Drastic Reduction In Egg Production

[RememberTheWay]

My chickens didn't lay for 13 months straight and they should have been. Some were pullets, some year olds, some older. Not one single egg. I switched to a local mill. They started laying again. Then about a yr later after I swore to never buy that feed again I had to put of convenience bc I ran out on a weekend and no one was open but then. Two days in feeding it, they stopped laying again. And none of them laid until a few days after I ran out of that feed and started feeding the old feed again. Now, the first go round. I knew it was the feed, but I still had this tiny doubt that maybe it was me and not the feed. The second go round where I literally watched them all stop laying and then start again. No. It was never me. It was the feed and I will NEVER buy from any of those brands again. Period. I can't tell you why it made them stop laying and there are plenty of theories. My guess is serious lack in nutrition but others have even more nefarious ideas.

All I know is yes it did happen and no I won't ever buy from them again.

Last year there were people reporting that their hens stopped laying and they blamed Tractor Supply feed. I remember one lady said she switched from their layer feed to goat feed and the girls started to deliver eggs again.
Was it true or just fake stories going around the internet? I don't know. I generally do not use Tractor Supply feed as they are 50 minutes away and local True Value has feed at about the same price.
You could experiment and try different feed.
It would be interesting to see if it makes a,difference.

 

[RememberTheWay]

I have 10 hens that were all laying. Mid October they all started molting except the 2 broodies with chicks. All egg production stopped. Most have beautiful new feathers now, but one is going through a longer harder molt. The first to start laying again was my Buff Orpington who left her chicks at 10 weeks to rejoin the flock. November 30th she laid the 1st egg I've collected since mid-October. That seems to have started the hormones up in the hens. 1 week later another hen started laying & a week after that a third hen started laying.
An interesting perhaps fluke, is that last year I changed their feed to 22% starter and they started laying. My neighbour dropped the protein level and they started laying. This year they were in the 22% for their molt, and when I started back on the 18% they started laying. My neighbour, who used timed lights, forgot to turn the timer on & they started laying. I suspect that the change itself triggers something in them to reboot their factory settings, but it could be a fluke. I've heard it said "A change is as good as a rest".. It's worth a try!

You actually can induce molting and restart laying by playing with protein and fat levels so everything you mentioned here actually makes perfect sense. Both lowering it and increasing it can induce laying depending on where your hens are regarding molting