Top 5 Reasons Your Hens Stop Laying – Explained by Gail Damerow
Top 5 Reasons Your Hens Stop Laying – Explained by Gail Damerow
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Each backyard rooster keeper has expert it: one day, your hens are laying reliably, and the next, the nesting boxes are mysteriously vacant. In accordance with 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 comprehension them can assist you help your flock and restore productivity. Listed here are Damerow’s top 5 motives hens cease laying—and what you can do about them.
one. Molting: A Organic Pause
As Damerow explains, molting is a annually occasion in a hen’s lifetime, generally happening in late summer months to early drop. Throughout this time, hens reduce and regrow feathers—a approach that requires a huge quantity of Electrical power and protein. Egg creation often stops 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. Keep away from stressing the flock and Enable nature acquire its course. After the molt is entire, egg-laying ought to little by little resume.
two. Shortened Daylight Hours
Mild exposure performs a significant role in stimulating a hen’s reproductive program. Damerow factors out that hens have to have fourteen–16 hours of daylight for steady laying. As daylight decreases in the autumn and Winter season months, so does egg output.
What You are able to do: Think about including a light-weight supply while in the coop that has a timer to simulate purely natural daylight. A low-wattage bulb turning on within the early morning can securely extend "daylight" and help winter laying. Stay away from sudden lighting modifications that might stress your birds.
three. Weak Nourishment
Nourishment is foundational to egg generation. Damerow warns that feeding chickens a eating plan lacking in protein, calcium, or crucial vitamins can lead to fewer or no eggs. Treats and scratch grains, though enjoyment, can dilute the well balanced diet provided by professional layer feed.
What You are able to do: Make certain your flock has continuous access to superior-excellent layer feed, clear water, and calcium nutritional supplements like crushed oyster shell. Limit treats to no more than ten% of their day by day diet regime.
4. Worry and Environmental Variables
Tension is An important contributor to lowered egg production. In keeping with Damerow, stressors can incorporate predator threats, overcrowding, bullying, Intense temperatures, or simply shifting the coop. Hens are delicate to Fun88 Casino change and might respond by halting egg creation.
What You are able to do: Produce a tranquil, Secure ecosystem to your birds. Manage steady routines, provide ample Place, and address sources of pressure such as loud noises or aggressive flockmates.
5. Age and Health concerns
Damerow reminds us that laying is not a lifelong endeavor. Most hens get started laying around 5–6 months of age, peak at about 1–2 yrs, and then slowly decelerate. Health issues, parasites, and reproductive issues also can interfere with laying.
What You Can Do: Control your hens’ In general well being. Conduct typical parasite checks, keep a cleanse coop, and consult with a vet if you discover signs of sickness. Older hens may still 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 prevent laying for no rationale.” In the event your hens have a split, it’s their method of signaling that one thing in their atmosphere or biology has shifted. With a bit of observation, good 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.