Should I give my hens a rest from laying?

[gritsar]

The hens will get their rest when they a.) molt and b.) slow down for the winter months (though not all breeds do, mine don't). They need to be on layer feed 365 days a year. They don't use the calcium and other nutrients they take in today towards today's eggs; they store it. To take them off layer feed is to force them to use their body's stores. Sooner or later that will run out.

I'm wishing my girls would slow down right now, due to the high summer temperatures. I wouldn't dream of taking them off their layer feed because I know that no matter how much I wish it to be they are going to go right on laying.

 

[braggsrus]

Thank you all for the advice. I was not referring to a forced molt as I had never heard of such and would never force them to molt or deprive them of nutrients.
Tiaramisu (sp.) was exactaly correct. I was only wanting to give my birds a rest from the stress of laying so much. Plus, we had so many xs eggs that I thought it might be a good idea for them.

I am sorry if I didn't make myself clear in my original post. But, will go back to laying pellets immediately. I wouldn't do anything intentionally to harm my birds.

Thank you again for all the info.
There's so much to learn.

 

[tfromtx]

Talking about reducing the amount of eggs... I'm in north tx and it has been a super hot early summer... 100 degrees all the time. My chickens would normally lay an egg each daily this time of year but now it's more like one every 2 or 3 days. Is it the heat?? They seem healthy & only one is brooding. They did not stop last year in August when it got this hot. And yes I'm giving them layers feed & extra calcium & they free-range, have plenty of fresh greenz & bugz.

 

[digitS']

Our modern breeds of chickens are predisposed genetically to lay a lot of eggs. An important physical trait for a laying hen is a high capacity for food.

If you provide them with nutrient-rich food, the nutrients not used for the hen's own body maintenance are available for egg production.

One way to force a molt is to give them a feed with inadequate nutrients. Alfalfa is something that can be substituted. It seems to me to be a kind of miserable thing to do but, left to themselves, the hens will molt on an individual schedule. The commercial outfits are forcing them to all molt at once and to come back into lay, together.

Layer feed doesn't "force" a hen to lay. It only provides her with a nutrient-rich diet. If hot weather interferes with her appetite, her nutrient intake will drop. Egg production drops also mostly because excess protein is not available for her eggs.

. . . that's how I understand it, anyway.

Steve