track.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
Your birds are still too young
When new chicken owners’ pullets haven’t started laying yet, they frequently worry. You’ve been waiting patiently since the girls were little fluffy balls, but that nest box is still empty.
Young hens, called pullets, start laying eggs when they are 18 to 22 weeks old, or about six months. When you get to 18 weeks, you might start to feel uneasy. Just be patient and remember that things like the breed and time of year also play a role. It will happen in the end.
What to do?
This one is one of the simplest to fix. You wait. When the pullets reach sexual maturity, you can get them to lay eggs by putting wooden or ceramic eggs in the nest box. If they are still too young, you don’t want to push them. For your hen to have a healthy reproductive system, she must reach key developmental stages. If you try to get hens to lay eggs too soon, they might get stuck with eggs.
