Fat chickens wont lay

[st4rgut]

Hey everyone, we have eight chickens in our backyard about seven months old, two rhode island reds, four plymouth rock and two buff orpington. Our reds lay about every day and are by far the best egglayers. The plymouth rocks and buff orpingtons, on the other hand, are very inconsistent; while a couple of them lay once every two days, the rest dont seem to lay at all. We noticed that the fattest hens don't produce, while the smaller ones do. I heard plymouth rocks are supposed to lay once every two days and am wondering whether we are feeding them too much. They are free ranging hens who graze in our backyard and eat layer pellets in addition to kitchen scraps. please let me know whether this is a nutritional issue, or something natural to the breed. The picture shows our smaller black chicken who is a good egglayer (front) and the unproductive chicken.

 

[eggbert420]

Maybe they are hidding their eggs somewhere.

 

[junebuggena]

They aren't fat. They are just built differently. And since you do let them free range, they are probably hiding eggs somewhere.

 

[st4rgut]

Thanks for the tip, I will keep looking for the secret stash of eggs, is it possible they bury their eggs? sometimes we hear a chicken singing the egg song, but dont see an egg nearby

 

[eggbert420]

Never heard of one burying eggs.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Yep, just different body types.
Chickens can bury eggs in bedding.....or 'hide' a nest.

Am curious if you are in the northern hemisphere...spring or fall where you are?

At 7 months they may not all be laying yet.
Layer feed, kitchen scraps and free ranging may have them low on protein.
Check your feed tag for protein percentage.
I use a 20% 'all flock' type to balance out the other foods I give my multi age flock,
and oyster shells in separate container for the layers.

I'd check vents and pelvic bones them maybe keep them cooped up to 'home' them to using the coop nests to lay.

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for 3-4 days (or longer) can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop 24/7 for a few days to a week, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.


Vent Appearance:
Dry, tight, and smaller - usually not laying.
Moist, wide, and larger - usually laying.

Pelvic Points, feel for the 2 bony points(pelvic bones F-F) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.
(Spacing is relative with chickens size and humans finger size.)

 

[st4rgut]

@aart It's spring here in California - the chickens spend a lot of time resting in the shade. Our layer feed is all vegetarian, so you're probably right that they're not getting enough protein, except from the seeds and bugs they eat. So far, there are only two nesting places we've identified: one in a nesting house outside the coop and a nest our chickens made on our hill. Our nesting house only fits one chicken as a time, so the others have had to lay uphill. Most of the chickens I checked did seem to be of laying age judging from their vents and pelvic bone width, so I might coop them up as you suggested. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions. Thanks!

 

[eggbert420]

What is the purpose of vegetarian food?

 

[st4rgut]

It's what the employee at the feed store recommended, honestly I did not do much research in choosing the right chicken feed at their age

 

[eggbert420]

Chickens are not vegetarians by nature. Chickens of laying age should be eating laying pellets, bugs, worms, they also eat mice, and snakes.