Why is nobody laying?!

[LaFleche]

This may be a dumb question, but why would the feed specifically for laying hens not be the right amount of protein?

No question is dumb.

16% layer feed might work for young layer hybrids kept in close contfinement so they will not be able to consume anytjing else but their feed the whole day long.

As soon as your flock consists of other breeds / dual purpose chickens they will need higher protein feed to go on laying after their first few weeks in spring.

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

No question is stupid.

16% layer feed might work for young layer hybrids kept in close containment so they will not be able to consume anytjing else but their feed the whole day long.

As soon as your flock consists of other breeds / dual purpose chickens they will need higher protein feed to go on laying after their first few weeks in spring.

Okay, one more question on that then. We have had chickens for 15 years. Only one batch have we had this problem with and that was a number of years ago and the guy we bought them from had the same problem and we think that was specific to the batch. Other than that, we have always fed our chickens this way and never had an issue. Any clue why this is only just now happening?

 

[nuthatched]

This may be a dumb question, but why would the feed specifically for laying hens not be the right amount of protein?

16% protein feed was designed 60 years ago for specifically egg farm White Leghorns, a breed that has a high feed to egg conversion. They found that 16% was the minimum amount of protein that the birds could survive off of and still be productive. Since the birds lived in tiny, little cages and didn't use protein for muscle building, it could all go to eggs. Those birds were often processed at 18 months so any long term affects didn't matter.
Modern leghorns need more protein, dual purpose need more than that. You want a minimum of 18% protein, there are many good high protein layers on the market these days but if you can't find any, chick starter with oyster shell works.

 

[LaFleche]

Okay, one more question on that then. We have had chickens for 15 years. Only one batch have we had this problem with and that was a number of years ago and the guy we bought them from had the same problem and we think that was specific to the batch. Other than that, we have always fed our chickens this way and never had an issue. Any clue why this is only just now happening?

Did you check the ingredients of your feed regularly? There might have been made some changes you are unaware of.

Next thing coming to mind:

Did they suffer from coccidiosis as chicks? If so, this might have damaged their intestines to a degree where they have difficulty to adsorb all the nutrients provided.

ETA: Inbreeding depression could be the reason for the batch to have low egg production

 

[nuthatched]

Okay, one more question on that then. We have had chickens for 15 years. Only one batch have we had this problem with and that was a number of years ago and the guy we bought them from had the same problem and we think that was specific to the batch. Other than that, we have always fed our chickens this way and never had an issue. Any clue why this is only just now happening?

Chicken breeds are constantly bred to lay more, if you tried to take bird back in time and feed it the same feed as 20, 40, 100 years ago, it wouldn't perform as well or even die.

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

Did you check the ingredients of your feed regularly? There might have been made some changes you are unaware of.

Next thing coming to mind:

Did they suffer from coccidiosis as chicks? If so, this might have damaged their intestines to a degree where they have difficulty to adsorb all the nutrients provided.

I never thought to watch the ingredients list. I will start doing that!

Interesting, I didn't know that could happen. The only ones that might have had coccidiosis were the Marans, and I'm not even sure they did. Everybody was raised on medicated food.

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

16% protein feed was designed 60 years ago for specifically egg farm White Leghorns, a breed that has a high feed to egg conversion. They found that 16% was the minimum amount of protein that the birds could survive off of and still be productive. Since the birds lived in tiny, little cages and didn't use protein for muscle building, it could all go to eggs. Those birds were often processed at 18 months so any long term affects didn't matter.
Modern leghorns need more protein, dual purpose need more than that. You want a minimum of 18% protein, there are many good high protein layers on the market these days but if you can't find any, chick starter with oyster shell works.

Hm, I didn't even think of chick feed. The only chick feed I can get a hold of at a decent price is medicated. I know you can't drink goat's milk if they're fed medicated food, do you know if you can eat the eggs of hens on medicated feed?

 

[LaFleche]

Everybody was raised on medicated food.

Medicated chick feed does not prevent coccidiosis as the overall dose would be too low.

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

Medicated chick feed does not prevent coccidiosis as the overall dose would be too low.

Okay, well, nobody ever showed signs of having it.

 

[nuthatched]

Hm, I didn't even think of chick feed. The only chick feed I can get a hold of at a decent price is medicated. I know you can't drink goat's milk if they're fed medicated food, do you know if you can eat the eggs of hens on medicated feed?

It's just a vitamin B inhibitor, there's no reason I know of as why you can't drink the milk (if the medicated feed is a coccistat) or eat the eggs. It might cause wry neck long term. See if you can get a high protein layer, nutrena egg producer, country companion Hi-pro layer, Purina gamebird layer etc