Increase egg production

[4-H chicken mom]

Hi and from Ohio. So glad you joined.

 

[birdfishfarms]

what kind of pepper do you use? Bell? or like regular kitchen pepper?

 

[ChickenPeep]

From Kansas!

I don't think they increase egg production, but they help keep the hens healthy.

 

[TwoCrows]

from New Mexico!

 

[SharkmanDan]

I'm having a similar issue with TWO of my several breeds. My Speckled Sussex's and Golden Lakenvelders, housed next to one another, separated only by chain link fence, are not laying. The Cuckoo Marans' on one side, and the RIR's on the other side of them, are laying pretty well. About 50% on the CM's, and 75% on the RIR's, weekly average.
I've not gotten an egg yet, out of the Golden Lakenvelders, since getting them in January. The Speckled Sussex's have given me about 5 total eggs, in the same time frame. I have 3 GL hens and a rooster, and 7 SS hens with 3 roosters.
The local "expert" at the Co-Op, said full spectrum light, on a timer, to come on around 2am, adding Karo syrup to their water, and adding green leafy veggies to their feed, should help. It got me one egg, two days into this attempt, but nothing since. Fluke....probably!
A friend, who runs a large commercial egg laying operation, this morning, suggested not just the Karo, but adding 1/4 cup of ACV, to every 5 gallons of their drinking water. He believes ACV to be a miracle supplement for chickens, so, I added some, this morning, and we'll see where it goes. But, he has 20,000 chickens, and gets 10,000+ eggs per day. I presume he knows what he's talking about.
I hope this helps, as it means it helped me too. But, in searching for an answer to my problem, I found this question, and thought that I'd pass along what I was told.

 

[computerguru]

What kind of pepper? Black, Red, ??? ty

 

[drumstick diva]

think that is yet another "old wives(or husbands) tale.

 

[N F C]

*Warning...small rant ahead*

A hen is born with a certain number of ova, each of those having the potential to become an egg, you can't increase the number of ova she was born with. Guess you have to ask yourself, do you want them all by the time she is about 2 years of age or do you want to keep your gal healthy and maybe laying once in a while when she's older.

The commercial operations push their chickens to lay as many eggs as possible in a relatively short period of time, one way they do that is by extending the hours of light (really, 2am?). Once those chickens laying slows down they are disposed of.

Since I consider our chickens to be pets as much as they are "producers", I want to keep them around as long as possible, even if that means their laying eventually slows down or stops. I don't want to push them to be the equivalent of a burnt out, used up commercial bird by trying to artificially speed up their egg laying. I want them to have a good quality of life. My personal economy doesn't depend on them pumping out as many eggs as possible in the shortest period of time. If I'm doing my job of feeding and housing them correctly and letting them wake up with natural daylight, they lay just fine, which is about once every 25-26 hours. Sure shorter daylight hours, molting, illness, injuries, stress can all affect laying but those are things we have to deal with as their caretakers.

Ok, getting off my soap box now...as you may have guessed, this is something I feel strongly about.

 

[computerguru]

Good rant and I agree.