Laying is slowed down!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hairyhillfarm]

If misery loves company, I'll offer you some. I have 31 hens who, in the end of January were producing about 20 eggs a day. I was enthusiastic about what the production might be when the days get longer and warmer (I'm in Vermont.) They fell off to 7-10 a day in the end of February. I have them under lights, and feed fresh greens, pellets, crumble, fresh fish, and pasta (on cold days) They are slowly coming back up to speed... very very slowly. They are hitting the oystershell hard (50# every three weeks or so) and still sometimes have soft shells. I've added more fat and am eyeballing the cayenne pepper jar. They seem to really like oily stuff... fish, lard, corn oil.

They are pretty much all young birds... only a few coming out of a moult.

Any comments anyone?

 

[krstms]

I am having this problem to out of my small flock. Out of 6 I am lucky to get an egg a day. Some days nothing. They had started laying really well in january/febuary but have really slacked off. I recentl moved them to a new coop and some havent layed any since then. I hope that is all that's wrong and they will pick up again soon.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Ifigured out my situation, and hopefully it works for everyone else - I was adding Purina Flock Raiser in the winter because of the higher protein, mixing it in with their layer crumbles. Well, I stopped because the weather got ncier and that was when the laying slowed down. I have now added gamebird 20% protein back into their feed, and things should pick up again. - My suggestion - add a higher protein in with their layer food as part of their daily diet.