Why aren't my hens laying!?

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

I'm so frustrated! They were laying so good in the begining of March till Mid April. I was getting 4 to 7 eggs a day. They were paying for their room and board.

Now????

Forget about it!!! 1 lousy egg a day!!!! What do I have to do to get these hens laying again?

I've tried Apple Cider in their water. Didn't work. It's been 3 or 4 days since I gave it to them.

I've tried bribery. Offered to get them a whole head of lettuce. Forget it. They just ignore me.

Now I'm thinking of doing the frying pan and the knife.

Yeah right. My chickens know I can't do the deed.

And whenever it's nice and sunny I put them out on the lawn in "The Inmate Yard"!!! But does it work? Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

So what do I do to get them laying again?

 

[chuckzoo]

Could it be that you are trying too much bribery and offering too many treats and perhaps diluting out their diet of layer feed?

 

[Andi]

Try uping their protein.

Is there a change in their day to day life that has changed, such as hours of light that they receive or have they recently had a major stressor? I know of someone who's chickens stopped laying after a tornado went through.

If its not diet, stress or daylight I would start looking into possible illness.

Best of luck figuring it out and hoping for a pleasant resolution.

 

[Shifty Joe]

Onsets of becoming broody or molting? Egg eatter? If they are younger birds and getting good layer feed... heck, you should be swimming in eggs.

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

I don't give that much bread and such!!! If anything their treats are usually the strawberry tops, leftover lettuce, carrots, apples, eggshells, grass, and wild strawberry leaves.

And they get 20% protein layer feed. Plus fresh water every single day!

They also get at least 10 to 12 hours of sunlight a day.

And I know they can't hide their eggs. I know all their hiding spots.

Broody? Not yet. Chili and Pepper hasn't shown any interest in going broody yet.

Molting?! Nope. They all molted except for Ginger and Rochelle last Oct. and Nov.

Unless it's the coyote that's been trying to get into the coop lately. Maybe it upset their laying habits? Of course Koda doesn't let it get any closer than 15 feet of the coop. If she could she probably would kill it.

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

Anyone else?

 

[catlover8976]

Maybe they're stressed?

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

Okay one of my RIR x RSL pullets layed her first egg today.

Go Ginger!! So now I have 1 hen and 1 pullet laying. Hopefully the others follow suite.

 

[felidaet]

I have noticed that my egg production has also dropped off recently. I am researching right now on this site. A few weeks ago we were getting 11 - 13 large eggs per day. This average has dropped down to about 7 eggs per day. We have 15 pullets that are one year old this month. I have also noticed that the eggs are smaller and the shells are a lighter color. The EE's are almost white. Some of the brown ones are now cream colored. The yokes are also a lighter color.

I have not changed their diet. They are eating Layena pellets. I usually feed just a little bit of treats per day and have now cut back to almost none. They don't get much free range time due to a lot of hawks and eagles. This last weekend I did let them out for 4 hours on Sat and another 3 hours on Sun. I am hoping that this will help. I did see that we got 11 eggs today, the most in a couple of weeks. They are still a little smaller than they were a few weeks ago. The shells are definitely still a lighter color. I have not checked the yoke color. I am going to try to find some time to let them out again this coming weekend.

None of the birds appear to be sick or are acting differently. There has not been anything to stress them. I am wondering if maybe they could have worms. Could this cause issues in egg laying. The amount of daylight in increasing significantly as it should be for almost everyone on BYC. I let the out into the run at about 06:30am and they are there until about 08:00pm.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[ruthiesue]

Just a note: My chickens sometimes lay a lot of eggs, then get very broody. If I take their eggs everyday, pretty soon they don't lay many. These guys would raise 5 million babies, and do this every year. My husband said that he read on SFgate.com that chickens begin to lay when there are 14 hours of sun per day. I think my babies are just half wild and do whatever they want. Once they are broody, which almost all of them are, the egg production goes south.