Why is nobody laying?!

[NatJ]

Truth is if you free range your birds you could get by with corn and free choice oyster shells.

Don't be ridiculous (winter in Alaska, Montana, various other northern places.)

Of course you are perfectly correct (part of Hawaii where feral chickens are clearly doing fine with no human input, showing that they don't even need the corn and oyster shell.)

The problem with "free range" is that it depends on where the chickens are ranging, and what food they can find to eat. Climate matters a lot, and so does the amount of space, and how many chickens are in that space.

 

[The1andOnlyGAChickenKing]

Don't be ridiculous (winter in Alaska, Montana, various other northern places.)

Of course you are perfectly correct (part of Hawaii where feral chickens are clearly doing fine with no human input, showing that they don't even need the corn and oyster shell.)

The problem with "free range" is that it depends on where the chickens are ranging, and what food they can find to eat. Climate matters a lot, and so does the amount of space, and how many chickens are in that space.

Oh yea.. keep it going. Why not right?

I was referring to a common sense approach.

Whatever, feed em ribeye steaks if you like.. just leave me out of it, professor.

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

I heard goat feed was a descent sub for low protein feed issues.

That would depend on the specific feed. This thread has been discussing whether 16% protein is too low in layer feed. I have not seen any goat feed with a higher protein level than 16%.

If goat feed solved a problem, I think it more likely that the problem was some other nutrient, not low protein. ("more likely" meaning I do not know for sure. And yes, there could be higher protein goat feeds that I simply have not seen.)

As always, read the label, because there are so many variations of "goat feed" and "chicken feed" and "cat food" and so forth.

There are feeds with higher levels of protein, but they seem hard to get a hold of and they're usually only 17-18%. I would have to feed my chickens only goat food to really make it worth it and I'd rather not since that would drastically change the levels of everything else they need.

I just need to clear a couple of things up here.
16% layers feed is fine for laying hens. The larger breeds just eat more. Providing a higher protein feed may have other benefits but I very much doubt it will solve your lack of eggs problem.
To make this quite clear and to dispel the notion that modern high production breeds need higher levels of protein to be productive here is a link to a UK feed company. If you have a look through their range you will notice that the majority of the layer feeds are 16% protein. I think it's reasonably safe to state that if feeds with this protein level didn't provide enough protein people wouldn't buy these feeds and the chicken related media would be full of posts complaining that their laying hens were not laying.

https://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/s...d/marriages-everyday-layers-pellets-20kg.html

This is a link to Amazon's chicken feed first page in the UK. The majority of the feeds here are 16% protein. The same arguement as above applies.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=chicken+feed&crid=2AQEXWK6BC99H&sprefix=chicken+feed,aps,85&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Are there advantages to providing a higher protein feed? Possibly, but they have more to do with the hens overall longterm health than the amount of eggs they lay.

I have fed hens here in the UK and in Europe 16% protein feed and these hens were free range. There was no apparent impact in the reduction of the overall protein intake should the notion that ranging hens forage contribution reduces the amount of protein they need in their diet. In fact thye laid like troopers and lived to ripe old age provided a predator didn't get them.

While medicated feed does not prevent coccidiosis it does help chicks build up a tolerance to the strain that is prevelant in their environment. Whether one should be eating eggs from a chicken eating medicated feed should be a non issue because the medicated feed should only be given to non laying chicks.

Even high production breeds such as Red Sex Links, Golden Comets, Hi Line, Red Rocks, etc do not lay every day all year round once they reach the age of 18 months approximately. This is why they get "retired" at this age. The winter (roughly) after their 18th month usually involves a time off laying period, be that at moulting time or not.

Older hens lay fewer eggs in general so the age of your hens needs to be considered as does the time of year (?)
Apart from the possibility that your hens are taking a break from laying, the next thing that in my experience is likely to prevent a hen laying is stress. Have you made any changes to your keeping arrangements recently? Have you had a predator incident or a recent introduction of new hens?

There is ceratainly no harm in providing a higher protein feed up to say 18%, or supplementing their diet with plain fish/meat which will provide a complete protein boost but as a remedy for lack of eggs I suggest you consider other factors.

I have considered age, but the thing is, most of them are just barely a year old.

The only changes that were made were during the time that I was having this issue. I haven't introduced any new hens, but we did see an opossum recently. I inspected everything and all the animals closely and never saw evidence of him having been over there. But, that was happening after the numbers started dropping.

It's really a shame that this idea that 16% isn't enough protein is everywhere you look on the internet.

Most of the people who claim this isn't enough protein free range and supplement extra protein anyway, through treats and such.

It is enough protein if fed exclusively.. it is certainly enough when used for free range chickens with access to bugs all day.

Truth is if you free range your birds you could get by with corn and free choice oyster shells.

I hope that someday we can move past the same repeated internet chanting, that is most always not based on fact.. or even personal experience.

I know that before mass-produced chicken feed a lot of people free-ranged their birds and all they ever fed them was a little scratch to bring them home at night. I do think that would be a lot more simple, but I do wonder how many eggs those people were getting. Because I'd hazard a guess that the chickens back then were not being specifically bred and thus tended toward being healthier than today's and may not have layed as many eggs in as short a time. At the same time, not eating the "perfect" amounts of nutrition, they may not have been laying as well as chickens do today (which probably meant they lived and layed longer). So as far as I can see, it's a complicated issue and you've got to just make your own decision and let others make theirs. I agree with @LaFleche, to each their own.

 

[NatJ]

Oh yea.. keep it going. Why not right?

I was referring to a common sense approach.

This site is read by many people who start out with NO knowledge of chickens. They have no idea what is "common sense" when it comes to chickens.

If you add a few qualifiers (ranging a reasonable number of chickens on a reasonably sized area with adequate sources of nutrition and being aware of how it changes by season and climate), I agree that what you said can work fine.

 

[Crazy_Beautiful]

Came here looking for answers as well. I also have 20 to 25 layers and I'm only getting 5 eggs a day give or take. I have a few older hens that I know have slowed down, but majority of my hens are just 1 year old. I did have 8 go broody last week. I kept them away from their nests for 3 days and they've gone back to regular activities except for laying. I do have what my chickens think is a secret nest but I clear it out every day. And I feed grower with oyster shells on the side. I do find that they are breaking the eggs of my older hens I'm assuming the broody ones are doing this as maybe not good viable eggs for hatching.
I'm getting very frustrated as I was getting 15+ eggs a day and was able to sell enough to help offset the feed cost. Now I have upset customers that I hope I don't lose.

I like the idea of keeping them in the coop area to see what's going on if I'm missing an egg area. And maybe some added protein... would can of wet cat food or tuna work?

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

Came here looking for answers as well. I also have 20 to 25 layers and I'm only getting 5 eggs a day give or take. I have a few older hens that I know have slowed down, but majority of my hens are just 1 year old. I did have 8 go broody last week. I kept them away from their nests for 3 days and they've gone back to regular activities except for laying. I do have what my chickens think is a secret nest but I clear it out every day. And I feed grower with oyster shells on the side. I do find that they are breaking the eggs of my older hens I'm assuming the broody ones are doing this as maybe not good viable eggs for hatching.
I'm getting very frustrated as I was getting 15+ eggs a day and was able to sell enough to help offset the feed cost. Now I have upset customers that I hope I don't lose.

I like the idea of keeping them in the coop area to see what's going on if I'm missing an egg area. And maybe some added protein... would can of wet cat food or tuna work?

If 8 hens went broody last week and you've only just broken them, it'll probably be a little while before they start laying again. I'm guessing that's your biggest problem right now.

Are the shells of the old hens' eggs thin? 'Cause even with oyster shell the older hens may have thinner shells just because their bodies aren't working as well.

 

[Desertguardian]

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

I think it depends what type of breed chicken you have. Most should do fine on the 16% layer but some of the smaller breeds need more. (example: Silkies, and some others) Its most likely not what you're feeding otherwise because sounds like the diet is good for some chickens.

 

[Desertguardian]

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?

Excessive medication can damage good bacteria (just like humans) I would give a probiotic and at this point get them off medicated feed. Too much of a good thing can end up harmful in the end.

 

[aart]

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

Often people are also feeding other foods and treats, which reduces the overall nutrition.

 

[NatJ]

I like the idea of keeping them in the coop area to see what's going on if I'm missing an egg area. And maybe some added protein... would can of wet cat food or tuna work?

Yes, those things can be a reasonable source of protein.

If you want to do it regularly, check prices to make sure you're choosing something sensible. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy a chicken feed with higher protein (like chick starter, if you have been feeding grower), rather than buying the lower protein feed and then buying something else to add for more protein.