Why yall reckon they quit laying???

[Pine Roost]

I have 6 RIR, 3 bantams, and 1 RIR rooster. All of a sudden, the 3 bantams quit laying (about 4 weeks ago)....about a week later I got the rooster, and they still arent laying. The 6 RIR are still too young....about 15 weeks old, but I have no idea why the 3 bantams stopped. I recently (4-5 days ago) switched the food to a mix of grower and 3 grain scratch, with oyster shell free choice. To top it all off, the 5 month old rooster still hasnt crowed the first time! I dont know what the heck is going on. Can anyone shed some light on the subject? Thanks.

 

[DTchickens]

Pine, a lot of things could play into why the birds have stopped laying. Some peoples birds are molting, and as a result that stops or slows egg laying down. A lot of people have been having battles with lice and mites this year, among other things, and those will slow down/halt egg production. Also, given as it is fall now, the cold temps changing from hot to cold (and if anything like here, hot, cold, hot, cold) can temporarily effect their egg laying. The amount of light birds get will effect it too, typically speaking a bird needs at least 14 hours of daylight to lay well, this isn't true for all breeds as some will lay straight through winter but typically speaking; I'm not sure how well of layers RIR bantams are. On the little cockerel, he'll probably be crowing soon; I've had birds crow as early as a few weeks (Fayoumi) and birds that didn't crow until they were about 8-9 months.

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Can anyone shed some light on the subject?

Most likely, that is what is missing. Light on the subjects.

 

[Pine Roost]

So now that daylight saving time has kicked in, i should mount some lights in the coop and run? the shorter days has also shortened their free range time from 3 hrs to about 45 mins. So, please exlain about the lights if you dont mind. How long should the lights be left on once the sun has gone down?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Daylight Savings Time is a human invention and has nothing to do with the natural cosmos. BTW

Anyhow, yes, we have now passed the Autumnal equinox and nights are now longer than days, here in the northern hemisphere. First year pullets don't mind as much, but older hens often take the winter off if supplemental lighting is not provided. Some folks like this rest time for their birds and do not push them. Others, light the livin' be-jeepers out of their birds because what they want is eggs, eggs, eggs. LOL

You gotta decide what is right for you and your birds.

I split the difference. I provide a few hours, two hours, of pre-dawn light. A simple light bulb on a timer. Nothing special. It comes on at 6 am and goes off at 8 am. That is quite adequate to keep the laying going just fine without me feeling like I'm pushing them too hard and plus, I've got to see anyhow to do the chores in the darkness of early mornings. That's my system. You'll have to come to your own conclusions.

 

[DTchickens]

I found this link for someone in another thread regarding lighting.

http://smallfarm.about.com/od/chickens/a/Light-In-The-Chicken-Coop.htm

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[Pine Roost]

Big help everyone. Thanks.