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

[mmjisawesome]

If its really hot outside they wont lay an egg so wait until it cools off.

 

[Steemroo]

Do you have other chickens? What about other animals in the yard' (pets) possibly startling them?
Try everything flocks said -. All great advice - and also make sure nest box is as attractive as possible.

Is box made of cedar? Other weird smells, like fresh paint? Is box "secure" and cozy enough? Or wide open? You may want to gently put them there while making soothing noises, after you have handled them.

 

[kaylee gee]

i try to open the top link but it just opens all the images i have ever taken with my screen capture tool...

 

[hennotrooster]

Thank you all for the advice I put them back on what I was feeding them. I was told to feed only scratch because the protein was making them (my 2 Sussex hens) mean. Well they all stopped laying almost immediately. I was told (by a BYC member) that they needed better food so I went back to feeding them chick starter and laying mash along with all the veggies/fruit plus whatever bugs and lizards they get hold of and they are back on track we have six and we average 4 to 5 eggs a day. One of my Sussex hens has laid bout two since April she is 1yr. 6mos. her sister lays about 4 - 6 eggs a week. The four younger hens BO/RIR mix lay pretty much every day. There is one that misses but then she will lay a double yoke that is absolutely huge. I feel her pain

.

I know I need to adjust they type of food they eat and will as soon as this batch is gone which is any day now. They also get oyster shells the two Sussex Rachel and Phoebe laid every day through summer and this past winter till Phoebe started to have issues in March and stopped. She does however go into the nesting boxes and pushes the other hens out so she can sit on the eggs, since they all want to lay in the exact same box she sits and protects the eggs as long as she can. Love love my girls. Still open to all the advice I can get I am still very perplexed by these beautiful birds.

 

[flocksalot]

Thank you all for the advice I put them back on what I was feeding them. I was told to feed only scratch because the protein was making them (my 2 Sussex hens) mean. Well they all stopped laying almost immediately. I was told (by a BYC member) that they needed better food so I went back to feeding them chick starter and laying mash along with all the veggies/fruit plus whatever bugs and lizards they get hold of and they are back on track we have six and we average 4 to 5 eggs a day. One of my Sussex hens has laid bout two since April she is 1yr. 6mos. her sister lays about 4 - 6 eggs a week. The four younger hens BO/RIR mix lay pretty much every day. There is one that misses but then she will lay a double yoke that is absolutely huge. I feel her pain

.

I know I need to adjust they type of food they eat and will as soon as this batch is gone which is any day now. They also get oyster shells the two Sussex Rachel and Phoebe laid every day through summer and this past winter till Phoebe started to have issues in March and stopped. She does however go into the nesting boxes and pushes the other hens out so she can sit on the eggs, since they all want to lay in the exact same box she sits and protects the eggs as long as she can. Love love my girls. Still open to all the advice I can get I am still very perplexed by these beautiful birds.

Your egg protector sounds possibly broody to me. Does she flatten out over the eggs and puff as large as she can at the same time? Is she trying to stay on the eggs at night? Is she growling? I love broodies they are so funny.

Definantly provide the best feed you can for the age they are. Scratch is a treat and we all know what happens to us if we have too many treats. Layer mash/crumbles/pellets is exactly what they need. Where you get it from and what brand you use is entirely up to you. I personally have never seen a difference between one brand or another, but mine are free range from sun up to sun down and sometimes longer if they can find things to eat.

 

[hennotrooster]

No she does not flatten out she just nestles on the eggs and will squawk with all her might. I usually just let her sit till she decides she would rather eat then I collect the eggs. I collect all eggs daily since we have no roo and my Sussex never sat long after laying when we had a roo. Yesterday I had collected 5 eggs by 7:30 a.m. while out in their yard two younger hens came running out with two pieces of very soft shell, when I went to check the other two were eating the egg from the coop floor. So I have to assume that Phoebe did drop the egg it just was not formed and she did not (I assume) feel the urge to lay. She had lost most of her feathers from her lower back but they are now grown back in. Could this be the reason she produced the egg? Why do they not lay when they are molting?
Bought laying pellets and scratch I will dole out the scratch as a treat. Too many people said to just feed scratch but their hens were not laying, now I know why. My girls are also free range. How often and how much should I give the six of them?

 

[flocksalot]

No she does not flatten out she just nestles on the eggs and will squawk with all her might. I usually just let her sit till she decides she would rather eat then I collect the eggs. I collect all eggs daily since we have no roo and my Sussex never sat long after laying when we had a roo. Yesterday I had collected 5 eggs by 7:30 a.m. while out in their yard two younger hens came running out with two pieces of very soft shell, when I went to check the other two were eating the egg from the coop floor. So I have to assume that Phoebe did drop the egg it just was not formed and she did not (I assume) feel the urge to lay. She had lost most of her feathers from her lower back but they are now grown back in. Could this be the reason she produced the egg? Why do they not lay when they are molting?
Bought laying pellets and scratch I will dole out the scratch as a treat. Too many people said to just feed scratch but their hens were not laying, now I know why. My girls are also free range. How often and how much should I give the six of them?

When hens are molting they need to put everything into making new feathers so generally during that period they don't have the ability to do both eggs and feathers. I say generally because some hens can lay during a light molt, but I've yet to see a hen lay during a heavy molt. I have one totally naked hen right now that liturally lost all her feathers in two days. She layed her last egg on Saturday. Sunday she looked like something the cat dragged in and yesterday she looked like someone had butchered her without telling her. She has a slight fringe of feathers around her legs that looks like garters. This morning she looks like she's been dating a porcupine with all the pin feathers making their way out. That is one heavy molt.

By flatten I really meant hunker down on the eggs trying to prevent you from taking them. A broodies feathers are far from flat. They puff up trying to fill the whole nest box in an attempt to scare you off. They also scream, growl and squack. Broodies are terribly funny.

Sometimes in the egg production department of chickens they will have a malfunction and lay all sorts of weird things. Once this last summer my son was gathering eggs and kept standing under an area that doesn't have a dropping pan. One hen shot out a yolk on top of his head. Nothing else just a yolk. The next morning there was a soft shell laying under where she had been. Ocassionally these things happen. If it was a continuous problem then I would look at whether to keep her or not. Depends on what you want to do.

Layer feed is what they need. Free ranging is, in my opinion, the best thing you can do for them. As for treats/scratch I think the thing to do is limit them to just a little bit. If you're wanting to treat them daily then no more than a handful a day would be fine. Some people use BOSS, Black oiled sunflower seeds, and toss it in on the bedding for them to scratch it around. It can also be a useful tool to get the chickens to go in at night. Once they know that you will be tossing them something good in the house they will start waiting for it and come running. I personally only feed ours in the evening. They know when I open the shed door that food is coming and will follow me anywhere. They are hysterical following the bucket and when I pick them up their crops are already full, so I'm not really sure why they get so excited about their food. They do get other things to eat during the day though as I'm always tossing them something from the garden or house. Right now its watermelons and tomatoes.

I hope this helps.

 

[thailand]

Hey hope no one minds my just jumping in here....

6 months ago my Brahma hen went through her first 'big chicken now' molt. She stopped laying altogether. She has not laid an egg since.....but a week ago she went into the nest box singing a lovely egg song. I thought "Great!!! Finally!" She sat about 30 minutes or so then came out singing to everyone how wonderful she was cause she'd just laid an egg. I went in to check and - NOTHING!!

What's going on? Is this just a signal that one is coming soon? That was about a week ago already, and still nothing. Other than a tiny amount of Favus? on her comb (but it's so tiny you can hardly see it) she is the picture of good health - lovely bright red comb and wattles, eating heaps, drinking tons, free ranging morning till dusk almost every day, extra protein occasionally, been de-wormed, de-liced, squatting for me constantly.

Any thoughts anyone please?

 

[hennotrooster]

When my Phoebe (Sussex) quit laying she had an episode where she acted lethargic and was just not feeling well and she would bounce her behind as if she was trying to unstick an egg. When she went to the coop at night (only time I could get to her) I would gently massage her underside she seemed to like this I even sat with her on my lap with a towel from the dryer she seemed to like that. Well come to find out quite sometime later that she may have been bound. I was stalking BYC when I found this out then just here recently I found out that an nice epsom salt soak may have helped her. That was in April then she started to lose her lower back feathers I was putting aloe vera on her exposed skin because she was getting sunburned now her feathers are all back in and she looks beautiful she dropped an egg no shell then the shell later I think it was this week. I am hoping that she will start to lay soon her sister Rachel had a slight molt but did not stop laying. This first year and a half has been rough lots to learn and enjoy post #607 may help you. It makes lots of sense to me now. You mentioned Favus what is that?
By the way she has only laid 2 maybe 3 eggs since April.

 

[Steemroo]

Someone asked how much to feed - and they're also free ranging laying hens in a back yard. The general guideline I've read is 4 oz or a quarter pound of laying feed, not scratch, per bird per day for a typical laying hen. The feed must have enough calcium in it - or also put a side feeder of crushed oyster shell or some good form of supplemental calcium (for the shells, they need lots and usually know how much to eat).

If they're getting additional food from the yard (bugs, grass, lizards) this will fluctuate by day. Provide feed - layers formula (mash or crumble or pellet - but the layer's formula) so they can eat it whenever they need to. They'll figure out how much to take. Typical foraging can cut back as much as 20% (usually less) of their feed need.

Pellets don't work with small chickens. Crumble and mash are fine (they say pellets waste less) - these are just different shapes and forms of the same type of feed: layer feed. Ask at the store for layer and see if they have options - see if they can help you pick what will be best for you.

So far our white leghorns do just fine with yard foraging while eating what they need from a feeder - and of course water. We made a feeder from a "double-Y" abs sewer pipe - with a pipe stem going up to hold extra feed. Works great. Just wire it to a fence. Not much spilling, and the extra feed drops down for them as needed.

The only time you really need to restrict feed is on broiler breeds (or hybrids) - cornish rock x type birds which are bred to gorge and constantly eat - sometimes you have to withold their food to stop them from growing so fast they kill themselves (sick, but literally that happens). And of cuorse, broilers need broiler mash, not layer - that comes in various protein levels - and is tricky to balance. I've never rasied them but have read up on them - so you may want verification from someone w/ direct experience if you try broilers.

For normal laying chickens, don't even worry about it. Provide laying mash in a feeder - let them choose what they need to eat between foraging (plants and bugs) and feed - and of course water. And yes, I agree with others: scratch is like potato chips for chicken; aka junk food.