Fat chickens wont lay

[Folly's place]

I also feed Flock Raiser, a 20% protein feed suitable for all chickens, with oyster shell on the side. My flock ranges on varied ground, lots of stuff for them to find. I feed very limited other stuff. Most chicken feeds are 'vegetarian' because it's less expensive to produce, totally balanced, and many people have no idea that chickens are omnivores. I think that the 16% protein layer feeds work best only if they aren't 'toned down' with random vegetable scraps, which unbalance the very fine- tuned feed, which is formulated for commercial birds who get nothing else. As aart mentioned, offering other vegitation changes the diet, sometimes for the worse. Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Hidden nests are a pain! Can you lock your birds in their coop and run until they all lay eggs inside? Mary

 

[st4rgut]

Yes, I am thinking about confining them for the morning, but I think the problem may be with their diet. Though we let our chickens free range, they have picked the greens clean and our soil is baked from 24 hours sun, so it's probably not a good source of nutrients. I found a dead snake today and gave it to them, but most of the chickens ran off squabbling :O Iguess we'll just have to balance their diet at the next trip to the feed store