Chickens going into nesting boxes but not laying

[Perris]

When is the danger period?

"early infection (at 1–2 weeks) with an infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) that can cause hypoplasia of the ovary and oviduct." (in the link I provided...)

 

[Mother of Chaos]

"early infection (at 1–2 weeks) with an infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) that can cause hypoplasia of the ovary and oviduct." (in the link I provided...)

Sorry, I should have checked, but I’m a bit linked out

 

[Perris]

Sorry, I should have checked, but I’m a bit linked out

no worries. 'Student-centred learning' was the dominant idea most of my life. Spoon-feeding is the dominant mode now. Old dog new tricks and all that.

 

[Bantam bell Wood]

tl/dr: I think you have decent baseline feed, but it could use some supplementation that’s reasonably inexpensive and simple to provide.
**********

Ok, that’s not terrible at all. But it’s at the pretty minimal level for protein. And the Ca (calcium) isn’t the highest I’ve ever seen.

The recommended nutrition guidelines for chickens are often on the low side, as the guidelines are traditionally aimed toward mass production growers, giving the absolute minimum to keep the specially-bred production hens alive and laying eggs, until they keel over dead at age 2 - 2 1/2 years or so, or get culled for unacceptably low production. It’s offering the cheapest options for pullets (females under one year of age) to keep them laying and alive. It’s often not enough for them to thrive - they’re still growing, in addition to producing eggs!

The feed looks otherwise decent, but I’d suggest supplementing with *animal* protein, that derived from mammals, birds, fish, etc., plus maybe more calcium (Ca.) Think ground beef, canned tuna and sardines, scrambled eggs, etc. (You don’t want to see my girls when offered deli turkey. ) You also should be offering oyster shells (maybe the flaked ones if they don’t like the chunk version), plus any eggshells from your kitchen. The calcium helps form strong shells, and also helps stimulate the contractions to move eggs along the internal pathway for laying.

Many people say that you should cook the eggshells first, but I just put a bunch of them in a ziplock bag, close it, and crunch the heck out of them.

Thanks for taking time to write about this. I decided not to give my girls scratch, “treats,” after reading different posts here. BUT, I am now considering mealworms as a supplement. My girls (22 weeks on Monday) started laying last week, so I started offering oyster shell. Thanks to this post, I will now start giving them all my egg shells, and begin supplementing with more protein. They have been on a grower crumble (Bantams) and I’m moving them to a layer crumble.

Are meal worms worth it or should I supplement from my kitchen? I think the worms are pretty pricey and there little to no chance I start raising meal worms for four Bantams. I will buy the worms if they give a big protein boost.

Thanks.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Thanks for taking time to write about this. I decided not to give my girls scratch, “treats,” after reading different posts here. BUT, I am now considering mealworms as a supplement. My girls (22 weeks on Monday) started laying last week, so I started offering oyster shell. Thanks to this post, I will now start giving them all my egg shells, and begin supplementing with more protein. They have been on a grower crumble (Bantams) and I’m moving them to a layer crumble.

Are meal worms worth it or should I supplement from my kitchen? I think the worms are pretty pricey and there little to no chance I start raising meal worms for four Bantams. I will buy the worms if they give a big protein boost.

Thanks.

They have high protein, but they’re also pretty high in fat.