Top 5 Reasons Your Hens Stop Laying – Spelled out by Gail Damerow
Top 5 Reasons Your Hens Stop Laying – Spelled out by Gail Damerow
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Every single yard chicken keeper has knowledgeable it: in the future, your hens are laying reliably, and the subsequent, the nesting bins are mysteriously vacant. In keeping with Gail Damerow, renowned poultry expert and author of Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, this egg-laying pause is commonly not a secret in the slightest degree. There are distinct, all-natural reasons hens stop laying, and understanding them can help you aid your flock and restore efficiency. Here i will discuss Damerow’s major 5 causes hens quit laying—and what you are able to do about them.
1. Molting: A All-natural Pause
As Damerow clarifies, molting is often a yearly party in a very hen’s existence, usually developing in late summertime to early fall. All through this time, hens get rid of and regrow feathers—a procedure that needs a tremendous degree of Strength and protein. Egg production generally stops in the course of this era, because the hen's system focuses completely on feather regeneration.
What You are able to do: Support your hens by using a high-protein feed or snacks like mealworms and scrambled eggs. Keep away from stressing the flock and let character acquire its training course. When the molt is full, egg-laying should really steadily resume.
2. Shortened Daylight Hrs
Light-weight exposure plays an important position in stimulating a hen’s reproductive procedure. Damerow points out that hens want fourteen–sixteen several hours of daylight for consistent laying. As daylight decreases in the fall and winter months, so does egg creation.
What You are able to do: Take into consideration adding a light source within the coop by using a timer to simulate pure daylight. A small-wattage bulb turning on in the early morning can safely extend "daylight" and support winter laying. Avoid sudden lights variations Which may worry your birds.
three. Lousy Diet
Diet is foundational to egg manufacturing. 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: Guarantee your flock has continual access to high-high-quality layer feed, cleanse water, and calcium supplements like crushed oyster shell. Restrict treats to no more than ten% of their daily eating plan.
4. Stress and Environmental Components
Anxiety is a major contributor to diminished egg manufacturing. According to Damerow, stressors can include things like predator threats, overcrowding, bullying, Severe temperatures, or even transferring the coop. Hens are sensitive to alter and will react by halting egg generation.
What You Can Do: Develop a calm, Risk-free environment in your birds. Preserve reliable routines, offer sufficient House, and handle resources of tension for instance loud noises or intense flockmates.
5. Age and Health problems
Damerow reminds us that laying is just not a lifelong endeavor. Most hens start laying all over five–six months of age, peak at about 1–2 a long time, after which you can steadily slow down. Ailment, parasites, and Fun88 Casino reproductive challenges may also interfere with laying.
What You Can Do: Keep watch over your hens’ Total health and fitness. Conduct normal parasite checks, sustain a clear coop, and talk to a vet if you notice signs of illness. Older hens should be valuable members of the flock even when their laying days are behind them.
Final Views
As Gail Damerow normally suggests, “Chickens don’t just halt laying for no motive.” In the event your hens have a split, it’s their method of signaling that some thing in their environment or biology has shifted. With a bit of observation, superior treatment, and several persistence, you might help guide your flock again to healthier egg manufacturing—or just take pleasure in the normal rhythms of their life.