Egg production lately

[Erinnlyn]

Not that I am worried...yet, but in a few chicken groups I am a part of, there has been a big uptick in people saying their hens are not laying. Aside from it being cold in most of the U.S., less daylight, some have/are molting, etc., many hen owners are saying they are getting very few eggs or none at all. They're now pointing towards certain feeds possibly causing them not to lay. So far people are pointing towards Tractor Supply Dumor or Producers Pride. They say they've had chickens 10, 20 years, whatever and have never seen production issues like this. Mine stopped laying in October (molted). I have 1 that lays throughout, just slow, and another one that has laid a couple eggs over the last 2 weeks. I suppose she's starting back to it. I don't use supplemental light. I just let them have a break.
So my question is, is anyone seeing production issues (aside from cold, light, molting) that seems out of the ordinary? If so, what feed do you use? Also if not, what feed do you use? Trying to figure out if there is anything to this or not!! Thanks!!

 

[nuthatched]

It's an unusually overcast winter this year, just less daylight.
it's not the feed, which is ridiculous.
it's likely all the covid chicken people whose hens laid their first winter aren't laying their second since they usually don't.

 

[Mrs. K]

If your birds are starving to death, then I would expect less eggs due to feed. Reproduction in all animals will shut down, or even abort in mammals with a starvation. But if you are feeding anything, and your chickens have good feathers, bright eyes and are active this is not the issue.

Often times people post on here very rigid ideas about feed, and a common question is: "WHAT are you feeding?" As in the proper feed will fix anything. Adequate amounts of feed is important, but certain % of protein, not any scratch...not too much scraps needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Don't any of these people eat potatoes chips?

I have had chickens for years, and I always post in Facebook my first eggs after the molt and break. In the memories it comes up, one year - Jan 6! Yay! One year, Jan 14, one year Jan 26, and one year Feb 4....

All is do to the amount of sunlight, and the intensity of sunlight. Cloudy days have a much bigger influence on setting it back. This year, I am still waiting. But a few neighbors are getting some, I MUST be getting close.

They are not machines, we have to wait.

Mrs K

 

[SueT]

My hens never lay in the winter.

 

[WallyG74]

Y’all may stone me, but my chickens are laying great! I just collected 22 this evening.

 

[charlie1051]

Still using Dumor and haven't had any issues but we play them encouraging, uplifting music and offer incentives when weekly egg quotas are met.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Not that I am worried...yet, but in a few chicken groups I am a part of, there has been a big uptick in people saying their hens are not laying. Aside from it being cold in most of the U.S., less daylight, some have/are molting, etc., many hen owners are saying they are getting very few eggs or none at all. They're now pointing towards certain feeds possibly causing them not to lay. So far people are pointing towards Tractor Supply Dumor or Producers Pride. They say they've had chickens 10, 20 years, whatever and have never seen production issues like this. Mine stopped laying in October (molted). I have 1 that lays throughout, just slow, and another one that has laid a couple eggs over the last 2 weeks. I suppose she's starting back to it. I don't use supplemental light. I just let them have a break.
So my question is, is anyone seeing production issues (aside from cold, light, molting) that seems out of the ordinary? If so, what feed do you use? Also if not, what feed do you use? Trying to figure out if there is anything to this or not!! Thanks!!

"they" are a few, mostly self selected anecdotes from channels specializing in fringe theories and hyperbole/sensationalism to drive clicks, which are then repeated by hundreds or thousands of others. Makes it hard to judge the scale of as thing when a few cases are magnified and the tens of thousands of contrary cases are ignored or dismissed.

Most of the "solutions" I'm seeing bandied about are nutritionally worse still, which leads to an even greater distrust on my part for the competence and veracity of those making the claims.

I have a dozen ducks. Most are hens. I've had three eggs in as many months, and I'm in a rather southern latitude. Parts of FL, TX, and a sliver of those on the Gulf of AL, LA, MS may get a ferw minutes more light per day than I do.

I have I don't know how many chickens (40-ish). Most of three dozen hens. Some are approaching their third year (April), some are approaching their third year (September), most are 12-18 months old. Last month, I was getting four, sometimes five eggs a day.

This month, closer to fifteen a day. My birds free range acres and get a (according to the nutritional label) a very good local milled feed which is NOT as good as it was two years ago.

The only "magic" chemical that will cause birds not to lay with no other symptoms is sunscreen, and I can assure you the dumor/producer's pride (Land O'Lakes / Purina Mills) people are not secretly slathering birds in Zinca/Zinc Oxide while people aren't watching.

There are plenty of things you can take out of feed which will affect their rate of lay. They appear on a guaranteed nutritional label. Significant reductions in any of them are associated with other health issues which aren;t also being reported. The most likely conclusions (Occam's Razor)? Either those health concerns aren't occuring, Q.E.D. the speculative "missing" ingredient isn't missing, or those reporting concerns with laying lack the education, experience, and awareness to be reliable reporters of their bird's condition.

There are also plenty of people (FB, primarily) promoting absolutely ignorant feed recipes and supplimental solutions which they claim immediately triggered an increase in rate of lay, yet are patently, obviously, deficient nutritionally - sometimes highly deficient in the chemical those same posters are claiming has been taken out of the Dumor-branded feed. Which tends to prove its not the feed (A) and that getting advice from Facebook is like trying to learn Economics from Memes or to understand History from Twitter.

Finally, the conspiracy minded seem to think "someones" have successfully maintained a many months long conspiracy (either across the whole of the nation, or perhaps in small geographic areas - its seemingly everywhere until you ask for locations) to deprive backyard chicken owners of eggs (somehow only just now being noticed) with no other health concerns, yet those same assumedly highly competent leaders of this vast conspiracy chose Producer's Pride/Dumor brands in an effort to manipulate the egg supply??? Really? I thought there was some suggestion these people were competent.

If I were going to constrain backyard chicken production, you can be absolutely certain I'd pick someone with significant market share, and choose locations which would maximize impact (SE US, Western US) and be likely to hit large flocks of production birds, not people with a vanity flock of occasional layers of pretty eggs living in Suburbia who think a trip to TSC is like going rural....

 

[LizzzyJo]

Lol!
Thing is, it's not completely farfetched. Antibiotics, birth control hormones, pesticides-all have been found in many locations in the water supply here in the USA.
That being said, you may very well be right.
It IS winter here, and there are SO many other factors that can influence egg laying!

I think we should all take our time in being suspicious, but also inquisitive. It’s great to be aware and interested in researching topics that are important to us (with peer reviewed sources). Then again, I am also a scientist by profession.

 

[Mrs. K]

I GOT AN EGG! HURRAY! I had completely given up on January eggs!

 

[WallyG74]

Everything is normal here. I hatch or buy new chicks every spring to make sure I have new layers in the winter to pick up the slack from those that are molting and taking a winter break. I also sell my older layers before they turn 3 years old. Always a rotation going on. That being said, I don’t use TSC feed but I must agree there has to be some logical explanation. A friend mentioned this to me just last week. I’m assuming she saw it on FB or the like. Now, suddenly, several threads on that very subject have popped up.