How to Get Your Chickens to Start Laying Eggs Again

How do y'all get the most eggs from your backyard chickens?

Information technology may sound similar a hard question but if you have kept chickens before yous already know the answer – you care for her like a queen!

To get your chickens to lay lots of eggs, there are several things you lot need to do.

Some of these things will exist obvious to you, others maybe a trivial more obscure, but they are all important to your flock.

Beneath we share with you 10 natural ways to make chickens lay more than eggs…

10. Gratuitous Flowing Water

Most people practice not really retrieve about water and the vital role it plays in life.

We all need water and without information technology we will suffer from many dissimilar wellness problems.

Chickens are no different.

They need clean, fresh water every day to support their bodily needs. I know, you see them drinking from muddy puddles and ditches merely they really should have clean h2o. That mucky water you meet them drinking may comprise parasites and bacteria that can make them ill.

You may think they do not drink very much but the boilerplate chicken will drink a pint of water every mean solar day.

During hot and boiling weather this can double.

If hens become dehydrated they will not lay eggs and it will have them a few days to offset laying over again.

Y'all should have one craven waterer for most every x hens. If you accept any bully birds in your flock and then it is probably a good idea to accept ii water stations so that timid members of the flock tin beverage in peace.

9. Reducing Stress

Chickens can become stressed past small and inconsequential things such as a modify of feed, loud noises, a squirrel in the run and other trivial things that we would not fifty-fifty think about.

Considering chickens are a prey species they have adept reason to exist extremely cautious of anything different.

Information technology is your task to try and continue the stress down to a minimum if you want your chickens to lay eggs.

An incident such as a stray dog running through the g can deter them from laying for several days sometimes. That is not something you desire happening on a regular basis.

Chickens that of a sudden finish laying have usually experienced something causing them stress.

Things we practice non remember about can cause anxiety. Someone unknown to them walking in the m, new flock arrivals, a true cat wandering by, tin put them on edge.

As an example, a friend and I were checking out the new chicks in the yard. The hens were very upset because they had non seen this person before and they scattered to the very edges of their field. They did non lay for a couple of days and scolded me for bringing someone new to see them.

Chickens thrive on routine.

If you can get them into a steady routine of daily activities, they will be happy and will be productive egg layers for y'all.

8. Calcium

Although most chicken feed contains calcium, some hens nonetheless need more calcium to lay eggs.

The easiest way to supply this is by providing oyster vanquish as a gratuitous choice supplement.

A hen that lacks calcium will lay soft shelled or shell-less eggs. Soft shell eggs expect like regular eggs merely when you pick them up, they are not hard they are quite malleable in the hand. A shell-less egg looks exactly like it sounds, there may be a thin membrane holding everything within, but there is no solid vanquish.

This can be easily stock-still past providing calcium to the hen.

You lot should not add calcium directly the feed. Instead you should put it in a divide feeder and let them pick at information technology equally they need.

Another source of calcium is of course, their own egg shells.

I wash eggshells then broil them in a warm oven for 15-30 minutes. I then remove the shells from the oven and when they are cool smash them into tiny pieces that are not recognizable as an egg and feed them dorsum to the ladies.

Never feed whole shells back to them, it can perhaps cause egg eating.

seven. Stopping The Broody Spread

Certain breeds have a trend towards broodiness

This in itself is non a bad affair however if you are only interested in eggs and so information technology is a problem.

Hopefully you have called your breeds wisely and you will never (or rarely) get a broody hen, but if yous accept a hen that is determined to sit on eggs that will significantly reduce your egg output.

When your hen decides to set she will lay enough eggs to satisfy herself (she may gather other eggs too) so she volition finish laying and sit for 21 days until they hatch.

Then she will care for them and possibly go into the molt afterwards that.

In total this is around 10 weeks where she will stop laying eggs.

Some other thing well-nigh broodiness is that it is sort of infectious – one time one does, your other chickens will join in. To keep your egg supply you lot will need to break broody hens. Read easy ways to pause a broody hen for more help.

6. Having Enough Space

Chickens do not like to be crammed together.

They like having enough space to flap their wings!

Inside the coop each chicken should have four square feet of space, and outside in the run they each need at least viii square feet.

If y'all let them free range then you might be able to get away with slightly less coop space.

Just recall that crowding them tin can lead to health and behavioural issues.

They may start pecking and feather plucking, egg eating and a host of other anti-social behaviors. The weaker birds become trampled on likewise and tin suffer from injuries.

By giving them plenty space y'all are providing for their mental and emotional wellbeing. A happy and content chicken is going to be healthier and more productive than a hen that is unhappy and depressed. Read how much space exercise chickens need for more than.

5. Parasites And Bugs

Bugs are not only irritating but they can be very bad for your hens' health.

Mites in item volition suck your hens' blood overnight.

In severe cases this can atomic number 82 to anemia and expiry, even in mild cases the hens are fabricated miserable past the biting and pare irritation.

Lice can cause intense irritation and impairment to their feathers.

Internal parasites such as worms can cause intestinal bug and likewise tin interfere with the absorption of vital nutrients from their food.

None of these problems are pleasant and they tin all cause your chickens to stop laying eggs.

Yous tin eliminate lice with a uncomplicated dusting with poultry powder. Mites tin be an enormous problem once they get established, then it is better to endeavor and keep the problem to a minimum.

By performing health checks in one case a month, you can go on all of these problems under control and keep your chicken laying eggs.

iv. Cleanliness

You lot may be surprised to see cleanliness on the list, but information technology is of import for several reasons.

A filthy coop can lead to lots of issues such as fly infestations, an overload of parasites and toxic ammonia.

As y'all can imagine these are all time consuming to treat and they all greatly touch the overall egg laying ability of your chickens.

Secondly, do y'all really want your hens laying their eggs on pinnacle of muck?

It is no fun having to scrub off poop and mud off your eggs.

Obviously with chickens it is incommunicable to keep the surface area spotless, but keeping on acme of the mess is easy to do if you exercise modest make clean ups frequently. Using things like poop trays or boards that can be removed and cleaned really do help yous go along up with chores.

3. Supporting The Molt

The molt is a miserable time for your chickens.

They are losing old battered feathers and replacing them with cute new ones, but it can exist painful for them.

Those new feathers coming in are full of blood and nerve supplies which makes them exquisitely sensitive to the touch on, and then try not to handle them when they are in this period of growth.

During the molt your chickens will non lay eggs.

While you lot cannot prevent the molt y'all can help them become through it a flake quicker past providing a higher quality feed.

You will need to increase their protein intake from 20% to 22% during their molt. Also make sure they have enough vitamins and trace elements by giving them a powder supplement in their water once every couple of weeks (as well much is as bad as not enough).

High poly peptide treats can help likewise just utilize them sparingly. Mealworms, true cat nutrient and fish food will all be welcome treats for them.

Your best egg layers will zoom through the molt fairly quickly and be set to lay much sooner than your poor layers. Some hens seem to take forever to get through the molt. The older the craven the longer the molt in my feel.

How quickly they get through their molt is a proficient mode to know which chickens are laying eggs.

In one case the bulk of your hens are through the molt you lot can switch their feed back to their usual laying feed. Give them some time and your chickens will kickoff to lay eggs again once they have recovered from the molt.

two. Providing Quality Feed

If you desire your hens to lay lots of eggs then yous need to feed them good quality nutrition.

Craven feed is relatively inexpensive and trying to save money by ownership inexpensive quality or cutting rations with extra corn or scratch volition have a negative impact on your flocks egg laying.

If you are raising them from chicks then they must take a loftier protein (twenty%) feed to grow and develop properly. As your chicks go older and become pullets they should move over to a consummate layer feed with 16% protein.

Unlike humans, hens are quite skilful at regulating their nutritional needs.

If yous let them forage then they will become lots of their nutritional needs from wild sources such every bit grass, bugs, worms and weeds (all of which incorporate vital nutrients for them). The overall feed bill is going to exist slightly less than penned birds.

In addition to quality feed you also need to stick to healthy treats.

Mealworms, corn, scratch and bird seed all brand good treats.

They can have bread, pasta and pizza crusts occasionally, just non a steady diet of it. Too many carbohydrates can encourage them to get obese and obese hens exercise not lay well and tin can accept serious health problems.

1. Picking The Right Breed

This is without incertitude the unmarried virtually of import item on the list.

If yous desire your hen to lay lots of eggs then practise not buy breeds that are known to be poor egg layers.

In that location are several breeds out there that tin lay over 250 eggs per year – that is roughly five eggs per week. Multiply that past each hen you have and your egg basket is going to be very full!

The best egg layers effectually are unremarkably the product breeds such as Golden Comets and Black Stars. Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns, Barred Rocks and Easter Eggers are all very good egg layers too.

All of these chickens enjoy free ranging but they can exist kept in a run if necessary.

If you have small-scale children so you might want to choose ane of the less assertive breeds such as Barred Rocks or Easter Eggers who will tolerate (and sometimes enjoy) a good bargain of cuddling and hugging.

Summary

Now you know ten natural ways to brand sure your hens practise yous proud and lay lots of eggs.

It is non so difficult to entice your hens to lay lots of eggs for you. Attention to the things listed here will make sure your hens are healthy and happy.

Merely remember though hens are not machines and we cannot expect them to lay good quality eggs all twelvemonth round without some idea about their welfare.

Product facilities strength hens to lay past manipulating the lighting.

This is a personal option as to whether or not you exercise that – I exercise not.

I believe that they have worked hard through those egg laying months and when they do not lay this is their body needing a natural remainder.

Take care of your chickens and they will advantage you.

How practise you get your eggs to lay more eggs? Let u.s. know in the comments department below…

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Source: https://www.chickensandmore.com/10-natural-ways-to-make-chickens-lay-more-eggs/

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