Do chickens lay eggs only in the morning typically ?

[aart]

We did, but not at the moment. Right now they're all cooped up

Did the lack of eggs start when they were cooped up?
If so, could be the stress of confinement that slowed them down, give it some time, but it's not the lack of grass or hoppers.

When did the feed switch happen and what feed were they on before??

As long as they are eating/drinking/pooping/moving around OK, I'd not worry. Could just be that they won't lay all winter, and you'll have to wait.

Like our friend @Blooie used to say..."they're not pez dispensers".

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I live in the Midwest and mine seem to lay in the morning to afternoon. This also differs on how early the sun goes down. Their laying all depends on the sun. That's why they slow down with egg production in the Winter, when the days are shorter. I honestly don't know the estimated times when they start laying in the morning and stop laying later in the day.

 

[Chubbicthe2nd]

When did the feed switch happen and what feed were they on before??

As long as they are eating/drinking/pooping/moving around OK, I'd not worry. Could just be that they won't lay all winter, and you'll have to wait.

Same bag of layer feed.

Egg production has come back up again, so I'm not as motivated to try to figure out what happened. We did switch to a different waterer & routine, I'm wondering if the old one they didn't get a ton of water out of because they could stuff it full of wood chips (we use large flake wood chips for their coop bedding) and a few hours later after I put it out there it would already soak up most of the water or all of it.

Whenever I went out there it would be used already. I started switching their water twice a day and changing the set up of their waterer to make it harder for them to stuff in the wood chips.... and that seems to have helped.

I have no idea why they stuff the waterer full of wood chips. They've been doing that since they were one week old chicks

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have no idea why they stuff the waterer full of wood chips.

Chicks and chickens scratch. It's just what they do. And they can scratch with power. Often that is around a feeder if feed spills on the ground or coop floor but they can scratch anyway. Those wood chips or other bedding can wind up on the feeder or waterer. That is a very common problem.

I use wood shavings, not wood chips, but any bedding can do the same. I put my feeders and waterers up about shoulder height to the chickens to make it harder for them to scratch things into the feeders or waterers. When I have feeders and waterers low for chicks to get to I put them on a piece of plywood on top of the bedding to make it harder for them to scratch bedding into them. I have to sweep bedding off of that plywood because they scratch bedding up there.

This is one reason some people use nipples instead of water containers. There are always different ways to handle issues.

 

[Chubbicthe2nd]

I use wood shavings, not wood chips, but any bedding can do the same. I put my feeders and waterers up about shoulder height to the chickens to make it harder for them to scratch things into the feeders or waterers.

Its possible what I'm calling "wood chips" is actually just large shavings -- the "chips" are very thin.

Also THANK YOU for the idea of putting the waterers & feeders at chicken shoulder height. I will try this today. I've been struggling with this for 6 months so if this works it will be a very big deal

 

[Chubbicthe2nd]

I put my feeders and waterers up about shoulder height to the chickens to make it harder for them to scratch things into the feeders or waterers.

I'm coming back to this old thread to confirm that yes, your tip about putting the waterers at chicken shoulder height solved my problems. I've gone from having to replace the water twice a day to every other day, because they no longer scratch shavings and chips into the waterer.

This is such a simple solution I'm embarrassed I hadn't come up with it on my own. In any event, I'm very grateful you told me about it.

It is saving me so much work, as it is a hassle to go out to the coops multiple times when I am watching my human kids.

 

[NatJ]

I'm coming back to this old thread to confirm that yes, your tip about putting the waterers at chicken shoulder height solved my problems. I've gone from having to replace the water twice a day to every other day, because they no longer scratch shavings and chips into the waterer.

This is such a simple solution I'm embarrassed I hadn't come up with it on my own. In any event, I'm very grateful you told me about it.

It is saving me so much work, as it is a hassle to go out to the coops multiple times when I am watching my human kids.

Thanks for updating. It is good to know which suggestions actually work!