When do silkies stop laying

Having a warmer temperature in the coop using heat lamps and bulbs will also increase egg production. Molting occurs in the fall.

This is when your hens start to lose their old feathers and grow new ones. Many hens take a break during molting because they are using all of their energy and protein into creating new feathers. After her new feathers have grown in she will begin to lay again. This can take anywhere from 3 to 16 weeks depending on the bird.

Your hen needs around 20 grams of protein to lay an egg. They also need calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, fat and water. If your hen is of egg laying age, you could be feeding them Layer Feed which has the correct amount of nutrients needed for egg production. If you are feeding them something besides layer feed then you will need to offer Oyster Shell so that they are getting enough calcium to create egg shells.

A couple of good treats to help with protein would be Scratch and Peck feeds as well as mealworms. Even a few hours without water can cause hens to stop laying for a few weeks.

Chickens drink 3 times as much water by weight as they eat. Make sure that their water does not become frozen in the winter by using heated bases and galvanized waterers. A scare from a predator or a family pet can stop laying for several days.

Trauma or injury to the bird will stop them from laying. Moving birds to a different pen or adding new flock members which disturbs their pecking order will also decrease laying as this causes stress. Hens do not like change of any kind. This happened once with mine after I moved there coops. Later I found one big nest with 2 dozen eggs. I have the same issue now. My hens are 2years old. The only thing I can think of with mine is they are either eating their eggs or stressed because most of my mature hens, 5 total hide and roost in the top rafter part of my nest box.

They are trying their hardest to avoid my rooster and his son, a young cockeral who just end up with a beak full of feathers instead of the reward of mating. Maybe seperate the two boys for winter here???

Hmmmm, I always like to keep a roster or two because we sometimes sell fertle eggs for hatching. I had to give him away and then they were happy. My rooster was harassing the hens all day and they got sick of him.

Hermit crab food would be my guess? It has mad protein! Remember chickens are omnivores, they do eat meat. Mealworms, crickets, etc. Though I DID know a chicken who loved cheeseburgers….

One of my chickens found a rat, killed it and then ate it! Rats and mice are very high in protein and this may help. You can also hard boil eggs and smash them up shell also. You might try pouring a little hot sauce on their food. Hot sauce does makes chickens lay more eggs. Try it — just a tiny bit. Hi, my name is Chanel and I live in Australia. My chooks are free range and I have an equal amount of roosters. They are let out in the morning to forage near the creek and get locked up at night.

I feed them layer pellets and scraps. Despite the fact there are plenty of foxes at night and the hens have an equal amount of roosters by happy accident ,they lay like crazy. I put it down to being largely left alone no dogs or people around harassing them all the time. Just giving them some peace and a reluable routine does wonders for all critters.

Love your book and enjoy your birds everyone! Do you live in southern states? Cause we had this same problem. And it turned out to be rat snakes, they would eat the eggs. I have four 2 year old black sexlinks, in the past four months three hens have stopped laying,except I get rubber eggs occasionally,always broken. I have fed organic layer pellets consistently since they were 18 weeks old. Fresh water,free ranging and I offer oyster shell free choice. They are probably laying their eggs outside somewhere, mine do that at times….

I lock them in run for a few days again to teach them where to lay again……. Her comb is pale but she has no signs of illness. She only started laying in July. Any ideas? Hi Elise, Is she still broody now? Let me know! Parasites: This includes lice, mites and worms. The easiest way to treat any parasite it to spray both the chicken coop and the chickens with a poultry cleaner.

Something like Johnsons Poultry Housing spray should do the trick. You can put apple cider vinegar in there drinking water every day and it works well and is good for them… It even helps when they get runny poops etc…. Try diatomaceous earth, get the white kind, it is sold at the tractor supply store in large bags and it can be mixed with there food. Sprinkle it around any areas that they hang around and especially in there coop, inside the coop needs to be dusted well and it is natural and not a chemical spray which is bad for there lungs as their respiratory system is very sensitive, please stay away from sprays and add apple cider vinegar to there water and they will be like new in no time….

Please research this. Please, please, please! They have fresh water, layer feed, access to forage in the yard, and no new chickens have been introduced. They stopped molting a month ago and still nothing. They were always pretty reliable.

They are only 2 years old and are mixed breeds. Was wondering what you think might be the problem and what we can do about it. Hi Cody, Thank you for getting in touch. How much daylight do they get at the moment? Also how much protein is in their layer feed? Thanks for getting back to me. They get around 8 hours of light or so this time of year. It is the same layer feed we have had them on since they started laying a couple of years ago.

Let me know how they get on…. Thanks for the tips! It has been slow but we are finally getting around 6 or so eggs a day. A low number but better than nothing. Thanks again! Hie l have 15 hens in my back yard nut l pick only 2. If you need the egg supply you could consider fitting an artificial light in their coop. Our hens started getting broody, and we wanted more so we let them sit on the eggs and hatch.

We then removed the rooster so that we could get unfertilized eggs again and have opened them up to roam freely with the sheep free range. They all look healthy and the chicks are staying with the mothers, however we have now stopped getting eggs? Is this because they have chicks? Hi Eric, How recently have the chicks hatched? She will need a few weeks after hatching the chicks and she will be back to normal!

I have 12hens and one rooster I was getting eggs a day now I live in Blanchard ok we have a light on in the hen house and every thing else you have mentioned however their feathers on their backs are gone what causes this?

Hi Robin, Sounds to me like they could be molting! How long have their feather on their back been missing for? Do chickens stop laying when the nest get full? We were on vacation for two weeks and returned to 3 full nests. We have not gotten any new eggs since we returned. Hmmmm this is a really interesting question Julia.

They get light and a good feed, so what could be the problem? Out of my flock of 7, 6 are young and they seemed to stop laying. We get one egg every other day from one of our Americana but that is it. They free range from 8am-dusk they will go in the coop the coop is clean, fresh water and food daily….

Hi Jennie, How long have they not been laying eggs for? Have you changed their feed recently? Appear to be very healthy and not broody. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! We feed them layers mash every day and they always have water. We have a large garden and we let them wander every day so they feel free, can find their own food and so on.

One laid every day then stopped. It stopped laying while we were away for a week and the mother in law took over from us. The in laws keep their own completely free range hens next door to us including boys! Sitting outside their basket for hours on end. Day after day. My wife let the girls out one day and left them all morning. Who knows what sweet nothings that Cockerel managed to share! They are constantly surrounded by daylight and we are moving into summer here now. Hi I have 5 hens and only 1 laying , we got them from a friend and they were all laying , when I got them they started molting that was 3 months ago , I had to buy fake eggs to see if it would work and only getting 1 egg a day and or sometimes every other day!!!

Theses hens are spoiled!!!!! I have read all of the comments and the post and I cannot find anything that fits my hens problem. Could that have something to do with it? There all eating well and have water and cleaness and no signs of sickness… I would appreciate anything you can help me with! Hi Trina, It sounds like there has been a lot of changes to the coop recently! Hi Tami, This is very normal and nothing to worry about. Aloha from Kamuela, Hawaii. I have RR Chickens. They laid about 20 in a nest and one of the hens sat on the nest for about 2q days.

However yesterday she was not there and there are no eggs now? What happened to all the eggs? Hi Pono, It sounds like a predator could have eaten the eggs- is there any signs of intrusion into the coop?

Then I borrowed a silky that hatched 3 more. I had 30 sold seven, 23 left plus 3 more babies back to My one hen is walking with open beak. You mentioned that , it is because of cold. Rainy season here. Any medicine for that? I have 7 layers — used to get eggs a day. Now we are getting maybe 1 a day. They get water and fed pellets oyster shell and granite. And free range in the afternoon and all day on weekends.

We got them Easter of Hi Amy, It sounds like you might have a feather plucker in your flock- either that or mites. Today she looks really down and is spending time on her own. Normally they hang around together and she normally runs over to me when I step out in the morning?? Thanks Kirsty. Then make sure to keep them warm, and put electrolytes into their water. If she continues to get worse visit your vet and get some antibiotics, Claire.

I have two laying hens, about 3 years old, that have stopped laying. For the past 2 weeks they have been fed laying feed. Otherwise they are fine and spoiled. Hi David, If they both stopped laying at the same time then it sounds like it was due to the non-laying feed.

I would put them on a high protein layer feed for a few weeks to make sure they have enough protein in their body and then I expect they will start laying again. My flock was attached by a fox on May 9…one of the two remaining chickens stopped laying. Plenty of food, water ect.. I have contributed her lack of production to shock. Do you think she will ever lay again?

Hi Kate, So sorry to hear about your loss. If there was no physical damage to her- providing you give her plenty of food, water, love and time then with some luck she will start to lay again. I have 3 hybrid hens that are about 10 months old.

They are in a large run most of the time, but free range for an hour a day too many foxes to allow longer. They are fed layer pellets, greens, fruit and have access to clean water and grit. A few weeks before that, she went through a phase of laying several soft eggs at once. The weather here has been very wet. Any thoughts on what her problem is?

Many thanks. Hi Lila, Soft eggs shells is normally a sign of calcium deficiency. Thank you for your reply. They have oyster shell in the mixed grit that I give them. I have one hen that is sitting in the nesting box. It is summer time where I live and I am only getting three eggs a day.

My ameraucanas and road island reds are less than a year old about six months. The mixed breed are about two years old.

I am wondering why I am only getting three eggs a day. Thank you, TwinCity Do your best to keep them cool and well hydrated and then when the temperature drops they will continue to lay eggs. Claire, Thank you. I have been freezing milk jugs and putting them out in the water dish and changing the water every 4 hours or until the water jugs melt.

Is there anything else I can do to keep them cool? We have had our chickens for 6 weeks. One laid an egg every other day fora totalof 2 eggs after first arriving. Since then, nothing.

We feed them the same stuff as the previous owners and plenty of it along with plenty of water. Both chickens have laid before They are less than 1 year old. My wife and I havedecided these chickens will not get any more feed after this bag runs out.

They can forage or we will have to find new homes. This has been such a pain. Has anyone else had this problem for so long? Also, you need to make sure that they feed they have is a high protein pellet for laying hens. I am SO frustrated. I have 5 beautiful girls. They are 2 years old and have been good layers and lovely girls.

This spring they were laying eggs per day for about a month and then went down to eggs per day. They get layer feed, oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, whole corn, watermelon, peaches, apples, and snacks of crickets and occasional tuna.

They appear healthy, red waddles and combs, poop is great. I treated them with Garden and poultry dust and throughly cleaned the coup, the roosts and every nook and crevice got dusted and all clean wood shavings.

I would be interested to know if anyone else from the The Happy Chicken Coop community has any suggestions? Hi I have two hens. Henrietta Ranger was laying but then dropped a few very soft eggs and then stopped all together. She has the right food layers , let out to forage most days, clean water, grit and oyster shell, tried tonic and ACV. Mildred Bluebell lays every day same environment and food. Anything else I can do?

Many thanks, Rob. Hi Rob, It sounds like she has everything she needs to be laying eggs. How old is Henrietta- it sounds like she could be getting old and will naturally start to lay less eggs. I have four hens that I keep on an allotment, which is fenced off and foxed proofed with a coop.

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Laying hens need a wide range of nutrients. It does hurt to add some other protein-rich foods and a calcium enhanced grit or some dried eggshells. As I explained above, Silkies are not prolific layers. Silkies are one of the more broody breeds. They just seem to love sitting on eggs. When a Silkie is broody they stop laying eggs, this is one of the main reasons behind them laying so few eggs.

If you want to incubate and hatch eggs, they are perfect for the job.