Get my chickens laying again!

[Aunt Angus]

I collected an egg once, freshly laid by a hen, & it was rotten. Never figured out how, or why it happened. Never happened again thankfully.

I knew they could lay eggs that were "infected." Didn't know they could lay rotten ones. Ew.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I knew they could lay eggs that were "infected." Didn't know they could lay rotten ones. Ew.

Never believed it, until it happened to us.

 

[jhazle]

Rotten eggs? Hens don't lay rotten eggs. I wonder if maybe they were hiding them so you didn't collect them right away?

Also, if you are in North America, days are super short, so they may not be laying. And it's molting season! My 11 hens aren't laying because every last one of them is molting right now.

What were you feeding them? What are you feeding now?

Kalmback all Natural feed. Now Grahams Organic from a local farm

 

[jhazle]

To clarify..... I wouldn't feed the stuff that's been on the ground. There's a reason it's been rejected.

lesson learned. Figured they were being stubborn cause we switched feeds on them

 

[jhazle]

We don't set out 90lbs of feed at a time but after continually adding the feed to their feeder every day, a little more would get thrown on the ground every day by the chickens every day till there was an abnormal amount on the ground.

Love all the questions, but what should I do??? How do I get them to be laying again? How long should I expect to wait before making chicken stew(maybe not a good joke).

 

[SueT]

Hens usually stop laying for the winter. They will lay again when the days get long enough.
I don’t leave any feed out overnight, so as to not attract varmints. We fill clean empty feed bowls every morning.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Still need to know age of the birds as well as what part of the world you live in.

Here in the northern hemisphere we are headed into winter with shortening daylight hours. Birds over a year old need to molt in order to prepare for winter. Molting takes nutrients and energy so egg laying slows extremely or stops completely.

If they are molting it can be a wait til after winter solstice for laying to resume.