Feeding Sprouts but getting no eggs!

[LockettLadies]

I am feeding my chickens sprouted wheat, oats, and sunflower seeds and adding a bit of kelp, sesame seeds, and flax to it when I feed them the sprouts. Is that enought or am I missing something? The thing is my chickens aren't laying. I have 23 chickens and I am getting only one egg a day. I have 3 chickens about a year and a half old that aren't laying and 17 chickens about 6 months old that aren't laying either. What am I doing wrong? Please help!

 

[iwiw60]

I am feeding my chickens sprouted wheat, oats, and sunflower seeds and adding a bit of kelp, sesame seeds, and flax to it when I feed them the sprouts. Is that enought or am I missing something? The thing is my chickens aren't laying. I have 23 chickens and I am getting only one egg a day. I have 3 chickens about a year and a half old that aren't laying and 17 chickens about 6 months old that aren't laying either. What am I doing wrong? Please help!

Your feeding program is most likely the cause as to why you are only getting 1 egg per day from 23 hens. You should be feeding them a good overall layer feed...I feed Purina Layena crumbles with oyster shell in a separate container on the side, which I supplement with daily treats.

 

[pdirt]

A few ideas...

* The older ones might be molting, in which they won't lay eggs. Sometimes the molt is obvious (lots of feather loss) and other times it's more subtle.
* If you're not supplying additional light to equal 14-16 hours of light a day, they could be in winter hibernation mode, in which they lay few if any eggs.
* If you want them to lay and are only feeding them the items you listed above, they are likely deficient in some essential nutrients, such as protein. None of those ingredients are very high protein, the closest being the sunflower seeds. From what I've learned so far, it's not as easy as it sounds to formulate your own feed recipe and be able to get high production of eggs.