NikoChicken
Hatching
- Jul 31, 2017
- 3
- 2
- 9
I live up in Alaska and we have started having backyard chickens.
We have a flock of 18 chickens and 1 rooster. The flock consists of 5 australops, 1 silver-laced wyandotte, 5 aracanas (amerucanas?), 5 red stars, 1 golden star, and one mixed breed. These chickens have been with us over 1 year now and they have stopped laying almost completely. We estimate that since we roughly have 18 chickens we should be getting at least 7 to 9 eggs per day. However we have only been getting 1 to 4 eggs.
We are at our wits end on figuring out how to get them to lay, we understand that the chickens molt for 4 to 6 weeks but it feels as if out chickens have been molting for almost 6 months. We have tried oyster shells, meal worms, probiotics, and just about anything we can find up here. They have a large run which we plan on expanding this fall to make it even larger. We provide them with layer feed, as well as wild game feed mixed together and they seem to enjoy it. They also have a large coop with a large amount of space to roost. We also let them run around the yard for several hours a day just to let them stretch their legs and gobble up some of the pesky bugs.
I spoke to a sales rep at out local 'feed' store and they said that it was strange that the chickens were laying. They claimed that Red Stars lay 'heavily' for 2 years, then stop completely. Is this true?
So my question is... Is there any other reasons that they would stop laying? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get our chickens back up and laying again?
Thank you in advance for your help, we really appreciate all the help.
We have a flock of 18 chickens and 1 rooster. The flock consists of 5 australops, 1 silver-laced wyandotte, 5 aracanas (amerucanas?), 5 red stars, 1 golden star, and one mixed breed. These chickens have been with us over 1 year now and they have stopped laying almost completely. We estimate that since we roughly have 18 chickens we should be getting at least 7 to 9 eggs per day. However we have only been getting 1 to 4 eggs.
We are at our wits end on figuring out how to get them to lay, we understand that the chickens molt for 4 to 6 weeks but it feels as if out chickens have been molting for almost 6 months. We have tried oyster shells, meal worms, probiotics, and just about anything we can find up here. They have a large run which we plan on expanding this fall to make it even larger. We provide them with layer feed, as well as wild game feed mixed together and they seem to enjoy it. They also have a large coop with a large amount of space to roost. We also let them run around the yard for several hours a day just to let them stretch their legs and gobble up some of the pesky bugs.
I spoke to a sales rep at out local 'feed' store and they said that it was strange that the chickens were laying. They claimed that Red Stars lay 'heavily' for 2 years, then stop completely. Is this true?
So my question is... Is there any other reasons that they would stop laying? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get our chickens back up and laying again?
Thank you in advance for your help, we really appreciate all the help.
