getting those stubborn girls to start laying AGAIN!!!!!

[newnanchic]

I thought this was an old tale from my "pawpaw" BUT.... when our girls started to slack on the laying he told me to go and buy "hot pepper" . He meant ground cayenne .... I bouth it at wal-mart it is 2/1.00 with the spices. (I bought the cheap stuff) I bought 6 bottles and mixed 4 of them with some cornmeal. Well believe it or not in just a few days they were laying better so I used the other 2 bottles and they were back on track in no time!!! Have you ever heard of this???

 

[schroader]

How do you mix it or feed it either one?

 

[newnanchic]

I just mixed the pepper with a 2 lb bag of cornmeal and put it in a pan on the ground in the pen and they ate in up quickly. I really did not think it would work but I was willing to spend 2 bucks to see and they did start laying every day again.

 

[newnanchic]

I mixed 2 more bottles of pepper with cornmeal and have gone from2-3 eggs a day to 7 a day. I have 18 hens some are very young I was getting 9-11 a day in the spring and summer. So we are on our way back up.

 

[Bawkadoodledoo]

maybe they had a bug in their system and the cayenne killed it off. i don't think birds have the capsaicin (sp?) receptor on their tongue..

 

[NiftyChick]

Our girls haven't laid any eggs (that we know of) in probably over 2 weeks.

I saw this thread and have done some online research to find a couple people backing up the cayenne pepper theory. Not on the taste of the powder, but on the idea that it raises body temperature. I'm thinking it may be worth a try.....

Here's what I found: "We usually feed them extra corn, oats and lots of cayenne pepper in the winter. We were told the cayenne would help warm them into laying. When we are not faithful with the cayenne, our egg production does go down." http://www.amazinggrazefarm.com/poultry.html

and

By Robbpa on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 09:04 pm:
".....When it gets real cold I feed cayenne pepper to the birds. They double production and I dont need Tobasco sauce on my fried eggs and scrapple.:>) " http://www.the-coop.org/wwwboard/discus/messages/2/5321.html

There was one other quote I can'f find now that I really liked, but can't find it now. We may give it a try.

Has anyone else tried this? I also read somewhere that it works as an excellent natural wormer.

Worth a try, right?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I've read lots of post where people use red pepper flakes to kick start their hens to lay...I tried it and it does work...I just sprinkled mine on top their feed.....not sure if it's meant to be used all the time but it worked on mine to get them back into laying...

 

[eggzettera]

Thanks for the info mine have not laid since October. I will be trying it this weekend - will let you know how it works out. It makes sense though cayenne is supposed to raise the metabolism.

Thanks again.
Nadine

 

[newnanchic]

I guess if I ate all that pepper it would light a fire under me too!!!! Looks like some of those stories from my 81 year old pawpaw are worth passing along!!! Good luck!!! I bought it at Wal-Maet 2 bottles for $1.00 . What do you have to loose ??? Right!!!!!

 

[mom'sfolly]

I've heard that adding cayenne to feed will help keep rats and mice out of it, but won't hurt the birds. Let me know how it goes for egglaying. One egg every other day is not enough. I almost bought grocery store eggs this week but I couldn't do it. I'm now officially an egg snob.