feeding Chickens Black pepper

[jpcode]

I think we need multiple studies here. 1 getting mature chickens to keep laying during cold seasons. 2 mature chickens during less than 10 hours of sun light. 3. getting young chickens to lay earlier. 4 getting chickens to lay during their molt. 5 keeping older chickens to keep laying.

I think there is a mixture of testimonials here, but the differences are important. Pepper makes me sweat and drink water, and I am sure it could make the birds nice and warm during cold days and motivate them to stay hidrated.

I think it would be helpful if people stated the age, average temp, hours of sun, with their results.

 

[v.cyr]

Quote:
good idea...

here are my details...

I have 7 hens ranging in age from 3 years to 2, and 4 7mo old pullets... my hens stopped laying in oct(molt), and had not laid anything until last week(after I started with the pepper)... they had been getting regular layer crumbles + treats, and we have a light on in their coop for 14 hours a day... weather has been freaky this winter( for example, today's high is 25, and tomorrow's is 40 with rain)... I have been giving them 1/2-3/4cup black pepper in their feed this last week, and have seen a steady increase in production( from squat to 5 yesterday) during that period, including one egg that I believe is from one of our 2 brahma pullets... they havent been drinking that much more than normal ,but it has been very wet for Dec, though...

 

[Rubynoggin]

Hi, I'm new to this site but I'm really enjoying reading your posts!
I live in the uk, I've got 3 hens all 18 months old. A Bluebell, a Sussex star and a Goldline, all cross breeds. They were fantastic layers all through last winter without missing a day even in -18 temps! They have very much dropped off this year though, with only the Goldline still laying one egg per day. I can't find anywhere if there is an age where they just stop laying??
I will try the pepper with their mash tomorrow, and keep at it!
Thanks for making me smile with all your stories x

 

[bobbieschicks]

Fed the older pullets some black peppered sunflower seeds and they scarfed it up. Hoping to jump start the ones that haven't started laying yet - they're 20 weeks now. Come on give me some eggs!

 

[Sarahnl]

Okay, to further expand on my case study:

I have a flock of 5. 2 are Plymouth Rock's about 18 months old, as well as an Amerucana who is about the same age. Our other 2 are New Hampshire Red's who are about 8 months old. All of our oldest hens started going through their second-autumn-hard-molt starting with the Amerucana who started at about the end of July-August (she hadn't laid since), with the other two PR's doing their molts each about a month apart. The younger two hens were added to our flock a couple months ago and haven't really figured out the pattern of where to lay and their overall laying has been on the decline the further into winter we go. I've had a lamp in their coop set on a timer to come on at abou 3:30am and turn off at about 7pm. I've also introduced oyster shells and been feeding them a combination of cooked beans, hardboiled eggs (w/shells), yogurt and cottage cheese, more veggie scraps etc. REEEEALLY trying to push the protein and calcium. The Plymouth's broke their dry-spell recently but haven't been consistantly laying at all. Like I said in my previous post, we're lucky if we get one egg a day. Probably been averaging closer to 3-4 a week? I read the cayanne tips and yesterday I made them flax seed oatmeal and mixed in oyster shells and covered it in cayanne pepper. They DOVE IN. And by about 10 am today we collected 2 eggs. One appears to be from one of our Plymouth Rock's and the other was BLUE! We haven't seen a blue egg in our coop since summer!! Such a relief!

 

[mnabity]

I have 8 EEs, 3 Black Australorps, 3 bantam frizzles, and 2 silkies all between 27-29 weeks old. Temps here have ranged from night time lows of -10 to highs of around 40. I have a light on for them giving them 14 hour days but they rarely go in the enclosed coop. If they want shelter they usually go under their coop which gives them around 10 hours of daylight. I had three girls laying when I started the pepper on the 17th. I gave them approx 3 TBSP of fresh ground blk pepper in their morning oatmeal/yogurt. The day after starting pepper another girl started laying. Over the next week and a half I got new layers until all my standards laid on the 27th. I don't expect the bantams to start for awhile(seems they take longer for me anyway). I am continuing the pepper through the 31st then I will stop to see if it kickstarted them and they will lay on their own now or if I should keep up the pepper.

 

[Chickety Charcoal]

I am trying this tomorrow. I haven't had a single egg since Sept

 

[shelleen]

I have 38 chickens, ages 20 months to 8 months...only 6 are roosters. I've been getting 1 (one, uno, 1!!!) egg a day for a couple of weeks. I have had a light on in the coop for a couple of weeks. No improvement. I have given them LARGE amounts of cayenne pepper (1/4 cup or more) a couple of times in the past 2 weeks, and each day for the past 2 days. I have had 5 eggs in 2 days.

They are still not earning their keep, but at least there is an improvement. I am hopeful that we are on to something. ( I know they love raw jalapenos, maybe I should buy them a few...)

I am so frustrated because last year (a more normal, severe MN winter), I had better egg production (6-8/day) in a make-shift, less insulated, windowless, small coop with cardboard box nests. This year (a mild, snowless warm winter...so far), I have a nice large 8X10 coop, well-insulated, windows, a "sunroom" made out of haybales & storm windows, and brand-spanking new plastic molded nests. Ungrateful little wretches!

Oh well, I'm sure I still be hatching more of the ungrateful wretches in a few months!! I'm hooked...

 

[littleflocker]

Thats it im trying it !

 

[bobbieschicks]

Quote:
Well today I still only got the 1 egg from Snow White (24 weeks old) but I did notice the 3 younger pullets (20 weeks) were going into the coop alot and making "nests" on the floor of shavings. Hopefully they will lay today. I've also noticed the rooster mating all of them. If I don't get any eggs from the younger ones, I'll try feeding them the black and red pepper and see if that makes a difference. Once they are laying I'll discontinue the pepper. If they don't start laying within a few days I'll also discontinue the pepper.