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

[Cass]

Quote:
First I would say your mixture has too much corn...corn isn't the best thing for chickens.....one person reported that when she took someone's advice and omitted corn from her chicks diet (she gave it as a treat) they started laying again.

Second I would say it's the dead of winter, even with supplimental light some breeds take a break in the winter. So give them time....if they are not too old (meaning over 5 or 6 years) they will start laying again when the weather changes for the better. And they are not too old. Are they molting? It can take a couple of months for some breeds/chickens to recover from a heavy molt.

So eat the eggs you get and wait on the other hens to start laying, cuz they will, when they are ready.

 

[mudchicken]

I think they molted, not sure. They didn't lose all their feathers. Should I feed them a straight layer pellet feed?

 

[Cass]

Quote:
You can either feed them straight layer or what you are feeding them and wait a while longer. When my chickens molted I gave them soft cat food (about 1/2 a can) 2 - 3 times a week to suppliment the protein they need to grow new feathers. (I used the shredded kind, they thought it was worms and ran around with it in their beaks. The entertainment value was worth the cost of the cat food)

Feathers are almost all protein. Eggs are almost all protein. So the chicken's body had to choose: Make feathers and keep warm or make eggs and be cold. I suspect that they always choose the feathers first. If you suspect that your chickens are trying to recover from a molt, try adding some protein and see if they recover (and therefore start laying) sooner.


About the "straight layer"? I'm not sure if you are asking about the mix. If you like the results from the mix you are using, you might want to consider taking the first 100 pounds of corn out of the mix, since layer pellets have corn in them and the mix from the dairy has corn meal in it too. However if they laid before on that diet, they will lay again on the same diet, just as soon as their bodies recover from molting and the sun starts to shine enough to warm them up.

 

[mudchicken]

I already have the mix all mixed up in a garbage can. Would 1u part mix to 1the part 20% layer work? Or 1do part mix to 2 parts layer? Or maybe straight 20%layer for a bit?

 

[Cass]

Quote:
If they laid eggs on the mix before they will do it again. Just give them time.

You could try rattling a wooden spoon inside a stock pot and see if that incites them to lay.

 

[flocksalot]

Quote:
You can either feed them straight layer or what you are feeding them and wait a while longer. When my chickens molted I gave them soft cat food (about 1/2 a can) 2 - 3 times a week to suppliment the protein they need to grow new feathers. (I used the shredded kind, they thought it was worms and ran around with it in their beaks. The entertainment value was worth the cost of the cat food)

Feathers are almost all protein. Eggs are almost all protein. So the chicken's body had to choose: Make feathers and keep warm or make eggs and be cold. I suspect that they always choose the feathers first. If you suspect that your chickens are trying to recover from a molt, try adding some protein and see if they recover (and therefore start laying) sooner.


About the "straight layer"? I'm not sure if you are asking about the mix. If you like the results from the mix you are using, you might want to consider taking the first 100 pounds of corn out of the mix, since layer pellets have corn in them and the mix from the dairy has corn meal in it too. However if they laid before on that diet, they will lay again on the same diet, just as soon as their bodies recover from molting and the sun starts to shine enough to warm them up.

I agree with Cass way to much corn. Your food jolt will make them fat and lazy, and fat and lazy lay no eggs. If you keep on the same path you could make your leghorns fat. A fat leghorn

I would like to see that! Layer mix should be their main source of food at approximately 90% or there abouts. No you shouldn't measure it out, but skim down on the excess. Your girls have taken their first winter break. Well you non egg laying machines have. It can last a while, but once they get through their new feather making they will be back to laying again. The eggs they will lay will be less often, but not always by much, and will be larger than what they laid before. As the days are starting to get longer as they are even now your girls will begin to lay again. Last winter some of our old girls took an extra long break and didn't start laying again until well into the summer. Of course then 2 of them went broody and one begin hiding her eggs in the woods. If they weren't my sons pets I would have eaten them on one of these really cold days

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Waaay to much corn. You have 100lbs of cracked corn and
Layer corn and
Corn meal

All of which have very little nutrition or protein or any calcium. Aside from that, out of every 300 pounds of that recipe, only 50 lbs has the proper ration of calcium, protein and Vitamins. If your layer provides 3% of calcium, divide that by 6, and you get 0.5 % calcium in their diet, therefore the 100% calcium eggshells that a hen needs to lay, the calcium is coming out of their bones and not being replaced.

If you want eggs and healthy chickens, feed layer, and supplement with free range or food leftovers, and of course provide oyster shell.

Yea! For you thinking about a good chicken diet!

 

[mudchicken]

Man, I really feel bad now. Thankfully they have only eaten this ratio for about a week and a half. They get oyster shells too. Tomorrow I will be going right to TSC and getting straight layer, and maybe sprinkle just a tid bit of the mix. There is a lot of mix, but I plan on getting more chickens in the spring. Thanks for all your help. This is much different than dairy farming

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Don't feel bad, you didn't know that corn was junk food for chickens. And some of your chickens ARE laying on that mix.

I think you have the right idea....use the mix as "treats"....Corn isn't good, as a steady diet, for chickens, but they sure as heck LOVE it....so feel free to feed it as a treat, just make sure that it is less than 10% of their total diet. (unlike me who throws scratch grains out, liberally, and then sit here wondering why my chickens don't lay eggs. LOL)

 

[seminolewind]

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Mudchicken, don't feel bad! And Do use up the mix in a small way.
My neighbor showed me what he was feeding his chickens for the last 2 years--scratch!!!! 2 years of candybar. Now he's on Layer for the past year. His chickens did fine all along. One did break her leg off a 3 foot roost. She belongs to me now. She was the reason why I asked him what he was feeding. The guy at the feedstore had told him not to give layer to his rooster (one), that's why he ended up on scratch. He was trying to do the right thing.

You were trying to do the right thing!!!