Brooding, Egg Laying, and Molting

[ANelson726]

I have 4 hens, all born in April 2013. An Ameracauna, Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, and Golden Sexlink. This will be my third winter with them. The first winter they never molted and egg production continued without a hitch. Last year, my Ameracauna went broody for the entire summer, started laying for a few weeks and then molted. The other three laid all spring and summer, and then molted around the same time. I got a few eggs during the winter, and things came right back to full swing this spring. Then my Ameracauna goes broody again. Haven't seen an egg from her for months. A couple weeks ago, she came back out of her hiding and is back to normal behavior, but still no eggs. My Buff Orp started molting a couple weeks ago, she quit laying. The other two, Australorp and Sexlink, haven't shown any signs of molting, but they quit laying too.

I have a smaller coop with an attached covered run where I keep their feed. Outside of that they have a fenced corner of our yard where they spend most of their days. They eat Layena Layer Pellets and whatever fruit/veggie scraps come from the kitchen. I also have a separate container of oyster shell available to them. I don't offer grit because they have gravel in their area.

I know most of their behavior and egg laying is totally normal. I'm not concerned about illness or anything like that. But I am wondering if there is anything I should be doing differently to help get them through the molt and encourage laying again? Should I be offering some added protein? Install a secondary lamp? I live in the Pacific Northwest and it's getting to our gloomy time of year.

Thanks so much!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Nice looking hens, I will usually switch to a higher protein feed in the fall, or at least making it available, I'm not sure if it helps hurry the molt or not. Some will provide light for their chickens to encourage them to start laying sooner, I don't do this as we have harsh winters and my poultry need to stay warm and healthy first, they usually start laying again in February or March. I figured for the extra trouble of lighting it's easier for me to buy some organic free range eggs, since we don't use a lot of eggs.

Your coop is pretty small for adding a light to, running electric, than hooking up a light that they won't knock about might be a bit difficult. I personally would not do.

 

[ANelson726]

Thank you! I'll look into some higher protein feed. I want to make sure I provide them with everything they need. I usually install a heat lamp in the covered run during the freezing temperatures, to keep their ramp and such from freezing over. But I've never done anything inside the coop for the same reason. It's not that big.