Why Aren't My Chickens Laying? Here Are Your Answers!

[rosawoodsii]

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I gotta ask...what does rubbing their backs have to do with laying eggs?

 

[cluck-darth-peep]

I did what a few true farmers on this forum had said. When you reach out your hand towards the chicken, the chicken will squat. Like rubbing a dog from the back of the neck along their backs, then to the tail, I did this with the hens. Once I was at there tail, I kept my hand there and scratched (the tail). They lifted their tails for more. I did. When I removed my hand, they fluffed all of their feathers and went straight to the nest box. It is stimulation. I could not believed this actually works. My RIR laid her first egg at 6:30 this morning. THe other 2 chickens are now jumping constantly to the nest boxes. And yes, they too got a good rub down last night and today they are looking in the nest boxes most of the day so I hope to find more eggs in the morning. I thought it was crazy too, but it works. I was so tired of the wait, why not take a farmers advise, so I did. I have an egg. My advise, give them a tail rub down.

 

[seminolewind]

18 hens and NO eggs for about a week. But an awful lot of feathers!

 

[Jobele]

Thanks for posting....good information!

 

[speckledhen]

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Back rubs have nothing to do with egg laying. Sqatting is a sign that the hen is sexually mature and about ready to lay. The squat is her signaling that she is ready to accept a mate, which also means eggs are forthcoming.

 

[Cass]

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Congratulations on your first egg....the first of many more. BUT, remember it is winter, with it's decreased daylight hours.....so it won't be the same amount of eggs as you will get come spring when the daylight hours are increasing.

As far as your farmer's advice....if it works for you and makes you feel better, do it. However Old farmers are notorious for giving newbies silly advice to see if they will follow it. Of course the farmer gets a laugh when their silly advice is followed and the person crows about doing it .... everyone knowing it was nonsense. Farming is a lot of hard work and the laughs are few and far between in their daily life, so they add some by telling people silly things to see if their victim will "bite".

 

[luzalcocer]

Hi ... I Agree ,my Hens Also Stop Laying For More Than A Month .yeah... Not Machines ,but We Miss The Good Eggs .

 

[Wife With 2 Kids]

Wow, I will have to try that - giving the chickens a nice back rub!!! Fingers crossed I see eggs soon

 

[cluck-darth-peep]

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Sounds crazy to scratch their tails when they do the egg squat, but within 3 days my RIR laid her first egg. I have had 6 eggs in 7 days from her. The Golden buff started laying the very next day as did the Barred Rock. I am getting 3 eggs per day and I did rub their backs when they did the chicken squat but concentrated on rubbing that tail end. They WILL get stimulated, just do it yourself and you will see for yourself.
I also extended the light to start at 1:00in the morning, shuts off at 8:00am. Giving them 16 hours of light. My mother spoke to her mother (age 96) and Grandma said 16 hours of light.

I have listened to my 96 year old grandmother and I now have first time eggs from 3 of 4 hens !

The only one not laying is the speckled sussex. But, she is not squatting at all.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Back rubs have nothing to do with egg laying. Squatting is a sign that the hen is sexually mature and about ready to lay. The squat is her signaling that she is ready to accept a mate, which also means eggs are forthcoming.

That is why the eggs came. She was squatting, so egg were already on their way, back rubs aside.