# My hens won’t lay



## Jillybean (Feb 14, 2013)

i bought these girls at the end of November. They were advertised as 18 months old and he had 300+ chickens. When I bought them they were molting, which took about a month for them to fully feather back up. Their beaks are also messed up (I really wished I had looked them over better before I bought them) 
They are free Fed nutrena naturewise, black oil sunflower seeds, and a large pen to free range. They look happy and healthy now and have for about 3 weeks, but I'm still not getting any eggs.
I've also noticed they won't roost. They all huddle in the corner on the ground to sleep. 
Here is a picture if one. Her beak is probably the best out of all of them.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

It looks like their beaks were clipped. Do they have 14 hours of light per day?


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

I agree that their beaks have been clipped. Usual in large laying operations, so they don't peck each other to death in reaction to the stressful living conditions. They may or may not ever learn to roost, so don't worry about it.

Your hens are lucky to have you. They are normally killed at molt because producers don't want to feed and tend nonproductive adults. But they can still be wonderful personalities.

Chickens are not normally yearlong layers. Laying normally stops in winter, and in cold, so your care will have to work around this. They need a lot of light, as ksalvagno says, not too much stress from cold, excellent nutrition, including oyster shell for calcium. Any green food you can give them, like sprouts, can help them think it is Spring again.

Also, it can take a while for first molters to start laying again.

In this freeze, my Khaki Campbell ducks have completely stopped laying, but I know they'll start again.

I'm so glad your girls have you.


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

I agree, unfortunately, most chickens don’t lay year round. Ours usually stop around late October, and don’t take up laying again ‘til early spring. We only had one hen that kept on laying this winter, but then a fox got her (of course!). Now one of our EEs just started laying, so we typically get 1 egg a day. 

As to getting them to roost, if you are able to, when it is almost (or already) dark out, pick up each one and set them on the roost. They should learn pretty quickly.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Goat_Scout said:


> As to getting them to roost, if you are able to, when it is almost (or already) dark out, pick up each one and set them on the roost. They should learn pretty quickly.


onder: I never tried that.


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

mariarose said:


> onder: I never tried that.


I've had to do it countless times whenever our broody hens' chicks "become of age" (are disowned by their mamas). Most of the time they grew up sitting in the nesting box with their mamas at night, so they never learned how to roost. I just have to teach 'em.


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## VeggieGoat (Jan 17, 2018)

I would do as mariarose suggested on helping them to roost.
My hens also have declined in producing eggs when it snowed and got super cold. But since it's warming up they r laying again. How about putting electrolytes with vitamins in their water?


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

I agree, start tucking them in at night. You could also put a couple golf balls in their nest boxes.

From the picture, they appear to be production reds. With those particular birds, they are egg laying machines for 18-24 months...almost daily. After that their laying drops considerably, which is why he was selling them.

Not saying they probably won't have a few eggs; once the weather improves, daylight increases, they finish molting, get settled, etc.

Also not to be the bearer of bad news or a negative Nelly, but be prepared for some possible early deaths. They may be fine and this will turn out wrong, but there is a noticeable trend with them unfortunately.

It's honestly quite cruel, that they've been bred so heavily to be a robot that starts laying at a young age and to squeeze as many eggs out of them as possible before they molt (no longer making a profit) They're forced to give so much of their bodies reserves, that they just peter out.

A little reading that tells a bit more about this. Also shows how some places take it to the next step, on the extreme level.

It really is great that you are giving them a normal lifestyle now. Sorry if this is a depressing post, just thought I should mention it so you're not completely caught off guard. Hopefully I'm wrong!


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## Jillybean (Feb 14, 2013)

Thank you all for your replies. It gives me hopes that I may have some eggs out of these girls. I've had chickens for years, but I've always raised them from chicks and though their production went down in winter I never had them stop all together for this long. I do think their beaks were clipped. Poor girls, but it doesn't seem to slow them down at all. They are very happy chickens and are obsessed with shoes, which makes them quite entertaining. 
It does break my heart that these girls are bred for our own shellfish desires only to live a short hard life. I will keep them happy until it's time. 
I have been feeding them calcium, but I grind up egg shells and give it to them. 
Thank you all so much for your help!!! I'll just be patient and wait and see if I ever get some eggs.


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## New-goat-mom (May 21, 2017)

Honestly, if I had the chance to get some spent battery hens I would, even if they never laid another egg. It breaks my heart knowing how those smart, precious animals are treated. However, that said, yours will probably start laying again. A little love goes a long way. If these are, indeed, battery hens, just the stress of being free can stop their laying for awhile. And I have one little tip that I probably shouldn't share, but I will. I was told this, and had already noticed it happening in my own flock. Eating cat food greatly increases egg production. So, if you have cats, let them share a bit with the chickens. I know, it really does sound crazy!


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## Jillybean (Feb 14, 2013)

My cats might completely disagree . 
I’ll let them eat to their hearts content and hopefully they’ll repay me in a few eggs soon. I’m tired of spending $4 on a dozen at the store. It’s so hard to eat store bought after I’ve had them fresh. I’ll try to be more patient.


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## New-goat-mom (May 21, 2017)

Lol my cats get pretty mad having to share with the chickens! Yeah, even the free range, cage free, pastured, etc. Eggs from the store just aren't the same. I also still feel like I never KNOW the chickens were treated right. It's crazy, I have had chickens for many years now and every single egg still excites me! Lol


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Ugh, eggs from the store are the worst. Actually, what hurts the most I think is that I have 20ish hens at home but am still buying eggs......

Interesting with the cat food, I'll have to give that a try. 

I haven't had a egg from home in a long time, a weasel wiped out most of my older hens this summer. So I just have my pullets from this spring, which were hatched around April if I remember correctly....but they're Brahmas and take so long to start laying and then winter hits...lol. They're lucky that they are big friendly teddy bears.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

I am sorry about the weasel. I have a dog that will kill them and I'm glad for her. I love Brahmas, but they are slow starters like you say. You are so right.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

mariarose said:


> I am sorry about the weasel. I have a dog that will kill them and I'm glad for her. I love Brahmas, but they are slow starters like you say. You are so right.


Yea  I'm considering diversifying the flock a bit, right now they are all Buff Brahmas but I'm thinking of getting some speckled sussex and delwares or columbian wyandottes. But by then I should be getting Brahma eggs, so I'm not sure.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

Our BEST layers have been our Ameraucana/Easter Eggers, Plymouth Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes (my fave as far as looks), and a sex-linked chicken we have. All of those breeds are always in the egg boxes. So this year we're hatching out more ameraucanas and will be ordering some SLW. We did also order some golden comets as they're supposed to be great. 

However this fall we dealt with mites something bad after the hurricane hit. It took a while to get rid of them and then bring all my flock's minerals back up. They just started laying again last week (it's been months) and we're getting lots of blue eggs so those ameraucanas are in there working. Hopefully others are starting as we get a few more each day. Days are getting longer and warmer so they should start picking up.


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## New-goat-mom (May 21, 2017)

Lstein said:


> Ugh, eggs from the store are the worst. Actually, what hurts the most I think is that I have 20ish hens at home but am still buying eggs......
> 
> Interesting with the cat food, I'll have to give that a try.
> 
> I haven't had a egg from home in a long time, a weasel wiped out most of my older hens this summer. So I just have my pullets from this spring, which were hatched around April if I remember correctly....but they're Brahmas and take so long to start laying and then winter hits...lol. They're lucky that they are big friendly teddy bears.


Having to buy eggs when you have a ton of chickens definitely doesn't feel good. I have been there! However, slow starters also tend to lay longer, so that's a positive. I try to have a good mix of breeds so I don't usually have to go long periods without. I, like you, lost my entire flock last year. Mine was to a neighbors dog. I am now getting enough I don't have to buy eggs but it felt like forever... I even had to skip my eggnog at Christmas because I don't trust eggs from other chickens if I am drinking them raw. Maybe just throw in a handful of heavy layers to pick up the slack.


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## Blessedfarmwife (Jan 15, 2018)

Very informative posts! 

I can tell you light is key! We have had negative 20 degree weather and still had chickens laying, so it is not so much the cold, but the light! Good luck!


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## VeggieGoat (Jan 17, 2018)

Jubillee said:


> Our BEST layers have been our Ameraucana/Easter Eggers, Plymouth Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes (my fave as far as looks), and a sex-linked chicken we have. All of those breeds are always in the egg boxes. So this year we're hatching out more ameraucanas and will be ordering some SLW. We did also order some golden comets as they're supposed to be great.
> 
> However this fall we dealt with mites something bad after the hurricane hit. It took a while to get rid of them and then bring all my flock's minerals back up. They just started laying again last week (it's been months) and we're getting lots of blue eggs so those ameraucanas are in there working. Hopefully others are starting as we get a few more each day. Days are getting longer and warmer so they should start picking up.


I'm dealing with mites now! Any suggestions? I haven't sprayed the chickens with any home made spray remedy because of the cold weather but have been putting DIamond earth on chickens and in their coop and then where they like to do dust baths.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

VeggieGoat said:


> I'm dealing with mites now! Any suggestions? I haven't sprayed the chickens with any home made spray remedy because of the cold weather but have been putting DIamond earth on chickens and in their coop and then where they like to do dust baths.


We used Permthrin 10 since it was really bad. (Typically use more natural stuff, but we were at the point of chickens dying) We actually mixed it in a big tub and dipped the chickens in up to their necks and rubbed it in around their head. We had 50+ chickens so spraying a little under wings and vent would have taken forever. (We did it once and it didnt work well) This knocked out the majority of them. We also sprayed down the coop and run with the Permethrin. A week later we dipped again. No issues since. We put wood ash mixed with a little DE in their dust bath area.

Since the mites had been gone, we put backstrap molasses on their food for a couple weeks to build up their iron. Also had probiotics and electrolytes in their water. Gave them higher protein and lots of minerals. They all look amazing and bright red combs now and starting to lay again finally.


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## VeggieGoat (Jan 17, 2018)

Jubillee said:


> We used Permthrin 10 since it was really bad. (Typically use more natural stuff, but we were at the point of chickens dying) We actually mixed it in a big tub and dipped the chickens in up to their necks and rubbed it in around their head. We had 50+ chickens so spraying a little under wings and vent would have taken forever. (We did it once and it didnt work well) This knocked out the majority of them. We also sprayed down the coop and run with the Permethrin. A week later we dipped again. No issues since. We put wood ash mixed with a little DE in their dust bath area.
> 
> Since the mites had been gone, we put backstrap molasses on their food for a couple weeks to build up their iron. Also had probiotics and electrolytes in their water. Gave them higher protein and lots of minerals. They all look amazing and bright red combs now and starting to lay again finally.


Thank you! I will look into that.


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## Idahogoats (Sep 5, 2016)

I have 3 hens. One is old. I am waiting for the other two to start laying. It is getting warmer. I am feeding them the laying pellets.


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