I was looking through the digital Meyers Master Poultry catalog for 2011 on their site and on page 6-Care of poultry it says not to feed fruit to layers because it can cause them to stop laying and can take up to six weeks for them to resume laying...Has anybody else heard of this before?
I've never heard that. I would like to know why that would happen. I have read that fruits high in sugar is not good in excess, but not that they will stop laying.
I give mine girls strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc. I have never noticed a problem. These berries/fruit are extra treats though in addition to their layer feed. Maybe if you feed only fruit it might cause a problem.
Mine wont eat it...I have access to free fruit from our general store and they just turn their beaks up.
Mine get cantelope, grapes, blueberries, watermelon. I 've had no problem with them laying. I get eggs everyday.
Though mine aren't old enough to lay yet, frozen fruit is a HUGE hit here. Watermelon especially, they reduce that to rind in no time. Seeing how hot it is right now with the heat wave, the extra water from fruit is more of a help than a hurt, methinks.
I'll have to ask my girls. I dump unwanted fruit in there for them by the bushel full in the summer and fall -- excess peaches, pears, apples, plums, whatever. Nope, they never stopped laying. They love it. I guess in theory, being all carbs and no protein, if that was all you fed them for a while they could stop. I ran out of 28% gamebird crumble a couple of weeks ago and had to give my quail 18% layer hen starter, and they quit laying, but started again in 2 days after I had time to go to the feed store.
It is the citrus fruit that is bad, lemons-oranges etc..... https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats Chart
