Will Garlic stop their egg laying?

[BanavieBabe]

I started giving my gals garlic in their water to help prevent mites and such. i use it on my horse for fly prevention and it works so well. (thats where the vampire and garlic thing came about) but ive done some research and its said fruit can and cant be good for them, so i figure use it as just treats now and then, and greens are good, i do a good amount of grasses (weeding) a few times a week, other than that they just eat their crumbles and what ever bugs and such they get for their selfs in the run. (big run) but they have all stopped laying (all 18) and i used to get 6-7 eggs a day, i haven't given more garlic since they stopped laying, they have stopped for about a week, i figure it will take a bit for it to get out of their system, but i hope its not poison or such, i didn't think it would be bad at all, good actually. but please let me know what my stupidity prolly did to my baby's.. they are acting fine running around and every thing normally. one gal however has started to try and hatch a rock )(a rock i use to train the pullets where to lay) could she be doing that b/c the rooster has gotten more mature? any and all advice is welcomed.. tks
jess

 

[Judy]

The one who is trying to hatch a rock has stopped laying because she has gone broody. I doubt there is any connection between the others stopping and the garlic. More likely, someone is eating eggs, a critter is stealing eggs, or they have a secret nest. Or the whole bunch has gone broody.

 

[BanavieBabe]

I at first thought they were hiding them again, but nope. the run has a 10 foot fence that raccoons cant climb and there are no spotting's of pray,so i don't think they are getting eaten, they usually lay the eggs in the beds, in the coop. the coop is like a small barn. ive searched every inch to find a nest they may have hidden and i cant find even one, they have spots they have dug to sleep in in the sun, but no eggs. only rice (the broody one) has been sitting in the coop in the bed 24/7, some times she will switch beds, but i haven't seen her out side in a while (almost a week) im baffled. [[still no eggs

]]

 

[cthrash1]

It shouldn't affect them laying, lots of folks use it, but it will make the eggs taste garlicy

Maybe consider using Apple Cider Vinegar... The pure strain not the kind at the grocery. Or Diatomaceous Earth(food grade only) May only be able to find this online though. It's expensive up front but it goes a long way.

 

[BanavieBabe]

what would stop all 18 hens from laying the same day? nothing i can think of has changed, i cleaned da coop yesterday, and scrubed all the feeders and waters, and rice is still broody, even after i took the rock...

 

[digitS']

Experience last year with garlic (and cthrash1's avatar) made me think of this article:

Garlic Perfumes Poultry Houses

The Clemson researchers used a 3% garlic powder formula for their laying hens. That would have been 1.5 POUNDS of garlic powder to a 50 pound bag of feed ! The 3 ounce bottle of garlic powder I bought lasted thru 30 pounds. That's about .5%. It amounted to a generous one-half teaspoon of the powder for every 2 cups of feed.

This is quite a lot of garlic in the diet. Imagine a half teaspoon of garlic powder in every 2 cups of your food!

I have fewer chickens this summer and forgot about reducing the coop smell. It really worked well in 'o8 and I should pick up another bottle.

The pullets weren't old enuf to be laying last summer but according to the article, taste testers ". . . preferred the eggs produced by the garlic-eating hens." And, that's garlic at 3% of their diets!!

My guess is that your hens are molting. Very hot weather here this month has certainly slowed my hens' production. Laying around in the shade is their most common activity. I also had a broody that took me 3 weeks to break. She was sitting on "nothing" and there's no rooster . . .

Remember, it is garlic powder and not garlic salt.

Steve

 

[mulia24]

hmm, i also want to try mixing the grain with slice of garlic, hope the girls love them.

 

[Chickenmaven]

I bake whole garlic cloves for my birds. They eat 'em up like candy.

 

[jhm47]

I'd suspect that they have quit laying because of the shortening day length. About this time of year mine slow down considerably. A lot depends on the breed too. Some breeds are much more affected by day length, especially the heavy, meat breeds. Egg layers less so.

 

[kelliepulido]

i user garlic powder for my girls and guys and they are still laying.