buff orphingtons

[LindaK]

To say that I am very disappointed with these chickens are an understatement, they are a year old 6 hens 1 rooster and I am lucky if I have gotten 6 eggs total. While they are very good gentle chickens I do not have them for that purpose. All my other hens are laying

 

[Smoochie]

Dual purpose breeds usually will never lay eggs like a production layer.. You can except to see around150-200 from an Orpington while a white leghorn will lay 300+ eggs. Also, Orpingtons will tend to go broody.

 

[The Lazy L]

I've got 8 BO hens 5 months old. I'm averaging 4 eggs a day. 5 days in a row I got 5 each day!

What type of feed are you using and how much space (coop and run) are they sharing?

 

[LindaK]

In response to the type of feed I my Buffy's, I use layer pellets and cracked corn. This is upon recommendation of the men at the feed store who have chickens. I am sorry I am not sure what you mean by "broody".

 

[Kaia]

I can't agree more! Not one egg from my Buff Orphington. Very disappointing.

 

[reeac]

Have you tried increasing their protein intake it may kick start them. Since they are dual purpose birds they need more protein to reach the weight they need and then the excess goes to the egg.

 

[Weasleymum]

I would suggest switching their food, and not feeding the cracked corn-- they might be filling up on it and it doesn't have the protein and nutrients they need. It's a nice treat, but not a meal. I had a bird that wasn't laying (honestly, I thought there was something wrong with her!) back when I was giving them scratch feed every day. I started feeding all layer feed, no scratch, and she started laying, finally!

"Broody" means when a hen decides she wants to sit on her eggs and hatch them, instead of just laying an egg a day and leaving them. If a hen is broody, she'll stop laying and just start sitting on their nest all day. If you have broody hens, you'll know-- they are the ones sitting in the nest box all day instead of just visiting them. Broodiness is great if you want to increase your flock by raising your own chicks that way... not so great for egg production.

 

[Kaia]

Thank You for the information. What is "scratch feed" ? I supply them with laying feed but they dont seem to like it

 

[Weasleymum]

"Scratch" is a term for feeds like cracked corn that is more for chickens' entertainment/ mental health than for their diet. Some comes labeled as 'scratch feed'. It will always be in nice big pieces, and usually looks like real grains (i.e. you can actually see the corn, oats, peas, or whatever's in it). It's called that because you would generally sprinkle it on the ground so that the chickens can scratch for it, as opposed to putting it in a feeder. It gives the birds something to do, especially in the fall/ winter months when forage is hard to come by, and they have fun pecking around for it.

Scratch has nutrient value, of course, but is generally so much lower in protein than a layer feed that if your layers are filling up on it, they won't be getting enough protein. So essentially, it's a snack or a treat, not a meal. It's a pretty common practice for small-flock owners to feed a layer ration in the mornings (or have it available all day) and feed some corn or other scratch in the afternoons or evenings; that way, the birds have had plenty of "real" feed before they get their fun treat.

 

[Weasleymum]

Dual purpose breeds usually will never lay eggs like a production layer.. You can except to see around150-200 from an Orpington while a white leghorn will lay 300+ eggs. Also, Orpingtons will tend to go broody.

Even so, there's something going on here besides breed. 150-200 eggs a year means approximately an egg every other day, so if the original poster has 6 hens that are a year old, she should have gotten *hundreds* of eggs from them by now, even by the most stringent calculations (accounting for winter, molting, etc.).

I figure that they mature to egg-laying age at about 6 months, so 180 days * half (one egg every other day) = 90 eggs per hen over the course of six months, or 540 for the six hens. Even if they layed HALF that number (because of winter levels or other less-than-optimum conditions), that's still over 250... You pointing out the comparatively unproductive nature of the Orpington just highlights the fact that her birds aren't laying AT ALL! That's why I suspect they're eating too much of the wrong feed, or have other health issues going on. My money's on that cracked corn...