hens not laying

Hi all,
I would like some helpful advice about my chucks, the little darlings are not laying at present,is it the cold weather !

 

Depends on breed, age, feed.

Pure breeds do ease off over winter when there is less daylight, but they should start again soon. Hybrids lay like the clappers for 18 months or so, then the number they produce drops considerably as they get older, unlike pure breeds who keep going but at a lesser rate. Feed can influence things too-less treats means more eggs, and vice versa.

But lack of daylight is a good blame factor at this time of year and the changeable weather we've had can upset things too

 

Also, has anything spooked them? Hens don't lay as much if they're stressed, for example if they had a near miss with a fox or a dog, or if there are divisions forming in their group (eg if one is showing aggression towards the others).

 

Ours started again about a week ago. No one more suprised than me - weather has been awful, and I had been assuming that they had laid off (sorry!) until the Spring proper.

 

My crested cream legbars haven't started yet (I would have thought they'd have started by now) but the ex-bats that have only been with me for a short whild did stop after two days and I'm now getting 1 a day but then ther are working on their new feathers so it's a bonus.

hat breed are they?

 

Our light sussex laid all through the darkest months but our Marans took a rest and have only just started coming back into lay.

 

I've four Black Rocks, two of the silly girls decided to moult in the really bad weather. Of course they stopped laying, but now they've picked up and have a beautiful new coat.

Are they showing any signs of moult? My girls did virtually stop laying for about a month over the cold -8C snap?