Leading 5 Causes Your Hens Cease Laying – Discussed by Gail Damerow
Leading 5 Causes Your Hens Cease Laying – Discussed by Gail Damerow
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Every backyard rooster keeper has experienced it: sooner or later, your hens are laying reliably, and the subsequent, the nesting bins are mysteriously empty. As outlined by Gail Damerow, renowned poultry qualified and creator of Storey’s Guideline to Boosting Chickens, this egg-laying pause is commonly not a secret in the least. There are actually apparent, natural explanations hens prevent laying, and being familiar with them will let you aid your flock and restore efficiency. Here i will discuss Damerow’s prime five good reasons hens stop laying—and what you are able to do about them.
1. Molting: A Organic Pause
As Damerow explains, molting is actually a yearly occasion in a hen’s everyday living, typically transpiring in late summer season to early fall. During this time, hens shed and regrow feathers—a process that needs a tremendous amount of Electrical power and protein. Egg output typically stops for the duration of this period, as being the hen's entire body focuses entirely on feather regeneration.
What You are able to do: Help your hens having a superior-protein feed or snacks like mealworms and scrambled eggs. Keep away from stressing the flock and Enable nature acquire its program. When the molt is total, egg-laying really should gradually resume.
2. Shortened Daylight Hours
Mild publicity performs a significant role in stimulating a hen’s reproductive technique. Damerow factors out that hens have to have 14–16 hrs of daylight for constant laying. As daylight decreases in the fall and winter months, so does egg creation.
What You Can Do: Take into consideration adding a light source while in the coop with a timer to simulate pure daylight. A reduced-wattage bulb turning on from the early early morning can safely extend "daylight" and assistance winter laying. Avoid sudden lights improvements Which may strain your birds.
three. Lousy Diet
Diet is foundational to egg creation. Damerow warns that feeding chickens a diet program lacking in protein, calcium, or important vitamins can result in much less or no eggs. Treats and scratch grains, though pleasurable, can dilute the well balanced nutrition provided by professional layer feed.
What You are able to do: Make certain your flock has continual access to superior-high-quality layer feed, cleanse 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 Factors
Strain is A significant contributor to decreased egg generation. In line with Damerow, stressors can consist of predator threats, overcrowding, bullying, Extraordinary temperatures, as well as moving the coop. Hens are Fun88 Casino delicate to vary and can react by halting egg output.
What You Can Do: Develop a relaxed, Harmless setting for the birds. Keep consistent routines, supply sufficient Place, and handle resources of stress including loud noises or aggressive flockmates.
5. Age and Health problems
Damerow reminds us that laying isn't really a lifelong endeavor. Most hens start off laying all-around five–6 months of age, peak at about 1–2 years, and after that progressively slow down. Illness, parasites, and reproductive issues may interfere with laying.
What You are able to do: Control your hens’ All round wellness. Conduct regular parasite checks, manage a cleanse coop, and check with a vet should you discover indications of sickness. More mature hens may still be precious associates in the flock whether or not their laying days are driving them.
Ultimate Ideas
As Gail Damerow typically states, “Chickens don’t just cease laying for no explanation.” When your hens take a break, it’s their way of signaling that something of their ecosystem or biology has shifted. With a certain amount of observation, superior treatment, and several persistence, you might help guide your flock again to nutritious egg generation—or simply appreciate the purely natural rhythms of their life.