Why is nobody laying?!

[ThePhoebeFive]

Interesting. I feed my chickens a combination of corn, wild bird seed, dog food and scraps. I have far more eggs than I know what to do with, and I've never considered the protein content of their food

Maybe I just have more bugs on my land. Perhaps you could try improving the biodiversity of your pasture

What kind of scraps?

 

[msmidwick]

I give them a bit (1/4 cup for 12 chickens) mixed in some wild bird seed. Not very often so as not to mess with the natural laying sequence too much. The dry mealworms tend to slow down the egg laying also. It is getting warm here in Florida and my hens are slowing down some also. Good luck

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

I give them a bit (1/4 cup for 12 chickens) mixed in some wild bird seed. Not very often so as not to mess with the natural laying sequence too much. The dry mealworms tend to slow down the egg laying also. It is getting warm here in Florida and my hens are slowing down some also. Good luck

I think I missed something. 1/4 cup of what?

 

[LilRedmamma]

Agree, up the % to 22 plus a Layer supplemented in the fermented mix. I found two eggs buried(!) so you might unbury a few too... If you suspect egg eating, they know the shell smell and will zero in to crunch&gobble them before you can confiscate! That's why I stopped using diy crushed eggs. Now my garden gets them.
Rather, sub calcium by mixing into the mash: dollops of sour cream, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, sour milk, oyster shell, limestone sand or a dissolved calcium pill. I use a heavy, deep casserole pan they can stand on. A farmer advised me, mix a tsp of bonemeal in the ferment, couple times/week.
All of these additives must be done in the early morning feeding to give the ingested calcium time to be assimilated for the next lay, kept separate from meat birds' feed. No need to have additional oyster shell or grit separate from the feed since they'll pick thru it anyway. Don't worry about mess, there won't be any left! I've even dumped the whole thing on the ground and by noon there's not a crumb left as evidence for the mice to steal. Mice are another excellent source of that protein and calcium too lol! Have you seen chickens turn into little raptors fighting over mice they've caught? Eeeeeeewe groosss Lol! I've had this issue too so just be patient and keep trying. SMH...
Try REAL earthworms (just dig up a few from the bottom of the compost pile)... much cheaper than store-bought. Good luck

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

Agree, up the % to 22 plus a Layer supplemented in the fermented mix. I found two eggs buried(!) so you might unbury a few too... If you suspect egg eating, they know the shell smell and will zero in to crunch&gobble them before you can confiscate! That's why I stopped using diy crushed eggs. Now my garden gets them.
Rather, sub calcium by mixing into the mash: dollops of sour cream, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, sour milk, oyster shell, limestone sand or a dissolved calcium pill. I use a heavy, deep casserole pan they can stand on. A farmer advised me, mix a tsp of bonemeal in the ferment, couple times/week.
All of these additives must be done in the early morning feeding to give the ingested calcium time to be assimilated for the next lay, kept separate from meat birds' feed. No need to have additional oyster shell or grit separate from the feed since they'll pick thru it anyway. Don't worry about mess, there won't be any left! I've even dumped the whole thing on the ground and by noon there's not a crumb left as evidence for the mice to steal. Mice are another excellent source of that protein and calcium too lol! Have you seen chickens turn into little raptors fighting over mice they've caught? Eeeeeeewe groosss Lol! I've had this issue too so just be patient and keep trying. SMH...
Try REAL earthworms (just dig up a few from the bottom of the compost pile)... much cheaper than store-bought. Good luck

I've actually thought about mixing the calcium in, but the problem is I do have roosters in the flock and I don't want to give them too much. How would you handle that?

Also, just curious how much per chicken do you feed? Of both feed and calcium (let's use oyster shell as the example because that's what I'm going to start using).

 

[Red Mangrove]

What kind of scraps?

All kinds. Anything my family doesn't want to eat, my chickens or dog get

 

[Mrs. K]

I think it is much more likely to be a hidden nest than the feed.

 

[dirkandlorie]

This was beat to death for weeks, it's been debunked for quite some time now.

Where was it debunked at? I tried to follow threads on the subject but they all kept being shut down. Gave up trying to get info and just changed their food. Anyone get results on testing?

 

[NatJ]

Where was it debunked at? I tried to follow threads on the subject but they all kept being shut down. Gave up trying to get info and just changed their food. Anyone get results on testing?

Here are two threads that discuss some testing results:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...en-feed-craze-posted-testing-results.1564737/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/feed-tests-more-results.1565804/

As for whether it was "debunked," I suppose that depends on what you mean by debunked.

--There are no test results showing anything wrong with any feed (at least, none that I saw.)

--Many flocks began laying again as the days got long in the spring, regardless of whether their feed was changed or not. I do not know if ALL flocks began laying again.

--For the feeds that were thought to cause the problem, quite a few people shared that they were feeding those same feeds and their flocks were laying just fine. So not EVERY flock eating those feeds was having issues.

--There was speculation about what might be causing the trouble, and many points were disproven for specific flocks (this one had enough light, that one had no parasites, another one had feed that was fine for a neighboring flock, etc.) There was no point that could be proven for ALL flocks.

My personal opinion: I think many flocks did stop laying, but for many different reasons. Some quit because of the short days of winter, some quit because they were molting, some quit because they were getting older (old hens tend to take more time off than younger hens.) Probably a few people did get bad bags of feed (maybe a mixing error at the mill, or maybe feed that was stored too long or stored improperly). Some flocks might have had parasites, or diseases, or stress from weather or predators.

With all the different causes, I think it's pretty clear that "bad feed" did not cause ALL the problems that people were complaining of. I did read at least one story of hens that showed ill health over multiple months, including no eggs, and a change in food did improve their health and then they did start laying again-- so that one probably was a feed issue, even if many others were not.

 

[aart]

As for whether it was "debunked," I suppose that depends on what you mean by debunked.

Yeah, it was 'debunked' as far as I was concerned.
For the reasons you so nicely summarized.