Why laying hens stopped laying

When buying egg breed chickens, the owners of private farmsteads count on receiving eggs daily from each laying hen.

– And why do you value 4 hens and a rooster stolen from you so dearly?

– So they carried eggs, I sold them and lived on this money.

How many eggs do hens lay in a day?

– 5.

– And the rooster?

– And a rooster.

For some, roosters lay eggs, while for others, laying hens refuse their direct duties.

Figuring out why laying hens don’t lay and what to do about the problem can take some time. It’s not always obvious.

Youngsters do not rush

Layers were bought by chickens, they are young, but they are not in a hurry to lay eggs. Most often, the reason why young laying hens do not rush is one: they are still too young.

Egg crosses begin to lay eggs at 3,5-4 months, but egg breeds of chickens, with rare exceptions, do not lay eggs before 5 months. It is better to remember which chickens were bought.

If this is a cross that did not begin to rush at 4 months, you need to take a closer look at the conditions of detention and breeding. If the egg breed of chickens – wait a little more.

Crosses are good because they start laying early and carry a lot of eggs, but it is unprofitable to breed them. The second generation will not be as productive. The second minus of the cross is the decrease in egg production after a year.

Pedigree laying hens start laying later, often laying fewer eggs, but their offspring can be left for self-repair without worrying anymore where to get young laying hens. Their high egg production usually lasts longer than that of crosses.

Adult chickens do not lay

There may be several reasons why adult laying hens do not rush:

old chickens were bought;
lack of lighting;
low temperature in the chicken coop;
too many chickens per unit area;
lack of nesting;
molting;
improper feeding;
disease;
stress;
the desire to incubate;
predators;
laying eggs in secret places.

It makes sense to consider each of the reasons separately.

Bought old chickens

When buying already adult laying hens, unscrupulous sellers can sell the old bird. That is why it is better to buy either chickens or a hatching egg. At least the age of the layers will be known exactly.

Unfortunately, old chicken is only good for soup, although it is quite difficult for a non-professional to recognize old laying hens among egg crosses. Crosses are rushing almost until the last day, but the number of eggs, of course, is much less than young laying hens can carry.

Molting

One of the main reasons why laying hens stopped laying. And one of the least troublesome. Having molted, laying hens begin to lay eggs again. The problem here is that molting in chickens lasts more than one month.

There are several types of molting in chickens:

juvenile. Feather change in “egg” chickens at 4 weeks;
periodic in roosters. It starts 2-3 months earlier than the seasonal molt in laying hens and occurs without loss of live weight;
seasonal molt in laying hens. It begins in the fall, when the air temperature drops and the daylight hours are reduced.

Natural seasonal shedding

Natural molting in laying hens lasts 3-4 months, starting at the age of 13 months. This is the main reason for the culling of crosses from egg farms. After a year, the laying hen-cross decreases egg production, and even wait almost six months until they molt? Nobody needs it. Yes, and with cross-layers on a personal farmstead, the situation will be similar. And at 2 years old, some of the cross-layers will already begin to die of old age. Therefore, given the molting and the desire to continue to keep these particular chickens, it is better to immediately choose thoroughbred layers.

In thoroughbred laying hens, molting is a response to shorter daylight hours and lower temperatures. Usually, by the same time, the first reproductive cycle of the hens ends and the hens go to rest, since the loss of the old feather is stimulated by thyroxine, a thyroid hormone that inhibits ovulation. During oviposition, the action of this hormone is suppressed. In other words, a laying hen cannot molt and lay eggs at the same time.

At the same time, molting is vital for chickens. During molting, excess fat reserves are consumed, and the activity of the adrenal glands increases. But sexual and reproductive functions are reduced. In general, during molting, the laying hen increases the metabolic rate and protein synthesis, which is necessary for new feathers and the production of eggs in the next reproductive cycle.

How to cut the molt

Shedding time in laying hens can be reduced if chickens are provided with a full-fledged feeding with a high content of methionine and cystine. The content of these substances in the feed for shedding laying hens should be 0,6-0,7%. These amino acids are found in animal supplements and waste from sunflower oil production:

dry reverse;
meat and bone meal;
fish flour;
sunflower cake and meal;
fodder yeast.

Artificial methionine is also used, adding it at the rate of 0,7-1,5 g/kg of feed.

Without zinc and pantothenic acid, the formation and growth of feathers in laying hens is disrupted, so the content of these substances in the feed should be: zinc 50 mg / kg, vitamin B₃ 10 – 20 mg / kg. Chickens get these elements from green plants, herbal flour, cake, bran, animal feed, yeast.

Forced molting

Waiting 3 months for a laying hen to molt is very disadvantageous for the owner. Therefore, forced molting is often used, which can be carried out in three ways: zootechnical, chemical and hormonal.

Hormonal method of molting in laying hens

It is carried out with the help of injections of hormones that inhibit ovulation in laying hens.

After 20 mg of progesterone IM, oviposition stops on the second day. After a few days, the laying hen begins to molt. For a complete molt, one injection is not enough, so after two weeks the same dose of progesterone is injected again.

In private households, it is more convenient to inject the hormone at 5 mg for 25 days. In this mode, laying hens shed from 11 to 19 days from the start of hormone administration. With this method, the molting time for laying hens is reduced and molting is synchronized for all hens, which allows you to get more eggs per year.

After the cessation of progesterone injections, oviposition resumes after 3,5 weeks.

For private traders who are wary of using injections, there is another way to induce accelerated molting: feed dried thyroid preparation to laying hens by mixing it into the feed. In this case, molting is faster, and with a single feeding of 7 g of the drug per laying hen, molting is more intense than with the same dose extended over several days.

It has been experimentally established that the number of eggs in a laying hen that has molted with the help of hormonal preparations does not differ from that of a hen that has molted naturally. Egg quality does not improve in “hormonal” laying hens.

At the same time, the egg production of laying hens, forced to molt using zootechnical methods, is higher than that of those that molt with hormones or naturally.

zootechnical method

The essence of the method is that chickens are forced to molt with the help of stress. For example, closing them for several days in complete darkness without food and water.

Advice! If the air temperature is high, then it is not necessary to deprive the chickens of water.

Before using such means, preliminary preparation is carried out in order to reduce the number of birds that have died from such “humane” effects.

They start preparing for molting at the end of the first period, when the egg production of birds decreases to 60%. A week and a half before molting, chickens are fed an increased amount of calcium either using special compound feed or pouring limestone into the feeder. Vitamins are added to the water.

To speed up molting on the 10th day, the rate of methionine in the feed is increased by one and a half times. From 10 to 30 days, feed with a high protein content (21%) is given. This stimulates the growth of a new feather. After the 30th day, the protein content of the feed is reduced to 16% to stimulate the onset of lay.

Approximate diagram of forced molting of chickens

Chemical method of forced molting

It consists in feeding chickens drugs that block egg laying.

crowding

The most dense planting of chickens is used in poultry farms, but even there an area is allocated for each chicken no less than the size of an A4 paper sheet. On the perch, each bird should get 15-20 cm. With a higher density of chickens per unit area, conflicts will inevitably arise between them. Chickens will be constantly under stress. Chickens will respond to such conditions by stopping egg production. Better if the chickens have extra living space than not enough.

Lack of nests or desire to incubate

Hens do not share their egg-laying sites on the principle of “this is only mine, you get out of here.” Therefore, in this case, you can put only two boxes for a dozen hens. This is the necessary minimum. It would be better if there were more boxes.

Advice! The location of nest boxes must be determined in advance, even at the design stage of the chicken coop, so that the dimensions of the nest can be adjusted to the place, and not vice versa.

The lack of places to lay eggs is the case when the egg production has not actually decreased, the laying hens have simply begun to lay somewhere else. You will have to conduct a thorough search of the house, outbuildings, gardens, bushes, thickets of nettles and other secluded places where eggs laid by chickens may be.

Chickens will behave in the same way if, for some reason, they are not satisfied with nest boxes lined with straw. The reasons for unsuitability are usually known only to chickens.

Advice! In order for laying hens to continue to lay eggs in arranged nests, you can not take all the eggs from the nest, but leave 2-3 pieces.

Laying hens, who have firmly decided to become hens, even more so show miracles of ingenuity in order to hide eggs from people’s eyes and sit them quietly.

Pedigree chickens often have a well-developed incubation instinct. In this case, the hen either hides the eggs or tries to sit on them in the nest. There are few ways to fight: you can try to close it in a box without food and water, which is likely to cause an unscheduled molt; or dip it in a bucket of cold water. Helps poorly.

If, without any apparent reason or a change in diet, the number of eggs suddenly began to decrease for a long time, you need to be puzzled by searching around the chicken coop and find out if there are passages for predators in the chicken coop.

Predators

Of course, the fox will not collect eggs and lay on them. It’s too small for her, she’ll strangle the chickens. But rats or weasels may well feast on chicken eggs. Moreover, the rats running around the chicken coop do not particularly bother the layers, so it is impossible to understand whether the chickens have stopped laying eggs or the products are eaten by rats.

Attracted by rats, weasel may well have a bite to eat and “rat food” – eggs.

Lack of lighting

With a decrease in daylight hours by autumn, chickens usually react by molting, but even in winter, having already molted, they often do not lay eggs due to too short daylight hours. In the southern regions, where the daylight hours are longer, there may be an option with a decrease in egg production, but not a complete cessation of egg laying. Here the owner decides for himself whether he needs a lot of eggs in winter or “it will do.”

Residents of the northern regions have a very hard time because of the very short daylight hours. There is a way out if there is electricity in the house. It is enough to put fluorescent lamps in the chicken coop and provide the chickens with at least 14 (16 hours is the optimal time) hours of lighting. It doesn’t matter if it’s natural or artificial. Egg production will return to summer levels provided the coop temperature is not too cold.

Air temperature too low

This is also mostly a problem for residents of the northern regions. At low temperatures, laying hens stop laying, so the chicken coop must be insulated. Very high temperatures are not required. 10 – 15 ° C will be enough. But at lower degrees, chickens may refuse to “work”.

Warning! In severe frosts, laying hens should not be released for walks, even if this particular breed is advertised as frost-resistant.

In addition to the fact that the hens will walk at a low temperature, at which they should not produce eggs, you will also chill the hen house.

The chicken coop needs to be insulated for the winter. If that’s enough, you can leave it like that. If the frosts are expected to be very strong, it is better to equip the chicken coops with heaters. With a small volume of the chicken coop, infrared lamps do a good job of this role. Depending on the size of the room, you may not even need fluorescent lights. Red lighting is enough for chickens. But it must be looked at on the spot.

In the case of a large chicken coop, the systems will have to be combined by installing fluorescent lamps and infrared heaters.

Improper feeding

Hens may stop laying eggs due to obesity or malnutrition if the diet is not properly formulated or feed is given too much / little. With a lack of protein, minerals, amino acids or vitamins that stimulate egg production, even with apparent well-being, chickens can stop laying eggs.

Compound feed, the basis of which is bran, is affordable, but due to the content of too much phosphorus in the bran, the laying hen cannot absorb calcium. As a result, the laying hen may not just stop laying, but begin to “pouring eggs”, that is, the laid egg will be without a shell, enclosed only in the inner membrane.

Chickens show good results in egg production with two options for mixed feed for laying hens.

First option

Composition: corn, soy, barley, calcium carbonate, bran, turf, alfalfa, calcium phosphate.

Chemical analysis: protein 16%, ash 12,6%, fiber 5,3%, oil 2,7%

Vitamins and trace elements: selenium 0,36 mg/kg, copper 15 mg/kg, methionine 0,35%, vit.A 8000 IU/kg, vit. D₃ 3000 IU/kg, vitamin E 15 mg/kg.

enzymes: phytase.

The second option

Composition: corn, soy, wheat flour, calcium carbonate, table salt, synthetic methionine, synthetic lysine.

Chemical analysis

protein 15,75%	calcium 3,5%
ash 12%	methionine + cystine 0,6%
fiber 3,5%	ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid: max. 2,2%
oil 3%	phosphorus 0,5%

Vitamins and trace elements: vit.A 8335 IU/kg, vit. D₃ 2500 IU/kg, copper 4 mg/kg, iron 25 mg/kg, manganese 58 mg/kg, zinc 42 mg/kg, iodine 0,8 mg/kg, selenium 0,125 mg/kg.

enzymes: phytase, beta-glucanase.

Obesity or emaciation is determined by picking up the hen and feeling the keel. According to the results of a visual-tactile examination, the chickens are increased / reduced diet.

Diseases

Diseases also do not contribute to an increase in egg production. Moreover, there are many diseases of chickens, and not all of them are harmless to humans. No, this is not about the mythical bird flu, but about the very real leptospirosis and salmonellosis.

But the most common in chickens are colds, diseases of the intestines and stomach, inflammation of the goiter and worming.

If the laying hen sits, fluffed up, aside from the companions, she is not offended by the flock, she is sick.

Attention! Being ruthless and cruel enough, healthy chickens begin to peck at the weakened bird.

The death of a sick chicken from the beaks of other laying hens is not so bad. Worse, if the chicken was sick with some kind of infectious disease. In this case, all the chickens pecking at the poor fellow will become infected.

Therefore, when a sick laying hen appears, the chicken is separated from the rest, the room is disinfected and they do not hesitate to call the veterinarian. It is possible to treat chickens with “folk remedies”, but with a great risk of losing the entire herd.

Attempts to drive worms with “folk remedies” often ended with the fact that after giving the “traditional” anthelmintic, the worms came out of the animal in balls.

Stress

If everything is in order with your chicken coop, nests, feed, chicken health, and laying hens suddenly stopped laying, it may be stress.

A stress factor for laying hens can be: change in the type of bedding; a stranger who entered the chicken coop; bulldozer driving down the street; neighbor with a jackhammer and much more.

It is unlikely that it will be possible to create ideal stress-free conditions for laying hens, and after stress they will begin to rush no earlier than in a week.

In this regard, egg-bearing crosses are much more convenient. Layers of crosses are stress-resistant to the point that they calmly continue to lay eggs, having been in the dog’s mouth.

To summarize

Keeping laying hens is a rather troublesome business if the owner wants to get the maximum number of eggs from his hens. If you look at the world more simply and do not try to get 5 eggs a day from four layers and one rooster, then the amount of trouble is significantly reduced. Homemade eggs will never be cheaper than store-bought eggs, much less free. Due to the small number of livestock and the purchase of feed in small batches, the cost of homemade eggs is always higher. But as the chicken breeders say: “But I know what this laying hen ate.”