I didn't know there is so many things that would make a chicken not lay very many eggs.

[TexasSam]

So I'm not to late to add a light right now?

At 10:30 you should wait till morning

 

[nicolette]

Their food has 17% protein. How high of protein do you feed them when their moulting?
I have NHR,RIR,EE,BSL
I have birds that I got end of Winter/spring of 2015, 2016 &
2017
What are the correct breeds?

 

[TexasSam]

Adding extra lights can mess them up. You may get more eggs, but it could have some longer lasting affects. Feeding a higher protein feed, 18-22% can help to optimize production. Keep extras to a minimum. Never let them run out of fresh clean water.

There are many reasons for production to go up and down and to stop. The first question would be what breeds do you have? Some are egg breeds, others are dual purpose or meat breeds.

How old are your birds? The best production is seen during the first two seasons. You will see the lowest production through the winter. Production will peak in early spring to early summer.

Keeping stress down, and providing proper housing that isn't crowded can help too. Chickens are living creatures, all are different as far as egg production. Picking the correct breeds, and providing proper and consistent care will get you the most eggs.

I have a light on a timer every day at 6:30 to 7:45 and 6:45 pm to 7:30pm 365 days a year

 

[TexasSam]

Their food has 17% protein. How high of protein do you feed them when their moulting?
I have NHR,RIR,EE,BSL
I have birds that I got end of Winter/spring of 2015, 2016 &
2017
What are the correct breeds?

Mine is 18 but I give them eggs boiled eggs three days a week one egg for every 5 chickens

 

[Sassysouth]

Their food has 17% protein. How high of protein do you feed them when their moulting?
I have NHR,RIR,EE,BSL
I have birds that I got end of Winter/spring of 2015, 2016 &
2017
What are the correct breeds?

I have had 2 people to tell me, since I got new chicks, to feed them and my laying hen, Flock Raiser, because it has 20% Protein.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Their food has 17% protein. How high of protein do you feed them when their moulting?
I have NHR,RIR,EE,BSL
I have birds that I got end of Winter/spring of 2015, 2016 &
2017
What are the correct breeds?

Any birds older than a year will quit to molt during fall into winter. Most will resume between December to March.

Most hens lay good for 2 seasons than production will start to drop drastically. You have decent breeds for egg production. Continue to add younger birds each year and cull out the older hens to continue to get better production.

Hens cannot lay continuously. They need breaks throughout the season to replenish their reserves. Egg production is very taxing.

What do you consider poor egg production? What do you consider good production?

 

[TexasSam]

I have had 2 people to tell me, since I got new chicks, to feed them and my laying hen, Flock Raiser, because it has 20% Protein.

Flock raiser is when you are feeding mixed age chickens
Layer is when you are feed hens 1 year old +
There is also feather fixer feed and it is for molting birds

 

[Sassysouth]

Flock raiser is when you are feeding mixed age chickens
Layer is when you are feed hens 1 year old +
There is also feather fixer feed and it is for molting birds

Yes, I understand what the packages say. I am just repeating information I was given, mainly in regards to the protein content.

 

[aart]

Flock raiser is when you are feeding mixed age chickens
Layer is when you are feed hens 1 year old +
There is also feather fixer feed and it is for molting birds

Yes, I understand what the packages say. I am just repeating information I was given, mainly in regards to the protein content.

What kind of ration you feed has to do more with their overall diet than a specific age or laying status. A higher protein feed is for when you feed other foods to offset protein dilution.

I like to feed a flock raiser/starter/grower/finisher type feed with 20% protein crumble full time to all ages and genders, as non-layers(chicks, males and molting birds) do not need the extra calcium that is in layer feed and chicks and molters can use the extra protein. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat. I do grind up the crumbles (in the blender) for the chicks for the first week or so.

The higher protein crumble also offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer. I adjust the amounts of other feeds to get the protein levels desired with varying situations.
Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container.

Animal protein (a freshly trapped mouse, mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided once in while and during molting and/or if I see any feather eating.