Chickens not laying!

[talia rose]

Everything I have found on the web talks about this problem during the winter - but now it is spring and our chickens production is slowly declining. Went from 7 eggs (on a good day) from 9 chickens to 3 a day. We have had some coop changes - just added 6 chicks to the flock which has changed the door the big hens use to get in and out of the coop as well as made the coop a lighter place. I just tried hanging a curtain to block the light from the door. We also added 2 new full grown chickens about a month ago and had a broody hen who is finally no longer broody (after going on a 4 day in the wild vision quest and coming back amazingly uneaten!) So many changes. Would this stop egg production? Any other thoughts why this would be happening?

I have also been watching very closely for egg eaters. A few have broken here and there and we have been unsure but I check very carefully for evidence. Nothing really until yesterday, which was a stormy day I locked them all in the pen all day, and I did see obvious egg eating signs - broken shell and glossiness....can egg eaters leave no evidence at all most of the time?

[mamadelbosque]

Stress can cause egg production to drop. As can moulting (when they loose feathers and then get new ones in), which happens every year, usually int he spring (I think). I'd let them adjust and relax and not pester them too much and see if laying picks up.... Alternatively, are they laying someplace else and you just don't know it? We were only gettinge 3 or 4 duck eggs a day for a few days, and then had to switch them into the duckhouse (from the old chicken coop, which is now our bucks' shed), and when we moved the coop, there was a nest with NINE duck eggs!! So, look around. They may very well have a 'stash' you don't know about!!

[talia rose]

we keep searching the yard carefully for eggs but so far have never found any....

[chantald]

Could they be going through a molt? My hens did that last spring.. I was down to one egg a day all summer...

[talia rose]

most of ours molted over the winter. it is possible the new ones are starting but i have not noticed a lot of feathers around...

[annethcz]

Stress can definitely affect egg production for sure. I'd wait a week or so and see if the situation improves after the hens get used to the new changes.