Last winter, I was nearly in a panic, because my girls had all but stopped laying. All were fairly young, and I think I had 25-30 layers. I was down at one point, to harvesting maybe 6 or 7 eggs a week. I was told all kinds of remedies, from turning on the lights, to adding crushed glass to their water, to feeding nothing but fresh corn, to adding Karo syrup and ACV or isopropanol to their water, and cayenne pepper to their food.
I tried the Karo syrup/ACV and fresh corn. Neither seemed to help, until y'all told me to turn on the lights. I started with just light bulbs, and it picked up, pretty well. Then, I switched to full spectrum fluorescent bulbs, and egg laying came to life. But, they never wanted to get in the coop, because the lights weren't switched. Once I added a timer, to give them 14 hours a day, it really worked well. I literally had a couple of days where I thought I'd gotten more eggs, than I had layers. Then I realized that some of my juveniles, had started laying, and it then made sense.
If you have a timer available, try turning on the lights, between 1am and 2am, and off at 7:30 to 8:00 am. I'd be willing to bet, that you'll regularly find eggs in the nests, first thing in the morning. At 7:15 this morning, I had 4 eggs. The sun had only been up a few minutes, at that time, and as I understand it, chickens don't lay in the dark.
3 weeks ago, I was getting maybe 4 eggs a week. Wednesday, I set 41 in the Hovabator, and have eaten several. Yet, I have more than 3 dozen in the fridge.
Lights work. But, too much light, can cause problems. If chickens don't know it is time to coop up, they tend to want to go searching for another snack.
I tried the Karo syrup/ACV and fresh corn. Neither seemed to help, until y'all told me to turn on the lights. I started with just light bulbs, and it picked up, pretty well. Then, I switched to full spectrum fluorescent bulbs, and egg laying came to life. But, they never wanted to get in the coop, because the lights weren't switched. Once I added a timer, to give them 14 hours a day, it really worked well. I literally had a couple of days where I thought I'd gotten more eggs, than I had layers. Then I realized that some of my juveniles, had started laying, and it then made sense.
If you have a timer available, try turning on the lights, between 1am and 2am, and off at 7:30 to 8:00 am. I'd be willing to bet, that you'll regularly find eggs in the nests, first thing in the morning. At 7:15 this morning, I had 4 eggs. The sun had only been up a few minutes, at that time, and as I understand it, chickens don't lay in the dark.
3 weeks ago, I was getting maybe 4 eggs a week. Wednesday, I set 41 in the Hovabator, and have eaten several. Yet, I have more than 3 dozen in the fridge.
Lights work. But, too much light, can cause problems. If chickens don't know it is time to coop up, they tend to want to go searching for another snack.
