So I found out that I have inadvertantly told yall a lie..
the other day I told yall that I had gotten 6 eggs. What I didnt know was that my Mother in law went to the coop at somepoint and got one herself. SO that was a total of 7. I now have had 2 new ones start laying not just the one I thought I had. I know you can
me if you want but I thought it was good news for me anyways.
I regularly give my chickens ground black pepper mixed in with their mash. In the morning, I mix up a large dish of mash with hot water and about 2 tablespoons of ground black pepper. This is fed to them outside, and as it is cold here, the hot water cools quickly. The girls love this, and egg production is good, between 5 and 8 eggs a day from 9 hens. This is their first winter of laying. I do use a red light for night (and cold days too) to keep the coop from getting really frozen.
I first read about the black pepper and hot mash as an old folks remedy for cold weather and poor egg production.
well, if nothing else, black pepper seems to stimulate chickens appetites...added 2 tablespoons to the aprox. 6lbs of feed I gave them this morning at 6, and by 8:15( when I check on them and let them out into their yard before going to work) it was better than 2/3 gone... I've never seen them eat that much, that fast... made sure they had plenty of water too, but they hadn't seemed to have touched that by the time I left... here's hoping that it really does stimulate egglaying too...
I'm getting desperate so I'm going to try this. Three of my four hens have been molting for 2 months and I've actually had to buy those stinky supermarket eggs. I'll let you know if this gets my girls going again so my guests for the holidays will get fresh eggs!
nothing yet... figure I will keep it up for a week or so...those of you who have apparently had success, what is your "dosage", as in how much pepper to how much food... I did about 1 tsp per 1 lb...
I have been giving them about 3ish TBSP of fresh ground black pepper in their morning oatmeal. I make them the 2 servings(1 3/4 C water to 1C oatmeal) with a container(6oz) of yogurt for 16 pullets so far today I've got 6 eggs I do have a few girls that like to lay just before bedtime
no new layers today but egg production has more than doubled since starting the pepper on saturday