Chicken ain't laying what's up with dat

[KnuteFartne]

So our chickens haven't layer in about 2 weeks. I figured the cold had something to do with it. Was 36 when I left for work this morning. I know they slow down laying when it's really hot. Could this be the problem?

I also saw a video from some whack-a-doodle saying people that bought feed from Tractor Supply are reporting hens stopped laying. Well, guess what. My last bag of feed was from TS. Just to be safe I got rid of that and went back to the feed store feed.

Anyone have any ideas what's up?

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[hawgrider]

Daylight hours are below 10 hours in the winter they stop laying.
If you want them to lay eggs in winter run lights in the coop so that you have a total of minimum 12 hours to 14 hours of total daylight.

Day length in my area right right now is 9 hours and 40 minutes= no eggs without adding artificial light.

Run a 25 to 40 watt bulb in the coop on a timer to turn light on several hours before day break.

Your welcome.

[rstanek]

Chicken go through a molting period every so often, kinda like a females monthly’s……they will quit laying for awhile, usually they don’t all do it the same time, it may be the feed…..JMO

[Box of frogs]

We buy Purina layer crumbles from TSC and have had no issues.
Cold and heat will slow them down if not make them stop laying as said before.
During the hot part of August and September our egg count goes to zero for days at a time.

[Mad Trapper]

What Hawg said. 36 oF is balmy weather for this time of year here. Chickens are fine in a nice straw nest.

Get a LED light on a timer.

[Sparkyprep]

Could be molting. Could be time of year. Chickens naturally slow down egg production, or even stop laying in the winter. I have got one hen that took about a month and a half off. The other was only laying about once every three days. Cycle of life and all that.....

[TJC44]

So you're selling them?
How much?
Dead or Alive?
How much extra for shipping?

[Inor]

Also check around the area where they go to see if they decided to lay someplace different too. We had a couple that decided they did not like the nesting boxes for a while and decided to lay in Mrs Inor's strawberry patch. It was a week or so before we figured it out and by then, there were over a dozen eggs in the strawberries.

[Slippy]

All good reasons above!

Change up their feed, add some lights, let them free range...other than that, don't sweat it. They'll figure it out!

[Michael_Js]

We don't push our chickens to lay in the winter. Right now, our of 13, we have 2 laying. Another one might be starting. Towards the end of last year, most were molting, and with the cold and the short daylight hours, none were laying. We're just starting to get eggs again. We buy Organic Scratch & Peck layer feed from a local Co-Op...I will do egg glassing again in the fall of this year to better prepare for storing eggs through the winter...

[Sasquatch]

So you're selling them?
How much?
Dead or Alive?
How much extra for shipping?

With the price of eggs the way they are now hell no I'm not selling them. Well if they don't start laying we can talk.


Also check around the area where they go to see if they decided to lay someplace different too. We had a couple that decided they did not like the nesting boxes for a while and decided to lay in Mrs Inor's strawberry patch. It was a week or so before we figured it out and by then, there were over a dozen eggs in the strawberries.

Ours aren't free ranging yet. Too many hawks around.


We don't push our chickens to lay in the winter. Right now, our of 13, we have 2 laying. Another one might be starting. Towards the end of last year, most were molting, and with the cold and the short daylight hours, none were laying. We're just starting to get eggs again. We buy Organic Scratch & Peck layer feed from a local Co-Op...I will do egg glassing again in the fall of this year to better prepare for storing eggs through the winter...

What is this egg glassing you speak of?

[Michael_Js]

With the price of eggs the way they are now hell no I'm not selling them. Well if they don't start laying we can talk.

Ours aren't free ranging yet. Too many hawks around.

What is this egg glassing you speak of?

We had an entire thread on storing eggs - in water & hydrated lime. Last time I tried it, I had 4 dozen eggs over 12 months to test and all were great! It's around here somewhere...There is also tons of info online for water glassing...

i.e. https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/eggs-meat/water-glassing-eggs-for-long-term-storage/

[Sasquatch]

We had an entire thread on storing eggs - in water & hydrated lime. Last time I tried it, I had 4 dozen eggs over 12 months to test and all were great! It's around here somewhere...There is also tons of info online for water glassing...

i.e. https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/eggs-meat/water-glassing-eggs-for-long-term-storage/

Okay this is a storage thing. I was thinking it was something for the chickens to keep them laying. I think I have heard of this before. Thanks for the link I'll check it out.

[Prepared One]

I have found that a veiled threat can be very effective.

21364

[Piratesailor]

All good reasons above!

Change up their feed, add some lights, let them free range...other than that, don't sweat it. They'll figure it out!

This pretty much covers it. We drop from 8-10 per day n summer to 0-2 a day in the winter. Mainly light issue.

[hawgrider]

Beast, if your length of daylight is similar to this-
Calculations of sunrise and sunset in Los Angeles – California – USA for January 2023. ... Daylight. 6:55 am – 5:14 pm 10 hours, 19 minutes ...

Get a cheap timer plug in a cheap light add the artificial light and dont burn the coop down. Or feed your chickens all winter and get no eggs. Its not the feed!
We have always used TSC feed.

Chickens stop laying for the most part under 12 hours of daylight.

[KnuteFartne]

Beast, if your length of daylight is similar to this-
Calculations of sunrise and sunset in Los Angeles – California – USA for January 2023. ... Daylight. 6:55 am – 5:14 pm 10 hours, 19 minutes ...

Get a cheap timer plug in a cheap light add the artificial light and dont burn the coop down. Or feed your chickens all winter and get no eggs. Its not the feed!
We have always used TSC feed.

Chickens stop laying for the most part under 12 hours of daylight.Yeah I already has electrical run to the chicken coop. Gonna buy a light and timer this weekend.

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[hawgrider]

Yeah I already has electrical run to the chicken coop. Gonna buy a light and timer this weekend.

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It'll take about 2 weeks or so to get their internal clock going again.


FYI remember by running artificial light in the winters you will shorten the hens egg laying life.

That said nobody eats for free at my place so I would rather replace the hens every 4 years give or take then have to feed them all winter for nothing. Feed prices have doubled here in the last 2 years.

My wife will argue with me about it she likes it to be natural for the hens.....
That was until store bought eggs stink, taste like shit and are now 4 or 5 bucks a dozen. Your mileage may vary.

[1skrewsloose]

I'm going with the messed up feed thing, they're bound up, just give them all suppositories and things will back to normal.

[bigwheel]

Not sure the causative factor here but my daddy in law said if they stopped laying feed them roasted crushed up egg shells with black pepper.
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/make-your-hens-lay-more-eggs/

[Coastie dad]

Cayenne pepper on the feed.
Yes, I've read where TS egg pellet feed had an issue recently.

[Sparkyprep]

Not sure the causative factor here but my daddy in law said if they stopped laying feed them roasted crushed up egg shells with black pepper.
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/make-your-hens-lay-more-eggs/

Not knockin' ya, but I think the egg shells will just add calcium to their system, making their egg shells harder, but you can do that with crushed oyster shells. I don't like the idea of feeding my chickens anything egg related, because once they get a taste for it, I'm afraid of turning my girls into egg cannibals. This can eventually turn into a real problem, with them eating their own eggs, and I know of no way to break that habit, other than killing the offending chicken. Better never to start that habit.

[hawgrider]

Not knockin' ya, but I think the egg shells will just add calcium to their system, making their egg shells harder, but you can do that with crushed oyster shells. I don't like the idea of feeding my chickens anything egg related, because once they get a taste for it, I'm afraid of turning my girls into egg cannibals. This can eventually turn into a real problem, with them eating their own eggs, and I know of no way to break that habit, other than killing the offending chicken. Better never to start that habit.

^^^ THIS!

You can feed them crushed shells but....

You gotta boil em first. Pain in the ass so if I have a thin shell layer I just get oyster shells from TSC and lets the birds eat it if they want it.

[bigwheel]

Good point. Never have thought of some of those angles. Thanks. As a former old duck and chicken hobbyist..will say ducks are much more rational durable and fun to be around and the last one we had laid an egg per day...with a huge yolk. Too rich for some folks but they can be traded to chicken farmers to make cake for hen eggs. lol

[1skrewsloose]

Not knockin' ya, but I think the egg shells will just add calcium to their system, making their egg shells harder, but you can do that with crushed oyster shells. I don't like the idea of feeding my chickens anything egg related, because once they get a taste for it, I'm afraid of turning my girls into egg cannibals. This can eventually turn into a real problem, with them eating their own eggs, and I know of no way to break that habit, other than killing the offending chicken. Better never to start that habit.

This is true, when I was younger we did the same thing, prevents brittle eggs. Yea, you need to crush them up or they will eat their own eggs

[1skrewsloose]

I heard on "The Dana Show" today that a lot of farmers have had problems with the chickens not laying after using TS feed. Went to goat feed instead, not sure how that makes sense, but if it works, go for it.

[Slippy]

The other day, we found some old corn meal/corn flour so we baked up a big ole batch of cornbread and fed it to our chickens. We also cleaned out the pantry and found some old Ritz crackers. Broke them up and tossed them to the hens as they free ranged around the yard.

They LOVED it!

Little chicken garbage disposals!

(PS; don't know if they laid more eggs or not but it was entertaining to watch them get all excited over some stale crackers and corn bread!)

[rstanek]

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/tractor-supply-chicken-feed-reportedly-causing-egglaying-stop-board-ties-wef-jeffrey-epstein/

This interesting, the egg laying conspiracy is in fact true and another example of of the shit that’s going on for population control

[hawgrider]

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/tractor-supply-chicken-feed-reportedly-causing-egglaying-stop-board-ties-wef-jeffrey-epstein/

This interesting, the egg laying conspiracy is in fact true and another example of of the shit that’s going on for population control

Pride and Dumor are junk feed anyway.

I cant buy into the conspiracy as it makes no business sence at all. Social media is all on the bandwagon so how does TSC figure that this will be good for business?

Lets blame it on climate change instead... I haven't seen the sun in 2 months so theres that.

[Inor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZ5ZZprLsY

Apparently, as others have said, TSC did change up their feed formula and it is causing a problem.

We have not bought any feed from TSC for any of our animals for a few years because they are expensive compared to our local feed mill, so i have not really even paid any attention to their feed issues. I have also noticed they are carrying a lot more junk brands of tools than they used to. I am starting to get a little hesitant about going there for anything lately. Maybe they got some new bean counters or something? But something not good seems to be going on with TSC.

[hawgrider]

Tons of those videos out all on the TSC bandwagon. Strange.....

[hawgrider]

Heres another take on it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-5CgrYMyJc

[bigwheel]

My favorite duck lived on dry dog food and june bugs.

[hawgrider]

Well I'll be darn this TSC "pride" layer feed conspiracy appears to be true.

Ran into another chicken hobbie rancher down the road yesterday and he said he wasn't getting any eggs for almost 2 months he was using pride 40lbs pellets.

He heard about the feed fuck up and switched to a feed mill mash and within 10 days his hens were laying again.

How the fuck is TSC not taking a shit ton of heat over this. TSC you're fired!

[Michael_Js]

Also interesting...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzeQJVlFGoc

Why slow egg production and destruction of chickens/egg facilities might also be happening...

[hawgrider]

What a jacked up country!

[Slippy]

Watching it now, very interesting theory


Also interesting...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzeQJVlFGoc

Why slow egg production and destruction of chickens/egg facilities might also be happening...