Major five Reasons Your Hens Stop Laying – Stated by Gail Damerow
Major five Reasons Your Hens Stop Laying – Stated by Gail Damerow
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Each yard hen keeper has skilled it: sooner or later, your hens are laying reliably, and the subsequent, the nesting packing containers are mysteriously vacant. According to Gail Damerow, renowned poultry professional and author of Storey’s Manual to Raising Chickens, this egg-laying pause is often not a mystery at all. You will find distinct, all-natural factors hens quit laying, and comprehending them will help you support your flock and restore productivity. Here i will discuss Damerow’s major 5 factors hens stop laying—and what you are able to do about them.
1. Molting: A Natural Pause
As Damerow clarifies, molting is often a yearly event in a very hen’s daily life, normally occurring in late summer months to early fall. All through this time, hens get rid of and regrow feathers—a method that needs an incredible amount of Electricity and protein. Egg manufacturing normally stops for the duration of this era, since the hen's body focuses totally on feather regeneration.
What You are able to do: Help your hens which has a large-protein feed or snacks like mealworms and scrambled eggs. Stay clear of stressing the flock and Permit mother nature get its class. After the molt is finish, egg-laying should slowly resume.
two. Shortened Daylight Several hours
Light exposure plays an important job in stimulating a hen’s reproductive method. Damerow factors out that hens will need fourteen–sixteen hours of daylight for steady laying. As daylight decreases in the fall and Winter season months, so does egg generation.
What You are able to do: Consider including a light source while in the coop that has a timer to simulate purely natural daylight. A low-wattage bulb turning on within the early morning can safely extend "daylight" and assistance winter laying. Stay away from sudden lighting modifications that might stress your birds.
three. Poor Nutrition
Nourishment is foundational to egg output. Damerow warns that feeding chickens a food plan missing in protein, calcium, or necessary nutritional vitamins may end up in less or no eggs. Treats and Fun88 Casino scratch grains, whilst enjoyable, can dilute the well balanced diet supplied by commercial layer feed.
What You are able to do: Assure your flock has consistent entry to higher-quality layer feed, clean up drinking water, and calcium supplements like crushed oyster shell. Restrict treats to no more than ten% of their every day diet.
four. Tension and Environmental Things
Strain is A significant contributor to lessened egg creation. In accordance with Damerow, stressors can include predator threats, overcrowding, bullying, Serious temperatures, and even going the coop. Hens are sensitive to vary and can respond by halting egg production.
What You Can Do: Make a relaxed, Harmless setting for your birds. Keep constant routines, present enough Area, and deal with resources of worry for instance loud noises or intense flockmates.
five. Age and Medical issues
Damerow reminds us that laying just isn't a lifelong endeavor. Most hens start laying all around five–six months of age, peak at about 1–2 a long time, after which you can steadily slow down. Ailment, parasites, and reproductive challenges may also interfere with laying.
What You Can Do: Control your hens’ In general wellbeing. Carry out frequent parasite checks, maintain a thoroughly clean coop, and check with a vet when you see signs of health issues. Older hens may still be valuable members from the flock even though their laying days are powering them.
Last Thoughts
As Gail Damerow frequently says, “Chickens don’t just quit laying for no purpose.” In case 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 certain amount of observation, great care, and some tolerance, you may also help guide your flock back to healthful egg creation—or simply respect the pure rhythms of their life.