Well, bout two months ago my favorite chickie Hen died one morning,,,wasn' too cold that night but found her and was still warm,,,never figured what happened,,,?? 

 Well, now, for the last 3 weeks the other 2 hens stopped laying any eggs,,,,?  WTH,??

 My neighbor said chickies always go thru this "stage" after winter,,,but I ain't ever heard this chit,,,,anyone??

Chickens go through what's called "Molt", and during that timeframe, will often either reduce, or stop laying altogether.  As Wayne noted, they'll also respond to shorter days, so up here, we keep lights on them to keep production going through shorter daylight season.  If they get stressed by extreme cold or other circumstances, they'll stop laying.  If they're not getting enough food, they'll stop, or reduce laying too.

My henhouse is set up with frost-proof constant-flow watering trough, low-power ceramic radiant heaters on PID controls (but not really running high to warm, just keep their combs from getting frostbite while on the perch).  My henhouse as good ventilation, but isn't drafty, it's well armored and it is very easy to keep clean, the door out to the pen is an elevated drawbridge that locks tight, and will soon be totally automatic, as will be the metering feeder dispenser.  I just installed a new nesting box... the BestNest, with it's egg-capturing tray facing out into the room (opposite the hen pen) so we can now feed, water, and collect eggs, open and close the door, and operate the lights all without going into the pen.  This new flock (16 birds) should start laying any time now...

 Ok, Thanks Wayne and Dave,, i

ve had one of those old timer light bulb in the coop for the heat during the colder months,,, I have not picked any eggs for a week now,,,,?  Guess I'll have to wait them out,,,

couple neighbours have hens, so we of course 'barter'....

I learned that egg production is geared to sunlight....

so...

cut code on a microcomputer to have LEDs 'mimic' sunrise and sunset BUT come on 1 hr before Mr. Sun comes up and an go off an hour after he goes to bed. LEDs are gradually controlled  NO full on/off the way regular timers do.

since sunrise.sunset is based on where you are, had to get lat and long 'into the program'. easy,hmm, DST, have to add that... then decided, if I add a GPS module, this could be a 'universal,worldwide ' program. Then the Chinese invasion came by....

 MR JAY,,,,ypu ARE a character,,,you know that???  LOL,,,,But,,,I Do enjoy your humor,,,I don't think I'm gonna spend that much efforts on trying to "TRICK" them chickies' daylight times,,,,,LOL. Thanks for the suggestions, tho,,,,

It may be later, been a few years since I had chickens.

Joe, ya better watch out. Them dang Chickies will be out marchin' around with protest signs sayin' it's to dang cold!   LOL! 

Steve@B&B

1. Daylight

The first and most common cause of decreased egg production is light hours. Hens need a minimum of 16 hours of daylight to  https://www.purinamills.com/chicken-feed/education/detail/how-to-help-hens-lay-quality-eggs" rel="nofollow - sustain strong production . Without supplemental light, they may naturally stop laying eggs due to a hormonal response as the days get shorter.
 
Hens lay best when provided at least 16 hours of day light, whether natural, artificial or a combination of the two. Some flock raisers use winter as a period of rest for their hens without supplemental light.
 
If you’re looking for  https://www.purinamills.com/chicken-feed/education/detail/three-tips-to-help-your-hens-produce-quality-eggs" rel="nofollow - consistent egg production  through the winter months, provide additional light to encourage your birds to keep laying.
 
We recommend using one incandescent 25-watt or LED 3- to 9-watt bulb per 100 square feet of coop space. If supplementing with artificial daylight, keep your flock’s exposure and sleeping schedule consistent by putting lights on timers. 

  Dang Shameless,,,,always the optimist ain't you,??,,,but,,,If you is thinkin that will get them chickies to start layin again,,,,,,,,

 Hey Gary,,yeah I got it but I been having so many other issues,,,including the latest one on my hot water heater just shut itself off, and after contacting RHEEM, as heater is still under warranty,,they sent me a new main gas valve, so I gotta flesh that out,,,, Many THNKS Gary,,You are OK,,,,my friend,,,,SAY,,,diud I read that you are down in Harlingen, Tx,,,,,,?  The latest Hot Ticket I been conversing with is close to you,, in Corpus Christy,,,but,,,,but I ain't gonna tell you  where,,,,cause YOU might be "Looking" too,,,!!!!

  Well,,,WHOOP DI DOO,,,them chickies started laying eggs again,,,!!! I got 3 eggs yesterday SO, no more store boughts,,,!!!  Many THANKS for all your comments and suggestions,,Guys!!!!!

 Actually is was "genius, Steve,,,,I got my Grandson's little Boy Scout hatchet and just walked around the coop chanting my secret code while slapping the hatchet on my palm ,,,,and lo and behold,,,,,they both run into the coop and I could hear them arguing who was gonna set on the nest first,,,,, I should'a recorded them,,,,,,

only AC orange wrote: All this chatter about chicks n eggs, I have a ????. At what age do pullets start laying? I was asked this question last evening at a block party and did't have answer. thanks

16 to 20 weeks. Birds like a red sex link early and often. Some of the others come on later. First pullet eggs not much bigger than a large grape and might be found in a nest box, or just as likely on the ground under a bush.  Month or so later, large going to extra large and jumbo.

Normal production is about 250 eggs per year for first couple years. They do slow down or shut down in winter, and that is not a bad thing. 15 below in eternal darkness is tough on em.

only AC orange wrote: All this chatter about chicks n eggs, I have a ????. At what age do pullets start laying? I was asked this question last evening at a block party and did't have answer. thanks

Just got our first egg from the new flock today, at 21 weeks... of course, I'm running lights from basically 4:30am until 10pm.

Les-  the PID controller is an off-the-shelf type used for maintaining temp in reptile tanks... just so happens that it was in the right range for me to control the heat in our chick brooder.  The heater is a typical hanging or clamp-on type aluminum-reflector 'heat lamp' fixture, and in it, rather than a heat lamp, is a threaded in ceramic heating element. 

The PID is not exactly this one, but close enough:

https://www.amazon.com/Century-Thermostat-Controller-Germination-40-108%C3%82%C2%B0F/dp/B01I15S6OM/ref=sr_1_31?keywords=reptile+heater&qid=1674272956&sr=8-31

and the ceramic element:

https://products.blains.com/600/140/1403615.jpg

https://www.farmstore.com/product/10-aluminum-heat-lamp-brooder-300w/

And I didn't set the henhouse up with the intention of 'heating' it... we moved the chicks out of the brooder, and the next several days were exceptionally cold, so I hung the brooder heat lamp in one corner of the henhouse where they were huddling, and it helped 'em out.  Later on, I suspended it off to one side of the roost (which they hadn't gotten the hang of yet) and they finally moved up to the roost, high near the ceiling, where the heat would kinda stay, and they hung out up there for a while.  It's been warm recently, so the PID dialed back (I had it set around 45F) and shut itself down, but it's back on tonight... I could probably shut it down and pull it out with no detrimental effect, but we've been trying to keep them well fed, watered, illuminated, etc, so they'd start laying even in the really cold days.

My knee is really hurting me tonight, so I'm sitting at my desk patterning out the pieces for the electric door operator, and the feed metering unit.  I'll have the door and drive done over the next couple weeks, and probably put it in sometime around March on manual operator control, and same for the improved electric feeder.  I picked up a couple closeout-deal photosensors (one for east- sunrise, and one for west-sunset) for detection...  and six solid-state relays (to control things) arrived in the mail... once I've been manually running them for a while, I'll get the ARDUINO code dialed in close enough for an initial test... then I'll start running the automatic sequence and adjust it for effective operation.

As far as 'having a rooster around'... that's an augmentation of the hormonal factor, and most of it comes around to comfort.  If you've got several roosters that fight eachother, or peck and spur the hens, it's a problem... but if the roosters fend off mice, rats, snakes, and other predators, the hens will feel more comfortable, and thus, more productive.  I have an agri-science buddy who's doing an experiment with his flock right now... he's got three LCD screens visible from the inside of the henhouse, with speakers... and he runs video clips of a rooster crowing... and he runs it some days, and not others, and counts the variation of egg production.  I don't know that he's come to a conclusion with that, but he HAS found that if he plays a football game on one screen, that the hens all tend to go lay during halftime commercial timeouts, and between games...

 Well, them chickies had me fooled,,,they did start up layin eggs,,,,for just a couple of days and then STOPPED yet again and haven't laid a thing for about two weeks,,,?  THEN,,,then,,,I just seen on National news about lots of egg farmers are going thru same problems and thay are blamimg the chickie feed from TSC,,,,,!! Think it was on Newsmax and they interviewed several others said same thing,,,?? WTH,,?

 OK, Thad,,thats good enough for me,,,I'm going to feed store,,,,

Hey Joe-

We're at 14 eggs a day for 16 birds...

We had one day of 17 eggs... which means we've got a joker in the henhouse...

 Well Chit Fire, Dave Kamp,,,14 eggs a day,,,,? You ain't gonna eat that many every day ,,,are you,,??   WHEW,,,,,

No, but y'know, Joe- we've suddenly somehow developed LOTS of friends...

We probably only go through a dozen and a half a week, and we're getting eight dozen, that's six and a half doz, and we've got buyers at $6/doz, so there's $35... a bag of feed goes 2wks at $17/bag... so we're netting at least $20/wk in eggs... not that we need it, or care... but it's not LOSING us anything, right?

  Well Wayne,,you and Dave K ought to petition Walmart to get on their preferred vendor list,,,but THEN you'll have to borry some of ole Shameless' supply of coffee cans annd since he has stsrted to work his farm again  ,,,,,ha prolly done used up his huge supply of them "Bury cans",,,,,,,,,,,,

   I DONE IT,!,,,I DONE IT !!! after 3 friggin weeks,,,I started to get some eggs this morning YES two whole pretty brown eggs,,,!!!   Even the Boy Scout hatchet did not do the trick with them chickies,,,,

 Ya see,,,it was really pretty simple. Them chickies don't like to lay eggs without any straw,,,,on the nests,,,? WHO KNEW?  A friend had come by and mentioned that there was no straw on the the nests and they would not lay until they had a nice soft bed for the eggs,,so After buying a bale of alfalfa,,I fixed em spme nice soft beds and ,,,,,,and,,,,PRESTO,,,I got two eggs this morning and asoon as I gathered them two eggs up,,, why them chickies run back in there to lay some more,,,'course the BS hatchet was still layin on the floor too,,,,

   Yeah Fixer,,,I HAVE been thinkin along them lines and wondering if they might need some "Unplugger pills" cause the big "Momma One" shore lookin like she Might be puttin on some extra weight,,she waddles around so much,,,,

 I guess "All's well, that ends well"  Altho, that "process" HAS always amazed me,,,,errrrr, never mind,,,

 YEP,,,me and them chickies are on our way,,,they layed two more eggs yesterday!!!!

 Reckon I might could patent that system,,,,?