Why did my chicken stop laying eggs?
This is the most often asked question it seems and there can be several reasons, so let’s dive in!
Breed matters, I know many won’t want to hear this, but a production hybrid has a shorter lifespan for laying. Let’s use Isa Browns for example, they are bred to lay in production houses early and often. However, nothing is a perfect chicken, so the drawback is egg laying lifespan, which is only 15-18 months. This is why you see “spent hens” from factory farms available on the cheap and people say they eat their older hens. If you want the fast and plentiful, plan to replace them yearly, just like a factory farm.
Hertiage breeds or BYM of heritage breeds will lay much longer. I have some 10 year old orpingtons that still lay! I would expect mine to lay 4-6 eggs per week depending on age, they will peek at 2-3 years of age and then slow down. They still go broody and still eat bugs, they are still an asset to a farm.
If it is June and they are slowing down, confirm you do not have a predator issue, and this has many aspects. The obvious are foxes and raccoons bothering and stressing the birds. Make sure they feel safe. Next is mice and rats in the coop, are they bothering them while sleeping on the roosts? In the nest boxes? If you have birds, you at least have mice but rats are everywhere from big cities to farms, so do not stick your head in the sand as say that’s not an issue. If you are not sure what to look for, a night camera will show you.
Feed is next on the list to try, for whatever reason, people want to throw high protein snacks at birds. Cat food is for cats, not birds. Mealworms are tasty and they love them, just figure them as snacks and any more than that, needs to be added into their meal planning. The more confined your birds, the stricter you have to be with understanding feed analysis. As I type this, mine are wandering the field gathering grass and bugs and rocks and dirt. They are getting sunshine Vitamin D, grit from pebbles, greens from grass, exercise because the bug over there is better than the bug here. They get rain water and fresh water, scratch thru cow pies and walk miles it seems. I can literally throw any feed out there for them and they would be fine because they are really getting what they need from the land! This is June we are speaking of here, this will not be the case in January. But I am trying to show you a side by side comparison of feeding a free range chicken is very different than a cooped chicken. If yours are cooped all the time or even majority, then invest in a quality complete feed and add greens to their diet.
Last for this blog post is light. Another hot topic with especially what I am fixing to say. We are at the beginning of summer, pool parties and beaches and hot weather. Birds however are fixing to peak, June 21 is the longest day of the year, and what happens when you peak? You can only go down. The days are going to start getting shorter on June 22 and for birds, this triggers their instinct to get ready for winter. Breeding season is over (eggs) and now we need to replenish our bodies to survive winter when greens and bugs are no where to be found, remember birds cannot reason! As light goes down, molt is triggered and no eggs during molt because they are getting their bodies ready to insulate them for winter. You can light them if you want to extend summer and push molt out, but allow them time to go thru the process before cold weather.
Understanding poultry is key to working with them to get the maximum benefits of owning them.