Every single backyard chicken keeper has expert it: someday, your hens are laying reliably, and the next, the nesting boxes are mysteriously vacant. Based on Gail Damerow, renowned poultry skilled and writer of Storey’s Information to Increasing Chickens, this egg-laying pause is usually not a thriller in any respect. You can find obvious, normal motives hens end laying, and knowledge them may help you assist your flock and restore productivity. Listed here are Damerow’s leading 5 motives hens cease laying—and what you can do about them.
one. Molting: A Normal Pause
As Damerow explains, molting is often a yearly event inside of a hen’s lifetime, generally happening in late summer months to early slide. Throughout this time, hens reduce and regrow feathers—a approach that requires a huge quantity of Electrical power and protein. Egg generation frequently stops all through this period, as being the hen's physique focuses fully on feather regeneration.
What You Can Do: Assist your hens with a substantial-protein feed or snacks like mealworms and scrambled eggs. Avoid stressing the flock and Allow mother nature take its system. As soon as the molt is total, egg-laying really should gradually resume.
2. Shortened Daylight Hrs
Gentle publicity performs a vital part in stimulating a hen’s reproductive process. Damerow details out that hens require 14–16 hrs of daylight for reliable laying. As daylight decreases in the autumn and Wintertime months, so does egg production.
What You Can Do: Contemplate incorporating a light-weight supply during the Fun88 Casino coop with a timer to simulate all-natural daylight. A minimal-wattage bulb turning on while in the early morning can securely lengthen "daylight" and assist Winter season laying. Keep away from unexpected lighting adjustments that might tension your birds.
3. Poor Nutrition
Nourishment is foundational to egg output. Damerow warns that feeding chickens a food plan missing in protein, calcium, or vital nutritional vitamins can lead to fewer or no eggs. Treats and scratch grains, while fun, can dilute the well balanced diet provided by professional layer feed.
What You are able to do: Make certain your flock has continual access to superior-excellent layer feed, cleanse water, and calcium nutritional supplements like crushed oyster shell. Restrict treats to no more than ten% of their day by day eating plan.
4. Worry and Environmental Variables
Anxiety is An important contributor to diminished egg manufacturing. In keeping with Damerow, stressors can include things like predator threats, overcrowding, bullying, Severe temperatures, or even relocating the coop. Hens are delicate to alter and will react by halting egg generation.
What You Can Do: Develop a quiet, Risk-free environment on your birds. Maintain regular routines, provide sufficient House, and address sources of strain like loud noises or aggressive flockmates.
five. Age and Health concerns
Damerow reminds us that laying is not a lifelong endeavor. Most hens start off laying around 5–6 months of age, peak at about 1–two decades, and after that slowly decelerate. Health issues, parasites, and reproductive problems could also interfere with laying.
What You are able to do: Regulate your hens’ overall wellness. Carry out standard parasite checks, retain a clean up coop, and consult a vet should you recognize signs of disease. Older hens should still be useful associates on the flock whether or not their laying days are driving them.
Ultimate Ideas
As Gail Damerow usually states, “Chickens don’t just cease laying for no cause.” Should your hens take a crack, it’s their technique for signaling that a little something inside their natural environment or biology has shifted. With a little observation, very good care, and some tolerance, you may help information your flock back again to wholesome egg production—or just enjoy the all-natural rhythms in their lives.