I'm old as dirt so I remember when red pepper was used to get chickens to lay. I don't use it on my hens, but do on occasion put coffee in their water. My hens began laying a month early, they lay every day and I don't feed laying mash to them. I have also put some cooked coffee grounds mixed in with their feed on occasion. My hens are fed hen scratch corn with starter crumbles mixed in. I also cook them rice and they get table scraps. Their favorite thing, though is what they find as they free range. They caught a frog and you would have thought the sickening affair was a celebration feast.
My hens are healthy and active and spoiled rotten as is my goose. Three days ago a neighbor's dog jumped the fence and killed my other little goose that was disabled. Still grieving that ---
Oh, one more thing I do is make sure and wash all the water and food bowls every day. And I carefully monitor their health. The reason I mix starter crumbles in their food is because it has antibiotic in it. Squirrels and wild birds come down to eat with my birds and I don't want any diseases getting in my flock.
Coffee is a stimulant to the birds so don't use a lot of it.
My yard is raked every day and a fresh supply of leaves are put down over the entire yard about ankle deep. The shelter is thoroughly cleaned every day as are the perches they sleep on at night. I use bags of water hung everywhere to keep flies away (they do work), and when all the hard work is done every day, I sit with a cup of coffee and watch my precious birds go about the business of being delightful critters.
Beth
