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

[rancher hicks]

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Let me know when you are selling off the old stock...I may have space by then...I'm feeding a non laying flock as it is, what's a few more freeloaders.

That's the thing most of these are Dec hatched. I do have two CM's and two Doms and a BO from the original flock. Them I can deal with but it's the younger ones that are holding out. With the exception of a few molting the others look and act fine. Just not laying.

I'm fed up,

Rancher

 

[rancher hicks]

Well things have picked up some . I got 10 eggs from coop 1 and 5 from coop 2

 

[Cass]

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Phew. I thought I was gonna wind up with a whole new flock. Mine laid 2 eggs 2 days in a row. Things are looking up.

 

[Dutchess]

Thanks for the great link!

 

[rancher hicks]

Well I got twelve today. So I'm ok for now but still not satisfied for the number of hens.

 

[Cass]

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I got 2. From 3 hens and 10 pullets. Those darn pullets are maturing slowly just to frustrate me. You know when they are gonna lay their first egg? When I am out of town and my neighbor is taking care of them and getting the eggs for her efforts. You just KNOW it.

 

[NewMommy123]

After my hen's favorite JG roo died the girl's stopped laying as much.... After one night of a beautiful studley dudley new Black JG roo in the house my girls layed seven eggs this morning!!! three or four more than usual!!!! This normal? Who cares! lol I'm ecstatic!! I might only be 13 but hey, even I know that this is exciting.

 

[hillbillycitygirl]

My hens are hardly laying, iI think my three yr olds are going to the butcher soon...one is too busy playing hanky panky with my roo al day, she doesnt have time to lay geesh...I'm going through 50 pounds of feed a week and only getting 2-4 eggs a day, i was getting 8-10 a day...what the heck??

 

[bucolic beauty]

We have eight 3 year old hens that have been living with us for over two months and we're only getting about a dozen a week. I've run out of patience, especially since they're eating all the dog food and destroying my plants on top of not pulling their weight. That's what I get for buying a bunch of useless old ladies. I'm fairly certain we'll be butchering the four red sex-links today.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
While chickens will continue to lay for many many years, their production does decrease after age 2. Even production chickens in ideal production setting.

I fell in love with chickens when I helped put in an automatic egg collection system in a production hen house. On the lower level they had a huge area with hundreds of cute, fluffy yellow chicks. The owner explained to me that it was his "grow out" area and that when his hens reached 2 years of age they were sent to Cambell's in NJ for soup. The empty cages were filled with new hens, which he grew out in the large grow out area.

My point is, while your chickens are still laying , they aren't laying as much as they did when they were young. (Do any of us do as much now as we did when we were young?)

Consider putting the dog food up higher and enjoying the antics. You said you were gonna butcher the 3 year old red sex links....what breed are the other 4 chickens? Red Sex links are probably the ones laying your eggs, unless the other 4 are another production breed.