Restart hens laying

[MamaPoult]

Seems like the lentils helped but I wonder if it's because they contain specific vitamins, vs protein. I gave my hens a 100-lb deer carcass two weeks ago and they picked it clean, all the while egg production dropping.

From my research its the two protiens that aid the hen in laying but that is online info so it may be a combination of both! The two are Lysine and Methionine. I'm glad it helped! The reason mine stopped was because we are off grid and didnt have our light situation figured out. I gave them light and that it still didnt help after about a month and thats when I discovered lentils. What breeds do you have? I have Australorps copper marans cuckoo marans and a mix as well as two turkeys!

 

[User635240]

That is really interesting. Was there anything else in your research you can share? FYI Lysine and methionine are amino acids not proteins. Protein is like muscle meat. I do have some lysine powder here, I will try that as well. I read lysine controls certain viruses like Marek's. I have maybe 20 different breeds, except Australorps!

From my research its the two protiens that aid the hen in laying but that is online info so it may be a combination of both! The two are Lysine and Methionine. I'm glad it helped! The reason mine stopped was because we are off grid and didnt have our light situation figured out. I gave them light and that it still didnt help after about a month and thats when I discovered lentils. What breeds do you have? I have Australorps copper marans cuckoo marans and a mix as well as two turkeys!

 

[MamaPoult]

That is really interesting. Was there anything else in your research you can share? FYI Lysine and methionine are amino acids not proteins. Protein is like muscle meat. I do have some lysine powder here, I will try that as well. I read lysine controls certain viruses like Marek's. I have maybe 20 different breeds, except Australorps!

That is interesting about Lysine! I thought amino acids are protien? I dont mean that to sound snotty by the way its hard on here because people dont know that I'm not using a mean tone so please dont take that the wrong way. Only other noteworthy thing is I noticed lentils give mine diarrhea if I feed it everyday so I feed it everyother day. I love that you have so many breeds! I want to have a really mixed flock someday!

 

[McChooky]

We have had a really mild winter. Most days have been in the 40s with little snow. This is very abnormal. At the beginning of Jan we had one record breaking cold snap and we sat at - 40 for 3 days. Everyone went into survival mode and now I only have 1 hen laying. How do I help them restart.

You have to add young pullets every year to get eggs year round

 

[NatJ]

The reason mine stopped was because we are off grid and didnt have our light situation figured out. I gave them light and that it still didnt help after about a month and thats when I discovered lentils.

If they started laying about a month after you provided the extra light, that is about what I would expect if the light made the difference.

It takes several weeks for a hen's body to go from not-laying to laying. She grows a whole bunch of egg yolks from pinhead-size up to ready-to-lay yolk size, and then every day or two she can put the egg white & shell on one egg and lay it.

We are into the time of year (in the northern hemisphere) when the days are getting longer, and many pullets and hens are starting to lay again. Some do it sooner than others. But because some of them are naturally starting to lay again, people find many kinds of "tricks" that do not really work-- the person just happened to try it when the hens were about ready to lay anyway, so it looks like it worked.

ANY trick, tip, or idea that seems to cause laying in less than a week or two, is not really bringing the hens from a state of completely not-laying to a state of laying eggs. Something that actually causes laying should take around a month to work, plus or minus a bit because not all hens are alike. (Sort-of exception: if hens are already laying but are hiding the eggs or eating them, anything that makes them stop those behaviors can work quickly, because the eggs are being laid anyway. It's just a matter of the person being able to get them. But that is not really the same thing as making a non-layer start laying again.)

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think it was @aart that first told me that it takes about 25 hours for an egg to be formed inside a hen. So even for a hen that's laying daily, every day she'll lay about an hour later than the previous day.

 

[RedwoodCoastChick]

but my green egg laying production Red - who lays faithfully nearly every day and yes I know a production red is suppose to give a brown egg - she didn't get the memo.

This really tickled me...good thing I hadn't just sipped my tea when I read it!

 

[MamaPoult]

If they started laying about a month after you provided the extra light, that is about what I would expect if the light made the difference.

It takes several weeks for a hen's body to go from not-laying to laying. She grows a whole bunch of egg yolks from pinhead-size up to ready-to-lay yolk size, and then every day or two she can put the egg white & shell on one egg and lay it.

We are into the time of year (in the northern hemisphere) when the days are getting longer, and many pullets and hens are starting to lay again. Some do it sooner than others. But because some of them are naturally starting to lay again, people find many kinds of "tricks" that do not really work-- the person just happened to try it when the hens were about ready to lay anyway, so it looks like it worked.

ANY trick, tip, or idea that seems to cause laying in less than a week or two, is not really bringing the hens from a state of completely not-laying to a state of laying eggs. Something that actually causes laying should take around a month to work, plus or minus a bit because not all hens are alike. (Sort-of exception: if hens are already laying but are hiding the eggs or eating them, anything that makes them stop those behaviors can work quickly, because the eggs are being laid anyway. It's just a matter of the person being able to get them. But that is not really the same thing as making a non-layer start laying again.)

Hmm I dont really agree with that but ok. They werent laying and after one day of lentils I noticed a difference. Have you tried it?

 

[NatJ]

Hmm I dont really agree with that but ok. They werent laying and after one day of lentils I noticed a difference. Have you tried it?

No, because I don't have any not-laying chickens to test with at this time.

But I have raised chickens at various points over the last several decades, and I have seen lots of cases where they aren't laying and then they all start up in quick succession. And I have seen cases where they all stop for a day or two, and then they start back up again. Since individual hens do take a day off now and then, sometimes those days off will all land on the same day. And they take time off for molting (sometimes all together, sometimes not), and if they go broody they stop then too. I've seen times when a whole flock was molting at once, or half the flock was broody at once, or they were all laying but all took their day off on the same day, or two that laid same-color eggs on alternate days so it looked like only one of the two was laying, or a bunch of other situations. Egg production just does tend to be clumpy.

I have also butchered many hens and pullets, at many different ages and times of year, so I've seen the difference in egg yolks when they are laying, when they are definitely not-laying, and the stages in between.

 

[NatJ]

From my research its the two protiens that aid the hen in laying but that is online info so it may be a combination of both! The two are Lysine and Methionine.

FYI Lysine and methionine are amino acids not proteins. Protein is like muscle meat.

That is interesting about Lysine! I thought amino acids are protien?

Protein is made of amino acids.

Lysine and methionine are amino acids. When we talk about them individually, we call them amino acids, not proteins.

Amino acids can be combined in different ways to make many different proteins. For example, casein is one particular protein in milk (not the only protein in the milk, just the first one whose name I could think of to use as an example.)

When we talk about the amount of protein in food, sometimes we look at the total amount of protein, and sometimes we pay attention to which specific amino acids are present in what quantities because we want to have the right ones for chickens, or for people, or whatever else. Not everything needs the same set of amino acids (cats can develop deficiencies on foods that are fine for dogs, corn grows properly with a set that isn't right for people or chickens, etc.)

That's about the extent of my own knowledge of protein. I notice that wikipedia has some informative articles for anyone who wants to learn more, although the one on "protein" is beyond the level I'm willing to read right now.