Hen behavior

[Chauntecleer]

I have five laying hens that were producing four eggs a day. Sometime during winter that went down to two a day and stayed there until a few days ago and now there have been no eggs since. I have removed my wonderful rooster to another pen in order to allow the hens some time to get feathers on their backs to come in. The rooster has some serious spurs and has been hard on the hens backs and I was thinking this might have stressed the girls even though they all love their rooster. Caught one snake (rat) and two golf balls disappeared so perhaps there are two snakes out of business. Anyone got any ideas as to what might cause the hens not to lay? They are only two years old and should be producing regularly. I feed them "Layena" and lots of treats including pasta, apples and scratch grains.

 

[WildBurroShirts.com]

So many things stop eggs: worms, stress (maybe there is some other predator like a rat in the coop at night?), any kind of change (like wondering where'd the rooster go???), parsites like mites, big temp swings (it snowed here three days ago, will be 81 tomorrow), noisy neighbors, hawks flying overhead...

I'd check them for bugs. Maybe get a fecal count or worm them if you see evidence. Check that there is no predator at night.

I've heard that cayenne 'jump starts' eggs but I'm not sure if that's true. Can you free range them a bit and give them some greens and yogurt and see if maybe that helps?

Best of luck.

 

[BeckySue]

Cayenne is good for expelling adult worms, but won't take care of the infestation. We think one of our birds have worms and so for the past week I've been feeding them hot pepper flakes in cottage cheese. They do pretty well with this. Since summer is coming on, the suggestion that you increase the duration of light may not be your problem. We have a light in the coop that goes off at 10:00 p.m. and have employed this since last fall to prevent a change in the duration of light the birds are experiencing. We haven't had any drops in egg production except when the birds start to molt.

 

[Mtn Margie]

"I feed them "Layena" and lots of treats including pasta, apples and scratch grains."

It could be that they are overfed. I would just feed the "Layena" and some free choice oyster shell for a few weeks. Let them free range and get some exercise if possible. No carbs or scratch. Kale and some other leafy greens are OK as a treat. Maybe, maybe.