Does anyone have any tricks to get hens to lay more?

[Goose girl1]

Hi everyone,
None of my chickens are laying at the moment. One of them has just come out of molting but the others haven't started yet.
Thanks.

 

[cavemanrich]

I have posted on this subject before. Not everyone agrees with me though.
Chickens do Luv music....
Get some of these posters and place them in your coop.

If NO CHUCKLE AT LEAST, then I will delete posting...

WISHING YOU BEST...

 

[WhiteWyan]

What are the hatch dates of your girls? How did they lay last year? If they are more than 4 yrs old I wouldn't expect much.

I think a good layer pellet and a low-stress environment is about all that's in your control...

Of course you can introduce artificial light. They make timers so you can have it come on and go off at certain times.

 

[ChickNanny13]

What breeds do you have?
You're in Australia so you're heading into Winter, shorter & cooler days.
Shorter daylight hours = artificial light, 12 - 14hrs per day, timer
Molting = less eggs

You may want to up the protein in their feed, layer doesn't have much protein. I feed Flock Raiser and put out a separate dish of Oyster Shells for them. Molting takes alot out of them, the extra protein would help with new feathering & build them up. You could also feed as you are but give them protein treats.

 

[Goose girl1]

Thank you. I will see what we can do

 

[Goose girl1]

we have one blue leghorn, one sebright (free loader) and one ancona (only just starting to lay so not expecting many). We had more hens but a fox problem appeared, I also have 3 hens about 1 or 2 weeks off the point of lay. They are free range but have been in lock down at the moment (due to fox) and have access to clean food and water etc etc. we also have two rooster that a fully grown (one is quite old, the other one is his son) and have 3 others that we are selling soon (younger)

 

[Goose girl1]

They are all younger than 2 years old (I think)

 

[aart]

we have one blue leghorn, one sebright (free loader) and one ancona (only just starting to lay so not expecting many). We had more hens but a fox problem appeared, I also have 3 hens about 1 or 2 weeks off the point of lay. They are free range but have been in lock down at the moment (due to fox) and have access to clean food and water etc etc. we also have two rooster that a fully grown (one is quite old, the other one is his son) and have 3 others that we are selling soon (younger)

The attack and the confinement can cause enough stress to cease laying,
especially with all those boys, especially if confinement space is too small for number of birds. Do I count 6 females and 5 males?

They may have been laying in range area before fox attack.
Could always do butt checks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

 

[Goose girl1]

yes we have 7 females and 5 males but only two of them are fully grown, the other 3 are only about 10 weeks old.