NEED ADVICE: My friend's Entire Chicken Flock have stopped Laying - ANY IDEAS - He may have to kill them

I love chickens ....and eggs....I know he's always taken the best care of these little guys, I'd hate to think he'd have to kill them. I guess he can't afford to keep them if they won't lay.

Is there any sickness that might cause this? Weather condition?

It's normal in the winter...

Tell him to wait until the sun cycles get longer.

Madras curry

They usually slow down or stop completely in winter, Homie.

who is HE

They are molting,they will start laying again.

Your friend is a dumbass. Hens stop laying in the cold months and start up again once it's warm out. But sure, kill them and he will never have another egg, guaranteed. Gods, humans are dumb.

Duh.

It's winter. Use heat lamps in the hen house and the hens will lay.

Identify the poison. Heal the chickens naturally.

lightbulb on timer in hen house,google is your friend.get a cheap solar light on a timer and not worry about stringing power to a chicken coup.

New chicks, and a Chicken Fryer. That is my advice.

URGENT: Tell him to contact Becky's Homestead on YouTube.

Thank you all for your advice, I'll pass it on. I would think he'd know this about chickens but he's probably been hitting the pipe too hard, if you know what I mean.

Are you both retarded?

Chickens lay according to number of daylight hours.

In winter, there is less daylight.

If your pal wants winter eggs, he has to add a light to the inside of his coop, on a timer. They need 10-12 hours of TOTAL light per day.

They also need to sleep, which they cannot do if you leave the light on all night. You can kill them if you do.

And, ffs, let him know they stop laying again when they molt once or twice a year,depending on breed.

If he wants eggs during molt, he has to up the protein a lot, so they can grow feathers and eggs at the same time. Soft cat food is a cheap supplement, as are sardines. They love both.

Idiots.

Advise friend to stop fukin them

This. They need the extra "daylight" to continue laying.

get a rooster or a new rooster, eat old rooster

^^^^^
This

Hey don't attack me - I don't know anything about chickens. He mentioned it to my husband so I wanted to see if anyone here had advice. It looks like this is a common situation and he SHOULD know about this. Maybe he's just sick of taking care of them, I don't know. We'll pass on the info though.

Ya know....some of those chickens do seem kinda bow-legged...

Heat lamps keep them laying all winter long. Not as frequent though.

turn off the wi-fi

common situation for sure. unless your chickens are several years old, do not kill them. others have told you, up the protein, and put heat lights in the coop. they need sunlight to be productive. go to youtube and look up videos on how to care for chickens.

Could it simply be the age of the hen? a hen does make the best chicken & dumplings so all would no be lost...

There isn't any link that I can send you at this point
for proof, OP...

However, given that the hens haven't been in difficulty
for more than a few weeks--you don't mention how long
this problem with his chickens has been going on--but
there is now mounting evidence that GEOMAGNETIC STORMS
(which we've had for the past few weeks causing all kinds
of havoc around the world) CAN HAVE adverse effects on
the laying behavior of these animals.

Geomagnetic conditions world-wide have been unusually
severe the past several weeks (you can research this
even today KP INDEX was extreme.)

I would tell your friend to just wait it out--or if
money isn't an issue--look into putting a "grounding"
system for the hen house in place. That would involve
placing a false floor or some kind of metal lining
(aluminum) for the hen house with a grounding wire from
the floor to the ground, much like is done in the
manufacture of computer chips to avoid static discharge.

I'm totally serious about this--and it could save the
lives of your little feathered friends.

Good luck--let us know how it goes.


The Oracle's Cookie

btw, my 20 chix have gone from laying over 4 dozen per week to just laying 6-10 eggs per week. short days make for less egg production. fact.

you do know chickens do this? some breeds often.

But laying mash they will lay lay lay

Eat one chicken a day until they start laying - they'll break soon enough.