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

[Cass]

Quote:
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!!!

I gotta ask, why did he say to not feed layer to the roosters? Don't they need food too?

My three roosters are thriving on layer feed. I am hoping they lay an egg soon.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
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!!!

I gotta ask, why did he say to not feed layer to the roosters? Don't they need food too?

My three roosters are thriving on layer feed. I am hoping they lay an egg soon.

The feed store guy told him that Layer feed was bad for roos due to the calcium. (?) So I guess his 12 hens ate "healthy roo food"

Let me know when your roos start laying-I would love to have one of those eggs!

 

[Cass]

Quote:
I gotta ask, why did he say to not feed layer to the roosters? Don't they need food too?

My three roosters are thriving on layer feed. I am hoping they lay an egg soon.

The feed store guy told him that Layer feed was bad for roos due to the calcium. (?) So I guess his 12 hens ate "healthy roo food"

Let me know when your roos start laying-I would love to have one of those eggs!

Must have been talking about those boneless Roos .... Cripes, everything with bones in it's body needs calcium. Even *I* know that and I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

As far as the roo eggs....I'll probably see those before I see the blue eggs from my Ameruacanas. (Pure bred, direct from President of the Ameruacana Breeders club....and slow as all get out to mature. Pretty tho. Nice eye candy)

 

[Sharylva]

Quote:
You seem quite knowledgeable, I would like to ask your opinion about my chickens. I only have two right now. They are both about a year old. They have both endured trama and as expected quit laying. The 1st trauma was my Speckled Sussex named Sparkles. She had a very bad eye infection. I did all I could to treat it, she seems healthy now but the eye has never opened, obviously blind now in that eye. This happened around the 1st part of August. The 2nd trauma was my Americana, Goldie. About the time I was getting Speckles over the eye infection Goldie was attacked by a raccoon. It got her down her side. I kept her in the house in a large dog kennel and nursed her back to health. She is fine now. At the time of the attack, she had just stated to do a light molt so the feathers have even grown back. Do you think either will lay again and if so how long would you guess it might be. Thanks for your opinion.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
You seem quite knowledgeable, I would like to ask your opinion about my chickens. I only have two right now. They are both about a year old. They have both endured trama and as expected quit laying. The 1st trauma was my Speckled Sussex named Sparkles. She had a very bad eye infection. I did all I could to treat it, she seems healthy now but the eye has never opened, obviously blind now in that eye. This happened around the 1st part of August. The 2nd trauma was my Americana, Goldie. About the time I was getting Speckles over the eye infection Goldie was attacked by a raccoon. It got her down her side. I kept her in the house in a large dog kennel and nursed her back to health. She is fine now. At the time of the attack, she had just stated to do a light molt so the feathers have even grown back. Do you think either will lay again and if so how long would you guess it might be. Thanks for your opinion.

That's awful, those poor hens! I say give it time. I rescued a BR with a broken leg and it took almost a year for her to lay. I never expected it.

 

[Sharylva]

Quote:
You seem quite knowledgeable, I would like to ask your opinion about my chickens. I only have two right now. They are both about a year old. They have both endured trama and as expected quit laying. The 1st trauma was my Speckled Sussex named Sparkles. She had a very bad eye infection. I did all I could to treat it, she seems healthy now but the eye has never opened, obviously blind now in that eye. This happened around the 1st part of August. The 2nd trauma was my Americana, Goldie. About the time I was getting Speckles over the eye infection Goldie was attacked by a raccoon. It got her down her side. I kept her in the house in a large dog kennel and nursed her back to health. She is fine now. At the time of the attack, she had just stated to do a light molt so the feathers have even grown back. Do you think either will lay again and if so how long would you guess it might be. Thanks for your opinion.

That's awful, those poor hens! I say give it time. I rescued a BR with a broken leg and it took almost a year for her to lay. I never expected it.

Thanks for the response. I figured it would be at least next spring. Yes I felt awful to them too.

 

[Coop de la Ville]

We have 8 chickens all under age 2 but will be 2 in March. They're 2 buff orpingtons, 2 spec. sussex, 2 white rocks and 2 barred rocks. We have not gotten a single egg from any of them in well over 3 months. They tapered down in like a few days to nothing! They eat well, have not had any known stress to them and appear to be healthy in appearance. Can anyone tell us why they are not producing? Would like to still get eggs being that they will never be on our table. I can't eat anything that I've named and we enjoy watching them too much. HELP!!

 

[LovinChicknFarmn]

'Tis the season. Between less daylight and molting season, they'll likely produce little through winter. No worries. Just enjoy them for now and give them lots of treats!

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Just wait. My girls just started laying again after a heavy molt. No one single egg for 2 months.

Even a light molt will make them stop laying. (See some of the previous entries for reason for that)

In the old timer's thread several people are saying to use cheyenne pepper mixed in their feed to jump start their laying. OR you could just enjoy them for a few more weeks and they will start laying mid to late January.

If you are new to chickens know that chickens do that. Stop laying in the winter, that is. The older they get the longer the break they take. I suggest that you crack, scramble and freeze eggs when you have a surplus, so you don't have to buy eggs for holiday baking and eating. I measured how much egg 2 large eggs "is", in a measuring cup and posted it on my fridge. Now I can thaw out some eggs in my freezer, measure "2 large eggs" in a measuring cup and bake my little heart out. Any extra in the bag I either scramble for the birds/cat or use the next day in some other reciepe. I don't keep thawed eggs around longer than 48 hours, but then I froze a LOT of eggs so I didn't have to buy many for baking this holiday season. (Of course I forgot I had frozen eggs when I had people stop for brunch one day and had to buy eggs. Of all the things I ever lost I miss my mind the most)


(Edited to add a word that made the sentence make sense. sigh)

 

[flocksalot]

Quote:
Probably going through winter molt as this would be their first year of a heavy molt. Also, check what you are feeding. Too much treats will make em to fat to lay. Are you giving them supplemental lighting? I've heard recomendations of 14 to 17 hours of light. If not they wont lay well over the winter. Your girls are getting older and will never lay what they did in the first year. That said the eggs you will get will be much larger. Now that the days are begining to get longer (yeah winter eqinox

) your girls will begin to start laying as the days get longer. We already have 3 broodies getting excited for spring, but then mine do get light.