Fruit can STOP Hens from Laying??

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TipsyDog

TipsyDog

Songster
10 Years
May 14, 2009
2,131
14
181
Aregua, Paraguay
I received the Meyer's Hatchery catalogue the other day and I noticed on Page 6 under "Housing Laying Hens" they say
"Don't feed fruit to layers, since it can cause them to stop laying and it may take as long as six weeks for them to start again."

I've never heard of that before - is that true? I would imagine you'd have to feed ALOT of fruit to get that result, but I thought I'd ask. Anyone know?
 
I give mine fruit but no citrus I heard that citrus can make them stop laying
 
Mine eat fruit and give me an egg a day still so maybe it's just too much fruit changes their PH for a while due to the acid content? IDK but I still give it to mine anyway.
 
I don't think it's true. I feed my chickens , ducks, quails fruit every day and non of the birds stop laying. I feed them all kinds of seasonal fruit and vegetables. If the grape is on sale i feed them that, they love apples watermelon is their favorite, what ever is on sale or at the farmers market they get. And I don't have any egg problems. We don't have any heat/ light either and my birds lay year round.
I see it as fresh vitamins they get from me and a great treat. I start feeding them fruit from a couple days old.
My hen had hatch her chicks and when she started to eat the water melon and fruit the little ones jump on it too. They start young with eating vegetables and fruit at my house and my chickens are healthy without any medication and I keep them all natural . No junk food. If they can find it in the wild them self that's what they get.
 
Quote:
I heard this before mine got to laying age, so I never fed them anything but veggies and greens.... but my theory is that it is a spring/broody thing. Like, "its spring, there is fruit, let's sit on some eggs" (that is the hen thinking
wink.png


lol. It probrably is more scientific than that, but I stay away from fruit anyways. Kale and raw peanuts are my birds favorites. I even order crickets and mealworms from flucker farms sometimes. Green beans are another one they go crazy for... and it's really fun to watch them fight and play with a ear of corn I shucked just for them.
 
I read that once too, but decided that my hens must not agree with that statement since they get fruit at least once an week, and sometimes daily during the summer and they have always layed continously. I wonder if a particular type of fruit is supposed to cause them to stop laying? I give mine stone fruit minus the stones like peach, plum, apricot, apples, pears, oranges, bananas, cantaloupe, melon, strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, and whatever other fruit I am lucky enough to get for them.
 

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