Top 5 Factors Your Hens Quit Laying – Described by Gail Damerow
Top 5 Factors Your Hens Quit Laying – Described by Gail Damerow
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Just about every backyard chicken keeper has seasoned it: in the future, your hens are laying reliably, and another, the nesting packing containers are mysteriously vacant. According to Gail Damerow, renowned poultry professional and author of Storey’s Manual to Elevating Chickens, this egg-laying pause is often not a mystery whatsoever. You will find very clear, organic causes hens cease laying, and knowing them will help you assistance your flock and restore efficiency. Here are Damerow’s major 5 causes hens quit laying—and what you are able to do about them.
1. Molting: A All-natural Pause
As Damerow clarifies, molting is often a yearly party in a very hen’s daily life, usually developing in late summertime to early drop. During this time, hens eliminate and regrow feathers—a method that needs an incredible amount of Strength and protein. Egg manufacturing generally stops in the course of this era, because the hen's overall body focuses completely on feather regeneration.
What You are able to do: Support your hens by using a high-protein feed or snacks like mealworms and scrambled eggs. Keep away from stressing the flock and Enable nature acquire its program. After the molt is entire, egg-laying ought to little by little resume.
two. Shortened Daylight Hours
Mild exposure performs a significant role in stimulating a hen’s reproductive program. Damerow factors out that hens have to have fourteen–16 hours of daylight for steady laying. As daylight decreases in the autumn and Winter season months, so does egg output.
What You are able to do: Think about including a light-weight supply 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. Weak Nourishment
Diet is foundational to egg creation. Damerow warns that feeding chickens a diet regime lacking in protein, calcium, or crucial vitamins can result in much less or no eggs. Treats and scratch grains, though pleasurable, can dilute the well balanced nutrition furnished by business layer feed.
What You Can Do: Make sure your flock has constant usage of significant-good quality layer feed, thoroughly clean water, and calcium nutritional supplements like crushed oyster shell. Limit treats to not more than 10% of 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 incorporate predator threats, overcrowding, bullying, Intense temperatures, or simply relocating the coop. Hens are Fun88 Casino delicate to change and might react by halting egg generation.
What You are able to do: Produce a quiet, Protected environment on your birds. Maintain regular routines, provide sufficient House, and address sources of strain like loud noises or aggressive flockmates.
five. Age and Health concerns
Damerow reminds us that laying is not a lifelong endeavor. Most hens start off laying about 5–6 months of age, peak at about one–two decades, after which little by little decelerate. Illness, parasites, and reproductive concerns might also interfere with laying.
What You are able to do: Regulate your hens’ General overall health. Carry out common parasite checks, manage a clean coop, and seek advice from a vet in case you detect indications of ailment. More mature hens should still be precious customers with the flock although their laying times are guiding them.
Closing Feelings
As Gail Damerow generally claims, “Chickens don’t just end laying for no explanation.” If the hens take a break, it’s their way of signaling that something in their environment or biology has shifted. With a certain amount of observation, superior treatment, and several persistence, you might help guide your flock again to healthier egg creation—or simply respect the pure rhythms of their life.