No eggs - pooping in the nest box?

[TheFowlAndThePussycat]

We have 3x2 year old hybrids. They all moulted (first moult) oct/nov time, we had a couple of weeks of eggs around christmas but none since. They keep pooing in the nest box which they've never done before, but that might be a coincidence! We've moved them on to fresh grass, cleaned everything out, generally tried to cheer them up (nice scraps etc) but to no avail. Any ideas?

It's still a bit early in the year yet. They'll start laying once there's a bit more light. My cochin laid her first egg this year the other day, so the time is coming.

Do you worm them?

Ilovemyhens thanks for your reply. The hens laid all the way through last winter & they laid a bit around Christmas too, so I'm thinking there must be something else to it. I haven't wormed them, could that be it?

I wonder if they are starting to lay less as they are getting a bit older especially as they are hybrids. My hybrids are almost 1 year, and they have been laying all through the winter and are still laying now, but they are still young. I think that most hybrids lay less after about 18 months and many die around four years (at least that is what I have been told).

Mine started pooping in the nest box when they moulted. One of them is now laying again but not every day. Mine are around the same age as yours. They also laid all last winter. I am wondering if the garsher winter is making a difference as well as the moulting.

They are probably two different issues. The no eggs is, as the others said, probably the winter moult. Expect eggs from valentines day onwards.

The poop in the nest box is when one of the little dears changes her sleeping habits. Check the nest box when they've all gone to roost, turf out the offender, or just turn her round/ shove off if she is roosting on a nest box divide with her bum hanging over the nest box. After a few nights she'll get the message.