Feeds affecting laying?

[Sherry68lynn]

I see the local geese are starting to pair up. I bet your chickens start laying soon

Well, they have been ever since I switched food. I thought today of all days they would lay light because it’s like -20 here with this polar vortex. But I got 21 eggs today which is a lot better than 6 eggs.

 

[sdm111]

Well, they have been ever since I switched food. I thought today of all days they would lay light because it’s like -20 here with this polar vortex. But I got 21 eggs today which is a lot better than 6 eggs.

Ok you win.

 

[Huntmaster]

I see the local geese are starting to pair up. I bet your chickens start laying soon

Ya one of my ducks just started laying 9 days ago here waiting on the others should be anytime.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ya one of my ducks just started laying 9 days ago here waiting on the others should be anytime.

My friends ducks started laying a few days ago. We might trade eggs a few times this spring so my pheonixes can hatch something

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My friends ducks started laying a few days ago. We might trade eggs a few times this spring so my pheonixes can hatch something

Whoops, wrong thread, sorry

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Just got home from grocery shopping, still need to make dinner, final animal checks, etc. I'll come back to this after AM coffee. have a good evening all

 

[EvolveInNature]

I have noticed that when I ran out of the Dumour feed I purchased, the hens started back up laying. But being new to wintering chickens I figured it was the season. But isn’t it still the season? I was feeding organic and switched around Christmas due to budget, I went back to my old feed this week and now I’m starting to get more than just a few out of 11 hens. Curious do they only take about a month break or was it the feed?

 

[Folly's place]

Stress for anything, including sudden weather events, can impact egg production. Hens need 14 to 16 hours of light daily to be 'in the mood' to lay eggs. Older birds produce fewer eggs, and molting times vary by breed and individual differences. Some birds molt fast and hard, some slowly and with few obvious changes.
Food of course matters, feeding a fresh balanced diet works best, but it's one factor that influences egg production, not the only thing.
Days are now getting longer, so egg production will increase, given all else that might be going on.
None of us can control everything, so it's just not possible to blame the feed as the only factor that matters to those hens!
Mary

 

[Aunt Angus]

She says again:

All of my laying chickens are laying. They've been on Dumor for over a month because that's what TSC had when I went to the store. I got 10 eggs today day from 11 layers (one is broody). But I guess no one cares because it doesn't fit their theory?

 

[NatJ]

I have noticed that when I ran out of the Dumour feed I purchased, the hens started back up laying. But being new to wintering chickens I figured it was the season. But isn’t it still the season? I was feeding organic and switched around Christmas due to budget, I went back to my old feed this week and now I’m starting to get more than just a few out of 11 hens. Curious do they only take about a month break or was it the feed?

Different hens take different amounts of time off. The same hens can stop for a different amount of time in different years. They tend to take longer breaks as they get older.

The winter solstice (shortest day) was on December 21, and the days have been getting longer since then. People talk about how many hours of daylight hens need to lay, but hens seem especially sensitive to CHANGES in the amount of daylight. There are quite a few reports of hens that started laying in the past few weeks, some from owners who switched feed and some from owners who did not switch feed.

I think daylight was the more likely cause of your hens starting to lay. But if you want to experiment a bit, you could buy a bag of the Dumor feed after your current other bag runs out, and see whether the hens stop laying again, or whether they keep laying. If they keep laying, it was probably not the feed. But if you can consistently make them start & stop laying by changing feed back and forth, that will be pretty good evidence of there being something unusual with the feed that makes them stop.