Welcome to the photoperiod effect on egg production. Hens lay less when the days get shorter. It's why factory farms use artificial lights. They'll increase production again in about February.

I'm in southern California, and even here, my hens slow down laying in the winter months, it's their bodies giving them a natural break. A bunch of mine are also molting (dropping tails is the fashion here, it seems!), and hens don't lay while in molt.

It could also be that they are upset with the thunder. Keep them warm, dry and secure to help reassure their little chicken souls. :)

As stoneunhenged says, factory farms use artificial lights. Personally I let Nature take it's course and allow the hens to take the winter off, I feel it's a natural break that their bodies need. At less than a year old, your hens still have a lot of eggs ahead of them. As long as you are sure that they are not ill or suffering from worms or mites, things should perk up again in Spring.

Hens can lay eggs internally, it's called egg peritonitis when an infection occurs internally from a broken egg that has escaped the oviduct. Usually this is fatal, and hens show very obvious signs of illness. So if yours are perking around like normal, I doubt if this is the case.

Have you ruled out the possibility of a hidden nest somewhere? Maybe they ARE still laying! :)

Velvet ~:>

Egg laying is sort of a seasonal thing unless you add lights to increase the "daylight" your hens get. Of course, then any eggs you get are offset by increased electric bills.

As a hen lays eggs, the color on her beak and legs will recede to the tip of the beak and to her toes. Then she will quit laying eggs, moult and look like a bedraggled feather duster for awhile. After she gets new feathers and looks sleek and shiny again and the color has come back to her beak and legs she will start laying again. I suspect one of the reasons eggs are used as a symbol of Easter is because it is prime laying season and they are plentiful then.

The first and second years are the best for the quantity of eggs, hens will continue to lay for many years after that, but the quantity of eggs goes down. They do seem to get bigger, though.

Thanks....maybe my hens are "molting" but their feathers look fine, I see no loose feathers in their coop, and couldn't tell you if their beeks and legs are discolored as I don't recall what color they were earlier.

On of the comments said hens "slow down" egg production when the days get shorter. We are in Florida and it is still very hot and the days are not noticably shorter....so I doubt this is it. Besides, egg production has not SLOWED-DOWN....it has STOPPED COMPLETELY.

The hens are still perky and look active so I am less worred about them being sick....perhaps they are molting and I just don't have the perceptive abilities to know it.

also, as was mentioned, they might have a hidden nest. one of my broodies this year hid so well that she was "lost" for a week but underneath my feet the whole time. by the time i found her, she and everyone else had hidden like fourteen eggs there.

We've looked everywhere for a hidden next....it is unlikely as they are locked up in a coop except after the kids get home from school....they let them out...until nightfall.

They don't stray far during those few hours...but we've looked, nonetheless, and found nothing.

We did notice a strange new behavior....in the past...when it got dark....the hens would go inside their coop on their own...and all we would have to do is lock the door at night.

Lately, however, they are flying up and perching themselves on top of our kids swingset. Now we have to go out there and physically grab them from the top of the swingset and put them in the coop.

Strange...kind of like they don't feel "safe" in the coop at night and feel like they need to perch way up on top of the swingset.

Could this be yet another sign of them "molting"?

Are you sure they are not laying? Or perhaps they don't want to go in the coop cause something else is in there. I just caught a possum in my coop last sunday- it was killing the babies trying to get to the food. Perhaps they are hiding from the coop becuase something gets thier eggs and they are spooked.

BTW- even Florida has shorter days, if not cooler.

'Fear of the coop' can be a sign of a mite problem. Mites are most active at night while the hens are trying to sleep. Check your birds carefully for signs of mites, especially at the base of their fluffy feathers. Check in the vent area and between their legs, and on the backs of their necks. These are areas that chickens can't reach easily to preen. Mite eggs look like a grayish dust sticking to the base of the feathers. Another way is to set a chicken on a white surface (paper towels work great for this) for about 20 or 30 minutes. Mites are attracted to the white and are easily seen crawling around on the paper towels.

If you have or suspect a mite problem, you need to treat both the birds AND their living quarters. Don't do one without the other, and do a thorough job of it. Mites can weaken and even kill a bird, and cause them to stop laying (might be your culprit). I've got instructions on various ways to take care of mites on my chicken site, here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChickHealth.htm

Velvet ~:>