Why Did My Chickens Stop Laying?

If your egg count has dropped — or stopped entirely — you’re not imagining it and you probably didn’t do anything catastrophically wrong. Laying hens are sensitive to a surprisingly specific set of conditions, and when something’s off, eggs are the first thing to go.

Here’s how to work through it.

1. Molt

This is the most common reason, especially in fall. Once a year, hens redirect protein from egg production to feather regrowth. You’ll know it’s molt when you see feathers everywhere and your hens look a little rough — patchy, scraggly, not their best. It takes 8 to 12 weeks and there’s not much you can do to speed it up.

What you can do: bump their protein. Look for a feed with 18 to 20% protein during molt. The higher protein supports feather regrowth and gets them back to laying faster on the other side. More detail on that in our molt feeding guide.

Pearl goes through molt every fall and looks absolutely terrible for about six weeks. Then she comes out the other side with a perfect coat and immediately resumes her routine of stealing treats from everyone else. She’s fine. They’re usually fine.

2. Light

Hens need 14 to 16 hours of light to lay consistently. In fall and winter, they just don’t get it. This is completely natural — it’s their body telling them it’s not a great time to produce eggs. Some keepers add a coop light on a timer (a simple 9-watt LED is enough) to extend the light day artificially. Others let them rest through winter naturally.

Neither approach is wrong. Just know that if you’re not supplementing light and it’s November, the calendar might be your whole answer.

3. Stress

New predator pressure, a flock reorganization, a move, a new rooster, loud construction nearby — hens notice all of it. Laying is one of the first things to stop when a hen feels unsafe or unsettled. If something changed in or around your yard recently, that’s worth considering.

The fix here is mostly time and stability. Make sure the coop is secure, reduce disruptions where you can, and give them a few weeks to settle.

4. Age

Hens lay well for the first 2 to 3 years. After that, production tapers naturally. Older hens in a mixed flock will lay less and eventually stop — that’s not a problem to solve, it’s just how it works.

5. Feed

This one gets overlooked more than the others. If the protein percentage in your feed is too low, if the calcium balance is off, or if treats and scratch have started to crowd out the actual layer feed — egg production suffers. A hen needs about 4 grams of calcium per day to produce a good shell. If she’s not getting it consistently, she’ll slow down or stop.

Offering oyster shell free-choice alongside your regular feed is the easiest way to make sure calcium isn’t the limiting factor. Most hens will self-regulate — they take more when they need it.

If treats and scraps have quietly taken over a bigger part of the diet than you realized, that’s the place to look. Our guide to the scratch and treats problem walks through it.

Recommended: Oyster shell calcium supplement on Amazon →

If you want to go deeper on what’s actually driving your flock’s behavior — laying cycles, seasonal changes, what your specific setup needs — Chicken Keeping Secrets is the most practical resource I’ve found for backyard keepers who want real answers, not forum speculation.

Chicken Keeping Secrets — digital guide →

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission on purchases made through these links, at no cost to you.

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If you’ve ruled out molt, light, stress, and age — or if you’re not sure your feed is actually right for your specific setup — the quiz asks seven questions about your flock and gives you a specific recommendation. Three minutes.

Find out what your flock actually needs →