Help! My Chickens have not laid eggs in several Months~

[Macchickenman]

Good advice from our community and I am sure you will be on the right track now.. Good luck!!

 

[Craftyrn1959]

Hello everyone! I know that molting and often the winter time can hinder the laying of chickens but this has been going since the end of October or before that they quit laying. I have many different types of breeds, one or two roosters possibly, I think one at least, the rest, about 30 maybe, all hens, almost a year old. We got them all last spring, had been laying at the end of summer and then quit. I saw them molting and figured, OK, makes sense, plus we had a lot of roosters that some of y'all helped me figure out we had that we took out of the mix. It had gotten cold too, so I figured and the time change. But I figured they would have started laying again by now.

We put a light in they're laying nesting area and leave it on 24/7; put it in there almost a week ago but that still hasn't seemed to help. We feed them cracked corn and house scraps (egg shells, bread, veggies etc.) We were feeding them laying mash, but I had read on here or on Facebook backyard page/group that a woman said feeding them cracked or whole corn and a light had her chickens laying again in a week or less. I tried that and still nothing.

Any suggestions or help? Any and all would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[herbgardener]

hi there. we feed Tucker Mills 20% protein. Corn is okay for when the nights are very cold - we throw whole corn when the chickens need to generate more body heat. But it's not much nutrition, just carbs. We also give them black oil sunflower seeds and lots of fruit. I get a lot of "sad" fruit from our local market. Chickens love love love grapes and bananas!

 

[JessicaThistle]

Hello everyone! I know that molting and often the winter time can hinder the laying of chickens but this has been going since the end of October or before that they quit laying. I have many different types of breeds, one or two roosters possibly, I think one at least, the rest, about 30 maybe, all hens, almost a year old. We got them all last spring, had been laying at the end of summer and then quit. I saw them molting and figured, OK, makes sense, plus we had a lot of roosters that some of y'all helped me figure out we had that we took out of the mix. It had gotten cold too, so I figured and the time change. But I figured they would have started laying again by now.

We put a light in they're laying nesting area and leave it on 24/7; put it in there almost a week ago but that still hasn't seemed to help. We feed them cracked corn and house scraps (egg shells, bread, veggies etc.) We were feeding them laying mash, but I had read on here or on Facebook backyard page/group that a woman said feeding them cracked or whole corn and a light had her chickens laying again in a week or less. I tried that and still nothing.

Any suggestions or help? Any and all would be greatly appreciated!!!

I read through the whole thread and agree that you need to feed the high protein layer feed. The only thing corn is good for is adding some extra calories to keep the hens a bit warmer when the temps are very low. Even that isn't needed really.

One thing I did not see mentioned though is that the supplemental light does not go in the nest area. Chickens like to lay in a dark, quiet place. The light goes in the area where they would be hanging around in the morning once they wake up, like the run or place they eat or lounge around.

I would agree that leaving the light off for now and getting them healthy would be a good idea. The days are getting longer right now anyway, so supplemental light won't be necessary pretty soon.

 

[Craftyrn1959]

This is what we do: we live in Missouri and it gets cold in winters. We have about 20 chickens of mixed ages. We have two heat lamps in their coup that come on when it is 35 degrees. We have regular lights on a timer that come on about 4 am, so they have daylight from 4 until about 5 pm when it gets dark. The chickens get layer pellets to eat first in the morning. We give them scratch grains around 3 pm. They get some scraps, mainly fruit and vegetables at 3 pm also. We als have crushed oyster shells out all the time for them. we get about 8 eggs a day even in the coldest day. we consider this very good considering our chickens are anywhere from 2-7 yrs old. Hope this helps

 

[WindingRoad]

Hello everyone! I know that molting and often the winter time can hinder the laying of chickens but this has been going since the end of October or before that they quit laying. I have many different types of breeds, one or two roosters possibly, I think one at least, the rest, about 30 maybe, all hens, almost a year old. We got them all last spring, had been laying at the end of summer and then quit. I saw them molting and figured, OK, makes sense, plus we had a lot of roosters that some of y'all helped me figure out we had that we took out of the mix. It had gotten cold too, so I figured and the time change. But I figured they would have started laying again by now.

We put a light in they're laying nesting area and leave it on 24/7; put it in there almost a week ago but that still hasn't seemed to help. We feed them cracked corn and house scraps (egg shells, bread, veggies etc.) We were feeding them laying mash, but I had read on here or on Facebook backyard page/group that a woman said feeding them cracked or whole corn and a light had her chickens laying again in a week or less. I tried that and still nothing.

Any suggestions or help? Any and all would be greatly appreciated!!!

Eggs are mostly protein. We and chickens are what we eat. Protein in protein out. I've had eggs all winter. 2 year old BO and ISABrown. And 2 16-28 week old SLW. Got them at the end of November and they started laying end of Dec first of January. Maybe every 10th day no eggs. Some days 3 eggs Both majority of the days 4 eggs. I hard boiled 4 eggs the other day and I eat 2 each day. I have a dozen sitting on the counter right now. Got 4 today. I feed 22% protein, scratch, and mealworms. And have water available at all times. I'm retired so I go out about every couple of hours to replenish.
Also I'd turn off that light. Having it on 24/7 may be stressing them out.

ETA: When you start getting eggs, crush the shells up, put on pizza pan and into oven 350 for about 5 mins. Watch them they will burn and feed them back to them. Not too hot though. Good source of Ca++....

 

[bowmanfarm]

Hello everyone! I know that molting and often the winter time can hinder the laying of chickens but this has been going since the end of October or before that they quit laying. I have many different types of breeds, one or two roosters possibly, I think one at least, the rest, about 30 maybe, all hens, almost a year old. We got them all last spring, had been laying at the end of summer and then quit. I saw them molting and figured, OK, makes sense, plus we had a lot of roosters that some of y'all helped me figure out we had that we took out of the mix. It had gotten cold too, so I figured and the time change. But I figured they would have started laying again by now.

We put a light in they're laying nesting area and leave it on 24/7; put it in there almost a week ago but that still hasn't seemed to help. We feed them cracked corn and house scraps (egg shells, bread, veggies etc.) We were feeding them laying mash, but I had read on here or on Facebook backyard page/group that a woman said feeding them cracked or whole corn and a light had her chickens laying again in a week or less. I tried that and still nothing.

Any suggestions or help? Any and all would be greatly appreciated!!!

I completely agree with the protein levels in the feed. I would like to see the
Hens getting 14 hrs of continuous daylight per day, and make sure it is bright enough to trigger their photo period. See link for info on photo period
. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1StC3E_3h_JghNBngkz4ix

 

[eartick]

Have you wormed them lately. If you are familiar with light change and molting, the other problem may be remedied by a worming.

 

[raywood lagneau]

Hello everyone! I know that molting and often the winter time can hinder the laying of chickens but this has been going since the end of October or before that they quit laying. I have many different types of breeds, one or two roosters possibly, I think one at least, the rest, about 30 maybe, all hens, almost a year old. We got them all last spring, had been laying at the end of summer and then quit. I saw them molting and figured, OK, makes sense, plus we had a lot of roosters that some of y'all helped me figure out we had that we took out of the mix. It had gotten cold too, so I figured and the time change. But I figured they would have started laying again by now.

We put a light in they're laying nesting area and leave it on 24/7; put it in there almost a week ago but that still hasn't seemed to help. We feed them cracked corn and house scraps (egg shells, bread, veggies etc.) We were feeding them laying mash, but I had read on here or on Facebook backyard page/group that a woman said feeding them cracked or whole corn and a light had her chickens laying again in a week or less. I tried that and still nothing.

Any suggestions or help? Any and all would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Judy Todd]

Will do @ChocolateMouse . I Don't know why anyone would say something like that and it be not helpful but possibly harmful to our birds. I would never do anything that would hurt them knowingly and I will be correcting my mistakes right away you can bet that! I will do one or that other (layer feed or add the free choice calcium). I knew they went through molting, but what is winter depression? As far as the light goes I will start cutting it off at night or leaving it off for good if that is what is best for them. I had just seen so many people talking about getting eggs again or their hens not even hardly quit laying and was wondering what I needed to do to help them out to help them to lay again. I'm patient, was just worried something might not be right for them and now I know.