My hens stopped laying eggs!

[ChickenCanoe]

I sometimes get the light pinkish brown eggs from JGs and Orps.
I agree on locking them up a couple days to prevent easter egg hunts just to get an accurate count.
Protein is important for egg production since an egg a day from an average size hen is equivalent to a woman having an 8 lb. baby every day.
Have you checked for lice, mites, worms? That'll cut production substantially.

 

[Peregrine]

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Thanks; I will try this. I didn't realize it took 3 weeks to train them to lay in the coop. Being the youngest on the pecking order, they are being a little bit terrorized by the second "teenage" rooster, whose hormones are raging. And the one that lays pale eggs only has one leg (raccoon got it through the chicken wire when she was just one month old. But we decided to nurse her back to health, and were so excited when she laid her first egg! She's a delight; the only chicken who won't run away from us. My daughter hand-feeds her treats in the yard.)

 

[Peregrine]

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Will the extra protien in the game bird feed also help "beef-up" the chickens we're raising for meat? Do I need to give the hens extra calcium? I usually buy my feed at Tractor Supply; what brand name would I be looking for?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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Will the extra protien in the game bird feed also help "beef-up" the chickens we're raising for meat? Do I need to give the hens extra calcium? I usually buy my feed at Tractor Supply; what brand name would I be looking for?

The Dumor brand there comes in a 20% and 24% I think they're called game bird starter and flock raiser.
I always use 24% for meat birds. To 8 or 9 weeks for freedom rangers and to 6 weeks for Cornish Rocks. Then 15% finisher.

If you're feeding grower to hens they'll absolutely have to have oyster shell free choice. It's best to give OS even if you're feeding layer. I would mix the grower with layer. The amount of protein and calcium isn't the only difference.
They're specially formulated for the nutritional needs dependent on age of birds.

 

[Katydid2011]

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X2!!!

 

[cybercat]

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Will the extra protien in the game bird feed also help "beef-up" the chickens we're raising for meat? Do I need to give the hens extra calcium? I usually buy my feed at Tractor Supply; what brand name would I be looking for?

Personally I would stay away from Dunmor. It is a low grade made for TSC by Purnia. I will not buy any feed from TSC for I have had bad results from it. Your best bet is to find a real feed store. You can chceck feed website to see if they have a location near you. I am now feeding ADM alliance pen pals, because it is the only other feed I could find local that was not TSC or Purnia and boy are my chicken doing well on it. Check Southern States, Blue Seal, Kent, Nutreana, and Faithway just to name a few mills. Also look for a local Co-Op as they make their own.

 

[Peregrine]

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I'm a little confused with your terminology. Is this a chick starter that you use until 8-9 weeks?

 

[Peregrine]

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Will the extra protien in the game bird feed also help "beef-up" the chickens we're raising for meat? Do I need to give the hens extra calcium? I usually buy my feed at Tractor Supply; what brand name would I be looking for?

Personally I would stay away from Dunmor. It is a low grade made for TSC by Purnia. I will not buy any feed from TSC for I have had bad results from it. Your best bet is to find a real feed store. You can chceck feed website to see if they have a location near you. I am now feeding ADM alliance pen pals, because it is the only other feed I could find local that was not TSC or Purnia and boy are my chicken doing well on it. Check Southern States, Blue Seal, Kent, Nutreana, and Faithway just to name a few mills. Also look for a local Co-Op as they make their own.

What bad results, specifically, did you have? I've always used Dumor because that's what they had for starter feed when I first got my chicks 2 years ago. We do have a feed store just outside of town; I bought their food once, and the chickens seemed to eat more and poop more (and smell more!

), so I never got it again, even though it was a few dollars less than TSC food.

I've seen other posts that said not to get Purina at TSC, but I also saw bags at TSC with the Purina label on them, so I figured I was getting a different brand. So far I've been happy with it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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I'm a little confused with your terminology. Is this a chick starter that you use until 8-9 weeks?

Yes, actually the 24% is for starting game birds but it puts meat on meat and DP chickens quickly and helps them feather fast.
I am a little careful with it because they can gain too quickly. If they seem to have trouble getting around I'll mix in a little 18 or 20%.
You can also increase the dark hours to limit the number of hours they'll eat. I keep lights on 24/7 the first week, a red only light about 4 hours each night the next couple weeks and if it's not cold enough to need the heat, complete darkness 4-6 hrs nightly after that.

I know the dumor is a lower quality but it is the only thing available in my area that's over 18%.

 

[Peregrine]

What do I feed them when they reach full size (18-20 weeks?) Can I mix the game bird feed with the layer feed and assume that the full-grown hens who need more calcium will mostly eat the layer feed and not have a drop in egg production?

The thing is, we have a brooder and a regular coop, but nothing for the inbetween chicks (10-18 weeks old) that are usually on the finisher/grower feed. When the chicks reach 10 weeks, we've been putting them in the coop with the regular chickens on the layer feed. We know that the extra calcium in the feed would shorten their life span, but since they were to be slaughtered anyway, it didn't really matter.

Now we have a few 10+ week old pullets that we want to keep for laying eggs, and it's a pain to separate them out each morning from the rest of the flock and feed them finisher feed. Would they eat the game bird feed and mostly stay away from the layer feed if I mixed them together?