Content
When buying egg-laying hens, owners of private farmsteads expect to receive eggs daily from each laying hen.
- Why do you value the 4 hens and rooster stolen from you so dearly?
“So they laid eggs, I sold them and lived on that money.”
— How many eggs did the chickens lay per day?
— 5.
- And the rooster?
- And a rooster.
Some roosters lay eggs, while others have laying hens that refuse their direct responsibilities.
Finding out why your laying hens aren't laying eggs and what to do about the problem can take some time. It's not always obvious.
The pullets don't lay eggs
The laying hens were bought as chickens; they are young, but they are in no hurry to lay eggs. Most often, there is only one reason why young laying hens do not lay eggs: 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 purchased.
If this is a cross that has not started laying eggs at 4 months, you need to take a closer look at the housing conditions and feeding. If the chicken is an egg breed, wait a little longer.
Crosses are good because they start laying eggs early and lay a lot of eggs, but breeding them is unprofitable. The second generation will not be as productive. The second disadvantage of the cross is a decrease in egg production after a year.
Pedigree laying hens begin to lay eggs later, often lay fewer eggs, but their offspring can be left for self-repair, without worrying anymore about where to get young laying hens. Their high egg production usually lasts longer than that of crosses.
Adult chickens don't lay eggs
There may be several reasons why adult laying hens do not lay eggs:
- old chickens were purchased;
- lack of lighting;
- low temperature in the chicken coop;
- too many chickens per unit area;
- lack of nesting sites;
- molting;
- improper feeding;
- illness;
- stress;
- desire to incubate;
- predators;
- laying eggs in hidden places.
It makes sense to consider each of the reasons separately.
Old chickens purchased
When purchasing adult laying hens, unscrupulous sellers may sell the old birds. This is why it is better to buy either chicks or hatching eggs. At least the age of the laying hens will be known exactly.
Unfortunately, an old hen is only good for soup, although it is quite difficult for a non-professional to recognize old laying hens among egg crosses. Crosses lay eggs almost until the last day, but the number of eggs, of course, is much less than what young laying hens can lay.
Shedding
One of the main reasons why laying hens stopped laying eggs. And one of the least troublesome.After molting, laying hens begin laying eggs again. The problem here is that molting in chickens lasts more than one month.
There are several types of molting in chickens:
- juvenile Change of feathers in “egg” chickens at 4 weeks;
- periodic in roosters. It begins 2-3 months earlier than seasonal molting in laying hens and occurs without loss of live weight;
- seasonal molting in laying hens. It begins in the fall, when the air temperature drops and daylight hours decrease.
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 poultry farms. After a year, a cross-bred hen’s egg production decreases, and what’s more, you have to wait almost six months for them to molt? Nobody needs this. And with laying crosses in a personal yard, the situation will be similar. And at 2 years old, some of the cross-laying hens will already begin to die of old age. Therefore, if you take into account molting and the desire to continue keeping these particular chickens, it is better to immediately choose purebred layers.
In purebred laying hens, molting is a response to shorter daylight hours and lower temperatures. Usually, by this time, the first reproductive cycle of laying hens ends and the hens go to rest, since the loss of old feathers is stimulated by thyroxine, a thyroid hormone that inhibits ovulation. During oviposition, the effect 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, a laying hen increases its metabolic rate and protein synthesis, which is necessary for new feathers and egg production in the next reproductive cycle.
How to reduce shedding
The molting time of laying hens can be reduced if chickens are provided with adequate feeding with a high content of methionine and cystine. The content of these substances in feed for molting laying hens should be 0.6-0.7%. These amino acids are found in animal supplements and waste from sunflower oil production:
- dry return;
- meat and bone meal;
- fish flour;
- sunflower cake and meal;
- feed 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 impaired, 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, grass meal, cake, bran, animal feed, and yeast.
Forced shedding
Waiting 3 months for a laying hen to moult is very unprofitable for the owner. Therefore, forced molting is often used, which can be done in three ways: zootechnical, chemical and hormonal.
Hormonal method of molting in laying hens
It is carried out using injections of hormones that inhibit ovulation in laying hens.
After 20 mg of progesterone IM, egg laying stops on the second day. After a few days, the laying hen begins to molt. For complete molting, one injection is not enough, so two weeks later 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.With this regimen, laying hens shed from 11 to 19 days from the start of hormone administration. With this method, the molting period for laying hens is reduced and the molting of all hens is synchronized, which allows you to get more eggs per year.
After cessation of progesterone injections, egg laying resumes after 3.5 weeks.
For private owners who are wary of using injections, there is another way to cause accelerated molting: feed dried thyroid gland preparation to laying hens, mixing it into the feed. In this case, molting occurs faster, and with a single feeding of 7 g of the drug per laying hen, molting occurs more intensely than with the same dose spread 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 drugs does not differ from that of a hen that has molted naturally. The quality of eggs in a “hormonal” laying hen does not improve.
At the same time, egg production in laying hens that were forced to molt using zootechnical methods is higher than in those that moulted using hormones or naturally.
Zootechnical method
The essence of the method is that chickens are forced to molt using stress. For example, closing them for several days in complete darkness without food or water.
Before using such means, preliminary preparation is carried out in order to reduce the number of birds that die from such “humane” influences.
Preparations for molting begin 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 feed or pouring limestone into the feeder.Vitamins are added to the water.
To speed up molting, on day 10, increase the amount of methionine in the feed by one and a half times. From days 10 to 30, feed with a high protein content (21%) is given. This stimulates the regrowth of a new feather. After the 30th day, the protein content in the feed is reduced to 16% to stimulate the onset of egg laying.
Approximate diagram of forced molting of chickens
Chemical method of forced molting
It involves feeding chickens drugs that block egg laying.
Crowding
The most dense planting of chickens is used in poultry farms, but even there, each chicken is allocated an area no less than the size of an A4 paper sheet. On the roost, each bird should have 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. It is better for chickens to have extra living space than not enough.
Lack of nests or broodiness
Chickens do not share places to lay eggs on the principle of “this is only mine, and you get out of here.” Therefore, in this case, you can only supply two boxes per ten chickens. This is the required minimum. It would be better if there were more boxes.
The lack of places for laying eggs is a case when egg production has not actually decreased, the hens simply began to lay somewhere else. You will have to conduct a thorough search of the house, outbuildings, vegetable garden, bushes, nettle thickets and other secluded places where eggs laid by chickens may be found.
Chickens will behave in the same way if for some reason they are not satisfied with the nest boxes lined with straw. The reasons for unsuitability are usually known only to chickens.
Laying hens who have firmly decided to become hens, even more so, show miracles of ingenuity in order to hide their eggs from people’s eyes and quietly hatch them.
Pedigree chickens often have a well-developed brooding instinct. In this case, the chicken either hides the eggs or tries to sit on them in the nest. There are few ways to combat it: you can try to close it in a box without food and water, which will most likely cause an unscheduled shedding; or dip it in a bucket of cold water. Doesn't help much.
If, without any apparent reason or change in diet over a long period of time, the number of eggs suddenly begins to decrease, you need to take the trouble to search around the chicken coop and find out if there are any passages in the chicken coop for predators.
Predators
Of course, the fox will not collect eggs and lay on them. This is too small for her, she will suffocate the chickens. But rats or weasels may well feast on chicken eggs. Moreover, rats running around the chicken coop do not particularly bother the laying hens, so it is impossible to understand whether the chickens have stopped laying eggs or whether the produce is being eaten by rats.
Attracted by rats, a weasel may well snack on “rat food”—eggs.
Lack of lighting
When daylight hours decrease in the fall, hens usually react by molting, but even in winter, having already moulted, they often do not lay eggs due to too short daylight hours. In the southern regions, where 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 can decide for himself whether he needs a lot of eggs in winter or “this will do.”
Residents of the northern regions have a very difficult time due to 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 whether natural or artificial. Egg production will return to summer levels provided the temperature in the chicken coop is not too low.
Air temperature too low
This is also mostly a problem for residents of the northern regions. At low temperatures, laying hens stop laying eggs, so the chicken coop must be insulated. Very high temperatures are not required. 10 – 15°C will be enough. But at lower temperatures, chickens may refuse to “work.”
This is also mostly a problem for residents of the northern regions. At low temperatures, laying hens stop laying eggs, so the chicken coop must be insulated. Very high temperatures are not required. 10 – 15°C will be enough. But at lower temperatures, chickens may refuse to “work.”
In addition to the fact that the laying hens will be walking around at low temperatures, at which they should not produce eggs, you will also let the chicken coop get cold.
In addition to the fact that the laying hens will be walking around at low temperatures, at which they should not produce eggs, you will also let the chicken coop get cold.
The chicken coop must be insulated for the winter. If this is enough, you can leave it that way. If very severe frosts are expected, it is better to equip chicken coops with heaters. If the volume of the chicken coop is small, infrared lamps do a good job of this role.Depending on the size of the room, you may not even need fluorescent lamps. Red lighting is enough for chickens. But this must be seen on the spot.
The chicken coop must be insulated for the winter. If this is enough, you can leave it that way. If very severe frosts are expected, it is better to equip chicken coops with heaters. If the volume of the chicken coop is small, infrared lamps do a good job of this role. Depending on the size of the room, you may not even need fluorescent lamps. Red lighting is enough for chickens. But this must be seen 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.
In the case of a large chicken coop, the systems will have to be combined by installing fluorescent lamps and infrared heaters.
Improper feeding
Chickens may stop laying eggs due to obesity or malnutrition if the diet is not formulated correctly or if too much/too little feed is given. 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 presence of too much phosphorus in the bran, the laying hen cannot absorb calcium. As a result, the laying hen may not only stop laying eggs, but begin to “shed eggs,” that is, the laid egg will be without a shell, enclosed only in an inner membrane.
Chickens show good results in egg production with two options of feed for laying hens.
First option
Compound: corn, soybeans, barley, calcium carbonate, bran, soybeans, alfalfa, calcium phosphate.
Chemical analysis: protein 16%, ash 12.6%, fiber 5.3%, oil 2.7%,.
Vitamins and microelements: selenium 0.36 mg/kg, copper 15 mg/kg, methionine 0.35%, vit. A 8000 IU/kg, vit. D₃ 3000 IU/kg, vit.E 15 mg/kg.
Enzymes: phytase.
Second option
Compound: corn, soybeans, 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 microelements: 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. Based on the results of a visual-tactile inspection, the chickens’ diet is increased/decreased.
Diseases
Diseases also do not contribute to increased egg production. Moreover chicken diseases There are many and not all of them are harmless to humans. No, we are not talking about the mythical bird flu, but about the very real leptospirosis and salmonellosis.
But the most common diseases in chickens are colds, intestinal and stomach diseases, goiter inflammation and intestinal infestation.
If a laying hen sits, ruffled, away from her friends, she is not offended by the flock, she is sick.
The death of a sick chicken from the beaks of other laying hens is not so bad. It’s worse if the chicken had some kind of infectious disease. In this case, all the chickens that pecked 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 there is no delay in calling a veterinarian.It is possible to treat chickens with “folk remedies”, but with a high risk of losing the entire flock.
Attempts to drive away worms using “folk remedies” often ended with the fact that after giving a “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 your laying hens suddenly stop laying eggs, it may be due to stress.
If everything is in order with your chicken coop, nests, feed, chicken health, and your laying hens suddenly stop laying eggs, it may be due to stress.
A stress factor for laying hens can be: a change in the type of litter; a stranger entering the chicken coop; a bulldozer driving down the street; neighbor with a jackhammer and much more.
A stress factor for laying hens can be: a change in the type of litter; a stranger entering the chicken coop; a 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 lay eggs no earlier than a week later.
In this regard, egg-laying crosses are much more convenient. Cross-laying hens are stress-resistant to the point that they calmly continue to lay eggs after being in a dog’s mouth.
Let's sum it up
Keeping laying hens is quite a troublesome task if the owner wants to get the maximum number of eggs from his laying hens. If you look at the world more simply and do not try to get 5 eggs a day from four laying hens and one rooster, then the amount of hassle is significantly reduced. Homemade eggs will never be cheaper than store eggs, much less free. Due to the small number of livestock and the purchase of feed in small batches, the cost of domestic eggs is always higher.But as chicken farmers say: “But I know what this laying hen ate.”
