Chickens not laying

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ANNAV
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Chickens not laying

Post by ANNAV »

Hi I'm Anna and this is my first forum. I have seven chickens on my allotment plot since June 2015. All my hens were Point-of-Lay or slightly younger when they came to me. I have usually, in the summertime, gathered around 4 to 6 eggs daily and 2 to 3 eggs in the wintertime. However, this summer I have been lucky to get even 1 egg each day. My girls are fed on layers pellets and lovely allotment grown greens a couple of times a week. They are wormed six monthly and to be honest they are pets not used for production but I feel something is not right. The eggs cannot be stolen as our run is 21 sq mtrs and is herras fencing with an aluminium & wood roof and locked up nice and securely. I am at a loss. Can anyone advise me?
Oh and our coops are Omlet Eglu and Chicube (made from plastic) which I de-poop daily and scrub out weekly so I don't think the problem is redmite infestation I really am quite concerned.

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lancashire lass
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by lancashire lass »

Would these be hybrid chickens? If so, some of them don't live much longer than 3.5 - 4.5 years, so in effect your girls are becoming mature ladies:

1. They peak at about 3-6 months of Point-of-Lay where they lay an egg a day (sometimes though rarely, 2 a day .... when you expect to collect 7 eggs and find there's an extra one LOL)
2. This period is only for a few weeks but you still get close to 6-7 eggs a day during the first year, and gradually by 2 years it might be down to 3-5 eggs. It isn't a linear decline either - some of that is due to sun levels and number of daylight hours (so more likely to lay more in summer than in winter when mature hens usually do stop laying altogether and have a rest), and whether one or more are moulting (losing their feathers) which can happen once or twice a year. When moulting, all the energy and protein switches from egg laying to feather growing. I remember reading that a hen that does a full moult can be a good layer, but one that does a little moult here or there tend to be poor layers because their body is always into feather growing.
3. As they get older, some girls go into laying an egg every other day, some have long spells of no eggs then a few short weeks of now and again. When you have several girls, you might find yourself on average say 4 eggs a day and then one day you might have 6 or absolutely nothing.

What I reckon is that your mature girls are still laying but each have their own biological clock. After all, the reason poultry farmers get rid of their hens after the first year is that egg production declines after that - they are still laying but just not commercially viable.

All you can do is what you have been doing - de-louse, red mite treatments, clean out coop, maybe up their calcium and protein (added treat) but if they are eating pellets it should be fine.
ANNAV
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by ANNAV »

Hi Lancashire Lass,
Thank you for your response, yes the majority of my chickens are hybrid it has just confused me as this egg production ceased overnight. I don't really mind that they aren't laying as I said they are pets really and I was more concerned about their welfare. If this is a normal decline then that's ok I shall just enjoy the eggs I do get and continue to love my girls and enjoy all the time I can get with them into their ripe old age... bit like me :-)
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KarenE
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by KarenE »

Hi and welcome to the forum

I reckon LL is right - your ladies are probably moving into retirement and are consequently slowing down - add that to the nights drawing in and I'll bet you have a few moults going on as well.

You could also try worming them if they haven't been wormed recently. Sometimes a worm load can affect egg production too.

Keep an eye out for any problems now that they are nearing the end (most likely) of their productive years. Soft shelled or no shelled eggs can be a problem, so maybe extra oyster shell or limestone flour, a bit of cod liver oil - sardines in tomato sauce they will love you for.

If production has ceased overnight, there are potentially 2 other explanations as usually there's a noticeable slow down before complete halts, but not always so - my money is on maturity and moults, but just in case - have you checked around to make sure something isn't getting in and taking the (most likely few) eggs? Rats, magpies, even naughty egg eating chickens. And also if they have access to free range space on your lottie, are they laying somewhere else?
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Mo
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by Mo »

Yes, I was wondering if one of them had developed a taste for eggs, maybe after finding a broken egg and liking it.
If they are at the allotment you perhaps only collect eggs once a day, so they are sat there as a temptation.

There are various 'old wives' remedies. Best used at first hint of egg eating, to prevent a habit establishing. Very frustrating to know this is going on. Or when they lay away and you can't find the eggs.
1)Collecting the eggs promptly
2)Improve the quality of the eggshell so that they are harder to break
3) Fill an empty shell with mustard
4) Find the culprit and put her in the stewpot yike*
5) Roll away nestbox
6) I'm not even going to mention (or was that to stop feather-pecking)
7) Keep the nest dark (curtains?)

But this has been going on for sometime so it may be an established habit, and passed on to more than 1. So 4 may not work even if you would consider it (most on here say 'but they are pets')
I have sometimes found 3 works, to stop it becoming a habit, sometimes not.
2) - when they get older the shell gets thinner. People on here recommend Limestone flour (sold for horses), it makes a noticeable difference to the shells.

Can you rearrange the nest boxes so that the eggs are hidden, prop the front so that the eggs roll to the back and make something to hide the eggs - someone posted on here a picture (years back - I couldn't find it last time I looked). He'd made a cover that looked like a bench - legs and top, the egg rolled under that. You have to make the legs taller than an egg because of the slope, and experiment with the slope to see if they roll. Also take out the straw - sorry hens! That worked for me. You can also buy nest-box inserts to roll the eggs out of harms way - use the Poultry suppllies link at the side of this page, there is a search bar, Roll Away nest, click through to ebay, they have them (and if you go via the link it pays a bit towards the expenses of this site)
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Mo
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by Mo »

The egg- eating problem crops up on here from time to time e.g.this thread
Just found an old thread. But the pictures have gone - maybe there was a change in charging policy like Photobucket.
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
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lancashire lass
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by lancashire lass »

add to Mo's list of things to try with egg eating is to purchase ceramic or rubber eggs which are left in the nest after removing the fresh eggs - if the naughty girl tries to "eat" the dummy egg, she can't get through the shell and might give up.

Also shell-less / thin eggs - it is not unusual for hens to accidentally break these and enjoy eating them (they actually get really excited when they do!) It doesn't necessarily mean they'll turn to eating other sound eggs but they could get a taste for them ...

And is it possible one or more have found somewhere else to lay other than in the coop or nest box?

Forgot to mention broody hens - have you had any just sitting in the nest all day?

Re: limestone flour - as already suggested, an excellent source of calcium. However, try not to overfeed too much - it doesn't do their kidneys any good (and some girls might not need it - if their eggs start to feel gritty/powdery, then cut it back. A source of vitamin D like a dose of the cod liver oil or oily fish like the sardines (mix with their greens) might be that is required.
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sandy
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by sandy »

My girls, except for one bantam are totally on strike. This is the first time I havent had any ex bats in the winter so must be true posh girls practically give up in the winter?
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Richard
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Re: Chickens not laying

Post by Richard »

Welcome ANNAV.

Got some great replies there )t' )t'

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