I'm going to free feed and give them fermented feed. I am going to wait till all are laying to swap to layer feed. At the moment they are eating all flock high protein feed. I am also going to keep offering them oyster shells.
I started offering them free feed last week. I also give them fermented feed. At first, they ate like crazy, now it has slowed down a lot. I also noticed that lately one of my hens has started checking out the nesting boxes. She has been sitting in them to.
I got All Flock feed that is 20% protein. If by free feeding them this and fermenting them some as well, I have fixed the problem, when will I start getting eggs?
Will this solve my problem?
up their feed to 1/2 cup per hen per day (in all 10 cups)
switch back to grower feed and give them free access to oyster shells?
Also, we are going to extend the chicken yard to include an orchard this summer, but at the moment they don't free range.
I did the math and when your birds eat 2 cups of feed, they get exactly what my birds do (per 5 hens). Would it work just to up my feeding amounts a little more to match up with the max your birds will eat.
I have 20 hens, 8 Buff Orpingtons, 5 Silver Laced Sussex, 2 Isa Browns, 4 Ameraucanas, and one mystery hen. They all are 9 months old. I have lights in the coop and a few months ago, one hen started laying. Then three days later we had a cold snap and she stopped laying. I have not got an egg...