Top 5 Causes Your Hens Cease Laying – Discussed by Gail Damerow
Top 5 Causes Your Hens Cease Laying – Discussed by Gail Damerow
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Every single yard chicken keeper has seasoned it: someday, your hens are laying reliably, and another, the nesting boxes are mysteriously vacant. Based on Gail Damerow, renowned poultry qualified and creator of Storey’s Guide to Boosting Chickens, this egg-laying pause is commonly not a secret in the slightest degree. There are clear, natural reasons hens stop laying, and understanding them can help you support your flock and restore efficiency. Here i will discuss Damerow’s major five factors hens stop laying—and what you are able to do about them.
1. Molting: A All-natural Pause
As Damerow clarifies, molting is usually a yearly occasion in the hen’s lifestyle, typically transpiring in late summer season to early fall. Through this time, hens drop and regrow feathers—a process 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 totally on feather regeneration.
What You are able to do: Assistance your hens that has a higher-protein feed or snacks like mealworms and scrambled eggs. Stay clear of stressing the flock and let character choose its training course. When the molt is complete, egg-laying need to gradually resume.
2. Shortened Daylight Hrs
Gentle publicity performs a vital part in stimulating a hen’s reproductive process. Damerow factors out that hens need to have fourteen–sixteen several hours of daylight for constant 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-weight supply while in the coop which has a timer to simulate natural daylight. A reduced-wattage bulb turning on inside the Fun88 Casino early morning can securely lengthen "daylight" and help Winter season laying. Keep away from sudden lighting alterations That may anxiety your birds.
3. Bad Nutrition
Nutrition is foundational to egg production. Damerow warns that feeding chickens a diet missing in protein, calcium, or critical natural vitamins may lead to less or no eggs. Treats and scratch grains, although entertaining, can dilute the balanced nourishment supplied by industrial layer feed.
What You Can Do: Be certain your flock has continuous entry to substantial-top quality layer feed, thoroughly clean h2o, and calcium health supplements like crushed oyster shell. Limit treats to not more than 10% in their each day diet regime.
4. Strain and Environmental Variables
Tension is An important contributor to lowered egg production. In keeping with Damerow, stressors can include things like predator threats, overcrowding, bullying, Severe temperatures, or even relocating the coop. Hens are delicate to alter and will react by halting egg generation.
What You Can Do: Develop a calm, Risk-free atmosphere in your birds. Preserve reliable routines, offer sufficient space, and deal with resources of stress including loud noises or intense flockmates.
five. Age and Health Issues
Damerow reminds us that laying just isn't a lifelong endeavor. Most hens begin laying close to five–six months of age, peak at about one–two years, then step by step slow down. Sickness, parasites, and reproductive concerns can also interfere with laying.
What You Can Do: Keep watch over your hens’ Total health and fitness. Perform normal parasite checks, sustain a clear coop, and talk to a vet for those who notice signs of illness. Older hens may still be valuable members from the flock even when their laying days are behind them.
Final Thoughts
As Gail Damerow often suggests, “Chickens don’t just prevent laying for no reason.” If your hens have a split, it’s their means of signaling that one thing within their surroundings or biology has shifted. With a little bit of observation, great treatment, and many endurance, you will help manual your flock again to balanced egg generation—or simply appreciate the purely natural rhythms in their lives.