# Why are my chickens not laying



## chickenman18 (Aug 6, 2012)

Have 39 hens all around 1 year old and only one has ever laid an egg they are all mixed breeds like Pekin light Sussex speckeld Sussex silver Sussex 1 brown sex link copper black Maran o shamo aseel sablepoots and the only one that has ever laid is my Cochin so please help me I need some way of getting them to lay thanks


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## fuzziebutt (Aug 7, 2012)

How are their weight? Are they overly thin, or heavy? There are so many reasons that they may not be laying, like mites, wormy, overweight, vitamin defiency...ect.


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## hockeychick (Jul 2, 2012)

My first thought upon reading this was that maybe they have worms, or another parasite...mites/lice. How do they look? Are their feathers ok, or are they missing feathers? Do you see them picking each others feathers? What do you feed them? An easy thing to start with would be to add vitamins to their water. Do you have a veterinarian? You could look into bringing him/her a poop sample which would tell if they have parasites. They live outside, so parasites are fairly common. I have several different breeds and by 6 months old, all but one were laying. Hopefully someone with more experience will have advice on the topic.


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## Sundancers (Jun 20, 2012)

Going to need a little more info ... but one thing is for sure, you have a problem somewhere ...

What kind of feed do you have them on ... cage or free range ... nest box ...

Some general info would be great.


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## crazybirdchick (Sep 18, 2012)

Just a thought, are they free range? I've had new hens start laying in the woods without my knowing it. I had to lock them in for a couple of days to train them to lay in their boxes and that solved the problem.


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## cogburn (Jul 16, 2012)

Have they been overly stressed lately? Whats the weather like where you are? Predator situation at night possibly? Just needing more info but to start with be sure to feed a quality layer feed, often theres no need to supplement their diet but it may help "jumpstart" them into laying, Manna Pro Egg Maker is really good to add to their feed. Also you can get some poultry packs from feed store, its a powder to add to the water with vitamins/electrolytes, also wazine 17 liquid wormer add to water also, do them seperately, meaning do one one week and one the next. Hope this helps, working with little to no info, I'm kinda throwing some suggestions out there for ya. 

Cogburn


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## hockeychick (Jul 2, 2012)

During the earlier part of summer I was getting 15-20 eggs/day from my 27 hens. As of 2 weeks ago, 2 or 3 a day. Turns out they have roundworms and capillaria, another type of worm. Treated them with Safeguard, and production is slowly starting to increase, although it will be a while before we can eat the eggs.


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## Sylvester017 (Nov 2, 2013)

To Hockeychick - This is a late reply but just saw this. Thanx for posting what you discovered in your flock. Knowing a problem and what was the cause and solution helps the rest of us when we are trying to ID problems in our flock. We de-worm our backyard flock 2x a year w/ Ivermectin (something my vet was happy I did routinely) because it helps him narrow down diagnosis if I ever have to bring a sick hen to him. We spray w/OMRI Poultry Protector for lice/mite preventative measures on both housing and hens, vitamin E massage legs and toes at least once a month for scaly mite prevention (and the hens love the massages!), added supplements for feather regrowth after moult and baby liquid vitamin drops during broody sessions. 

So many things we can do to help the hens along and I love hearing what other owners are doing for their girls!


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## ShineOn777 (Mar 5, 2014)

They could be laying and eating their eggs. It only takes one bad bird to encourage everyone to join in. They eat everything, shell and all. One way to test for egg eating is to walk into the middle of the group and place an egg on the ground. Most birds will walk up and look at it. Some may kick or peck but an egg eater will break it open and eat it and try to run with it!! If you find am egg eater isolate her/him and see if production picks up.


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## Sylvester017 (Nov 2, 2013)

*Laying hens*



chickenman18 said:


> Have 39 hens all around 1 year old and only one has ever laid an egg they are all mixed breeds like Pekin light Sussex speckeld Sussex silver Sussex 1 brown sex link copper black Maran o shamo aseel sablepoots and the only one that has ever laid is my Cochin so please help me I need some way of getting them to lay thanks


Regarding laying hens that aren't laying: If after eliminating any ailments that could be interfering with egg production like worms, lice, mites, etc, and none of this solves the low egg production, sprinkle some red chili flakes into their scratch or red chili powder into the feed. Supposedly stimulates egg production. However, eliminate all other problems first before trying to get the hens stimulated for egg laying. We give red chili flakes (the kind you sprinkle over pizzas) a couple times a week as a treat with their scratch.


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