want a tip that will make your hens lay like its spring in the winter

[Uzuri]

Here's a dumb question... WHY does it work?

I want to know mechanics before I'd start cleaning out the spice drawer, and this smacks of an old wives' tale.

 

[lceh]

Look at post #42 (page 5).

 

[thekla]

gonna try that, even though I have been getting a a fair amount of eggs all winter, what I've done is add an hour or two of light, plus extra food/protein - the treat they really like is the "Nutro Nuggets, Lamb and Rice" dog food from Costco - it runs about $23 for a 40-lb bag and I toss them about 2 - 4 cup scoops in the afternoon (for about 65 hens) - so the bag lasets about a month, they also get all kinds of scraps, meat, bread, veggies, whatever we can find. We had a cold spell in early Dec and up til then I was getting about 30-33 a day, when I added light, (and heatlamps on the really cold nights) it jumped to 45. Check your local backery outlets for dayold breads - one of ours sells a grocery cart full for $7 - I give them about 3 loaves (for 65 hens) as a morning treat and on really cold mornings I sometimes make them oatmeal (with oil added to help raise the omega 3 (along with some flaxseed in their feeder)

 

[josh]

Give them some high protein cat food

 

[Hambone02]

This is an old farmer's trick. I've tried it. Works great! Make sure the girls have a constant supply of warm water. I haven't lost any egg production due to the cold winter.

 

[azygous]

When this thread began, my girls were beginning to slack off egg production. I figured, what the hey, I'll give it a try.

Beyond enjoying their new and uniquely seasoned layer pellets, mixing red pepper into their feed has not made a lick of difference. In fact, egg production continues to decline further.

I would rather believe red pepper has other benefits than encouraging egg production, and over the years, the purpose has been misunderstood. I don't see that it can hurt during the winter months, and I'll continue to feed it to them because they seem to enjoy it.

 

[Armageddon]

Quote:

Made me bust out laughing!

 

[SunshineSilkies]

Went to the store and no cayenne pepper so I got red pepper flakes and mixed that with the feed..we'll see if is works!!!!! Go RIR's and EE"S go!!!!!!

 

[vladchick]

Well, its been a week since I started to season my chicken food with cayenne pepper, and yesterday I got 5 eggs from 13 hens, Thats up one from my daily average, will post more news later when i see some results. I givem them about two tablespoons per daily ratio of food, and i mix it with scratch.

 

[vegaschick]

Its been almost 2 weeks since I started this and 2 maybe 3 of my 3 yr. old hens started laying...including the one I thought would take the longest. A week ago her comb and wattles were a dull dusky pink...now they're flaming red and she is laying. Now if I get my the 2 yr. old hens that have given me next to nothing laying...I will totally be a believer!