My chickens can't decide what kind of eggs to lay

[Mari1]

Check out this massive egg i collected today!

My three year old Barred rock has decided to start laying again! (I think it's because she's shacking up with the little roo in my avatar) Hers are the speckled ones and they are very long and thin. The smaller solid brown one belongs to a little rhode island girl, her eggs are medium normally, but boy did she lay a whopper! I can't wait to have it for breakfast and see if it's a double yolker!


Geez la weez hope it didn't hurt!

 

[Hooligans7]

Check out this massive egg i collected today!

My three year old Barred rock has decided to start laying again! (I think it's because she's shacking up with the little roo in my avatar) Hers are the speckled ones and they are very long and thin. The smaller solid brown one belongs to a little rhode island girl, her eggs are medium normally, but boy did she lay a whopper! I can't wait to have it for breakfast and see if it's a double yolker!


Geez la weez hope it didn't hurt!

Hi Mari1, that's a whopper all right. How long was your BR hen "off line?" I have one that's barely two years old and she's been on vacation for a year — not one single egg for a whole year and counting. Did you do anything different or did anything else happen that might have caused her to start laying again (besides her torrid romance with the little roo?)

 

[Mari1]

Hi Mari1, that's a whopper all right. How long was your BR hen "off line?" I have one that's barely two years old and she's been on vacation for a year — not one single egg for a whole year and counting. Did you do anything different or did anything else happen that might have caused her to start laying again (besides her torrid romance with the little roo?)

Hey Hooligans!
Yes she stopped laying for a very long time, to the point we thought she retired and wouldn't lay any more. Then she surprised us with an egg (hers are pretty easily identifiable being long with brown speckles) a few months after sharing a coop with the lil banny roo, and she began laying about once every 2 weeks or so.
Recently I bought some crumble feed that was on sale that I noticed has 22% protein and was advertised as a feed you could feed chicks until they grew old enough to lay eggs. Now she's laying about 1 or 2 times a week. Maybe the increased protein could be doing it?

 

[Hooligans7]

Hey Hooligans!
Yes she stopped laying for a very long time, to the point we thought she retired and wouldn't lay any more. Then she surprised us with an egg (hers are pretty easily identifiable being long with brown speckles) a few months after sharing a coop with the lil banny roo, and she began laying about once every 2 weeks or so.
Recently I bought some crumble feed that was on sale that I noticed has 22% protein and was advertised as a feed you could feed chicks until they grew old enough to lay eggs. Now she's laying about 1 or 2 times a week. Maybe the increased protein could be doing it?

I've read that higher protein helps. Most standard laying pellets and crumbles are 16% protein, and if that's the only food they get, perhaps it's adequate -- but I don't know. We do give treats that couldn't be categorized as protein (veggie and fruit scraps, stale popcorn), so maybe those things upset their nutritional balance. Some people swear by the extra-protein meal. Then if you feed them other things, they still get enough protein to keep laying. But as I said, I really don't know for sure. Glad yours started laying again! Hope it continues.