Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
One of the best reasons to keep chickens is so you'll have fresh eggs for you and your family. But of course, this is only if your chickens are actually laying eggs. What if your chickens aren’t laying eggs? You’ll be glad to hear that there are steps you can take to turn this around.
Keep in mind that some chickens are simply too old or too young to lay eggs. Most chickens will begin laying eggs at around 18 weeks of age, and they'll quit laying eggs around 6 to 7 years of age. But if you can verify that your chickens are neither too old nor too young, there are other troubleshooting methods to explore.
This video by Becky's Homestead discusses the top five things to try if your chickens won't lay eggs. Here's a brief summary…
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1. Are They Getting Enough To Eat?
Bread and whole corn will really bring a chicken around if they are having trouble laying eggs. It’s very important to ensure that chickens are well fed.
2. Do They Have a Cozy & Private Nesting Box?
Hens in particular are very sensitive to stress, and it is of vital importance for them to be comfortable in order to lay eggs. Give your chicken a cozy, quiet, and heated nest box.
3. Worm Your Chickens With Diatomaceous Earth
Add a quarter cup of diatomaceous earth to your chicken’s automatic feeder and mix it in thoroughly with the feeder. This will ensure that your chickens will be dewormed and greatly increase the odds of them laying eggs.
4. Make Sure Your Chickens Have Grit
Grit contains calcium, which helps the chickens’ muscles contract so they can properly squeeze out the eggs. Natural grit basically consists of pebbles and coarse sand that chickens can eat while they are pecking away at the ground.
5. Remove All Stress From Your Coop
Do not allow dogs or kids to chase chickens, ensure no predators are stalking the chickens at night, set up the coop a ways away from any loud noises, and so on. Chickens need to be stress-free in order to be happy and lay eggs.
For a more detailed discussion with bonus tips, check out the video by Becky's Homestead below:
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There are many reasons for chickens not to lay and you did a good job of explaining 5 of them. There is a 6th reason. They need a rest. Chickens today have heated coops and lights in them and it confuses the hens systems just as it would a humans system if they had light on all the time. In the old days they chickens were protected from the weather with insulation of some sort around the hen house but they did not have the luxury of heat in their house. Hey some of us didn’t have that either. A wood heat and cook stove was used to heat the house in those days. I can remember them. The hens took the winter months to chill out figuratively. and they needed the down time for their egg laying. They did occasionally lay in winter but not all the chickens at the same time. It was just a time for them to lay back and bring their energy up. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe you won’t get the same amount of eggs in winter that you get in summer but you won’t be wearing them out before their time comes for the soup pot.
Very good point
I agree with you. Winter is meant to rest. The plants, trees and animals need rest to have energy to produce the rest of the year. We should learn from them.
How do I get rid of fleas in the chicken coop. I have sprayed it. Used scenarios earth and put cedar shavings in the coop.
In times of stress when they are not laying, I find that a little dried dogfood added to their grain gives them the added protein they need to lay.