There are a number of reasons why a chicken isn’t laying. These can be caused by many different issues, from stress and fatigue, through to environmental and time of year. In this article, we will go through some of them in chronological order according to age of the chicken.
However, please remember, if your chicken isn’t a hen, it won’t lay eggs. Ever.
My Young Chicken Isn’t Laying
The first place to start is with a point of lay pullet. A hen at the age of 16 weeks old is defined as point of lay. The term ‘point of lay’ has probably been around for many years and was used in the poultry world when that world comprised poultry fanciers who specialised in poultry and knew what the phrase ‘point of lay’ meant to them. It essentially means that a pullet is fully grown, and the next stage will be coming into lay. That process may take anything up to 6 weeks, and a poultry fancier would not be too concerned about when she actually started to lay. When laying does start, it can be a bit erratic at first, but will soon settle down into a routine. First eggs may be small, but each egg laid will be a bit bigger until they reach the size for that breed.
However, the term ‘point of lay’ is now more widely used as chicken keeping has become so popular, and the phrase is being met by people who have no experience or knowledge of chickens. If you take the phrase literally, it means that the pullet is on the point of laying an egg, and you almost feel that she is going to lay an egg in the box on the way home. That, sadly, is not the case. I feel that a more appropriate term is ‘prior to lay’ as this gives a better sense of the time it may take.
Red Comb On Pullets
When the comb is red, then she will start to lay. The red comb is actually meant as a signal to the cockerel that she is now ready to lay him fertile eggs, as there was no point in him wasting his attentions earlier. The red comb now works as a good signal for us!
Another way of telling how far a pullet is off laying is to find her pelvic bones. You need to locate her vent (bottom) in all the fluffy feathers at the back, and then feel either side and just below the vent with your index and middle fingers. You will feel 2 bones sticking out. From this, you then need to judge the distance between the bones, and this will give you an indication of time to go before an egg pops out. One finger upright between the bones indicates that an egg is at least 4 weeks off, one and a half fingers is a bit nearer at 2/3 weeks and two fingers means that she is a maximum away from laying an egg, if she is not already laying.
Pullets will not always oblige by laying eggs in the nest box, so another answer to ‘my chicken isn’t laying’ is that yes she is, just not where you want her to. If her comb is red and there is a two finger gap between the bones, then start hunting for those eggs! If they have free-range of the garden, watch them as they come out of the house in the morning, and chances are that one of them will head straight off to the nest.
There are a few different definitions of the word pullet, and its relationship to poultry. In this article, we refer to a pullet as being a chicken in the first year of lay. A hen is a chicken who has completed one year of laying.
Broody Chickens
Another reason for not laying is broodiness. A broody chicken will stay in a nest box and flatly refuse to leave, squawking and spitting if you try to move her. She will lose all the feathers on her chest to get a better contact with the eggs to keep them warm, and her comb will go from red to pink, although remain the same size. Again, this change of comb colour is a signal to the cockerel to tell him that she is busy for the next few weeks and out of action. This signal tells us the same thing. A broody chicken is a nuisance as she will not lay during the time that she sits, but broodiness is another answer to why my chicken isn’t laying.
Moulting
It takes as many resources for a chicken to grow feathers as it does to lay an egg, so during the time of moult a chicken will not lay. A pullet will not moult in the first year, so it will be a hen which moults during her second winter and every winter thereafter. A hen can look extremely tatty when moulting, but will soon regain her splendour as her new feathers grow. She will not lay while she is moulting.
Weight and Diet
Yet another reason can be her weight! Fat chickens don’t lay. Too much corn and too many scraps can lead to a drop in eggs, so don’t overdo the kindness, as it will not help.
Diet plays an important role in the production of eggs. Chances are that you have hybrid chickens and these are the finely tuned racing cars of the chicken world. They have been selectively bred over many years to lay around 300 eggs a year. That means pumping out an egg a day for most of the year. Hybrids were designed for battery farms where egg production is the name of the game. The popularity of chicken keeping has gone hand in hand with the desire for a regular supply of fresh eggs, and so the market of hybrids has expanded from the battery farm to the back garden. As a result, the range of hybrids has expanded and there are now many types to choose from, but the brown and white chicken still bred for the battery farms is still the best at consistent egg laying.
It therefore follows that the fuel you put into these hybrids is important. Good quality layers pellets will provide the rocket fuel your hens need and is all they need. Chickens fill up their crop first thing in the morning and then graze on pellets for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. They then let the crop run down for a final fill up just before bedtime. The reason they put themselves to bed with a full crop is that, while they are asleep, their system uses their resources to lay down the eggshells. If they have a full crop of layers pellets, they will have the ready resources in the limestone (calcium) contained in the pellets to lay down the eggshells.
Traditionally, hens have been given a handful of corn to fill up their crops for bedtime. Traditional breeds do not lay as many eggs as the hybrids and were not so reliant on a ready supply of calcium. If a hybrid does not get the calcium and proteins she needs, she will use up her internal resources and then egg laying stops because she cannot continue making eggs.
Stress and Environment
When a hen gets stressed, it will stop laying. Typically, when a hen is moved into a new coop, or a new owner, it will take a week or so before the hen comes back into lay. This is due to the stress of the move.
Also, if there has been a predator attack on the flock, the remaining bird may go off laying for a few days, whilst they get over the stress of the attack. If your chicken isn’t laying, its always worth considering stress, and if anything can be done to improve their enclosure.
Likewise, during exceptionally hot or cold weather, the hen will stop laying again. When the weather returns to a normal level, the hen will continue to lay. If your chicken isn’t laying in the middle of summer, or whilst there is a blizzard blowing, I wouldn’t worry. Things will return to normal.
So, there are many reasons why a pullet or hen is not laying. All of them have an explanation, and you will be able to work out which one is applicable. When a hen is hatched, she has the eggs that she is going to lay already predetermined for her. This means that if a pullet takes a little longer to come into lay no eggs have been lost, she will just lay for a bit longer at the end. Frustrating as it is, that first egg is well worth the wait!