Why aren't laying hens rushing, what to do, what to feed?
Often in poultry farming, chickens are kept to obtain eggs. Why the laying hens do not rush, what to do for the effective maintenance of the flock, poultry farmers will help to understand with experience.
Physiology and age of egg production for different breeds of chickens
Have you purchased outbred chickens bred by a neighbor's hen or incubator? These are ordinary domestic chickens with an average egg production of about 200 eggs when kept warm all year round. The egg production of laying hens per year depends on the type of breed:
- egg chicken breeds, Hisex white, Leghorn, Loman Brown give 300 eggs or more;
- meat laying hens and outbreds will give about 200 pieces;
- meat broiler breeds do not even reach 130 eggs per year.
An indicator was registered when a hen produced 371 eggs per year. Large double eggs are often found. The specimen with 9 yolks became unique.
When do laying hens fly? Chickens are most productive in the first year of life, slightly worse in the second year. Therefore, the herd systematically needs to be renewed. Two-year-olds are taken for meat and young animals are rejected. Later, the meat becomes tough. Up to 4 years old chickens lay, but less and less. Caring hens are made from old women.
The decrease in the productivity of the chicken herd is inevitable in winter. Physiologically, this is the worst time for breeding. A balanced feed and adequate lighting will only slightly increase the production of laying hens. During molting, it is necessary to accelerate the growth of new feathers by excluding grain from the diet. The plumage will be updated faster, and the chickens will begin to rush.
Correct feeding and keeping hens
Chickens do not like crowding. 5 individuals should be placed on a square meter. Fertilized eggs are needed to hatch chickens, a rooster under the age of 4 years old copes with responsibilities for 10 layers. The productivity of a flock does not depend on the presence of a rooster.
Temperatures of 22-25 degrees are comfortable for chickens. In the hot period, the chicken coop needs to be shaded, to arrange a canopy on the run. In winter, sufficient, but not blinding light in the chicken coop should be 14-16 hours. Winter walking, baths with ash and sand for bathing will add comfort to the keeping of livestock. If you have a question why the laying hens are not rushing and what to do, you need to check the conditions of detention.
It is necessary to revise the feeding menu and make adjustments. The daily diet should consist of:
- grain mixture of 40% corn, 20% wheat, 20% barley, 30% oats - 120 grams;
- boiled potatoes - 100 g;
- mash - 30 g;
- chalk - 3 g;
- cake - 7 g;
- baker's yeast - 1 g;
- bone meal - 2 g;
- table salt - 0.5 g.
Dry composition can be sustained by feeding compound feed for hens, but it is imperative to give grain separately in one of the feedings.
In the summer, a mash with bran and chopped herbs will provide the livestock with vitamins for laying hens for egg production. Premixes must be used at other times.
Feed adult birds twice a day, leaving dry food for the evening one hour before bedtime.In the morning, a variety of mash is useful. When overfeeding, the chickens will get fat, and there will be a problem why the chickens stopped laying. The same question will arise if there is not enough feed. During the day, birds peck and actively process food if they have enough gravel or shells in a separate feeder. Stones, like millstones, grind food. Water should be abundant, always fresh. Good absorption of food is facilitated by the absence of stressful situations.
In order for the laying hens to eat and rush a lot, you need a good diet consisting of grain, special vitamins, greens. The more varied you feed them, the greater the benefit. A sign of prosperity will be swimming and fluttering in the enclosure of birds when they are not guarding the distribution of food.
Why laying hens don't rush after buying adults
Often, households buy adult birds in the summer in order to immediately receive eggs. If sold off the wheels, the birds may be culled as unproductive on the farm. Such individuals can shed, by the legs you can determine that they are no longer young. Then the productive period with good care will resume in 2-3 weeks, but you can't wait for abundant clutches.
A stressful situation when the flock is kept from hand to mouth in the pen, waiting for the buyer, and then driven to catch, will not add egg production. In this case, why the laying hens do not rush, what to do is clear. You need to be patient and provide full care. The birds will thank you for your care.
It is better to buy young animals to get fresh eggs. If the chickens are egg-laying, then after 18 weeks the first small eggs can be expected. A sign of a mature hen will be a neat appearance of pullets, and a pink developed comb. If the scallop is red, the hen is already producing.
If the chicks were raised from day old chicks at home breeding, the breed is unknown. That is why young laying hens may not be laying, the biological age has not come. You need to wait.
Housing errors affecting the performance of layers
The number of nests and their arrangement affect productivity. Nests arranged in places where no one bothers the chicken at the time of an important mission. The bedding should be clean and soft. One nest is arranged for 6 individuals. If the place for laying is unsuccessful, the eggs will be scattered, and there not long before pecking. This is dangerous. If the chicken tastes the contents, it will hunt for delicious food. Therefore, it is impossible to allow the appearance of eggs without shells, pouring. Productivity decreases, in the future there will be a threat of pecking. It is necessary to add mineral dressing.
Why did the laying hens stop laying with good care? Perhaps, with free range, the cunning ones organized a new nest in a secluded corner. After a while, a brood hen will sit on it and a flock of unplanned chickens will appear. Collecting eggs every day and a careful survey of the area will solve the problem.
Often, pullets that have begun to rush stop laying. They are more stressed than adult chickens. Moving to another chicken coop, the appearance of a rooster, a night thunderstorm with thunder cause the lack of eggs. Adding 20 ml of apple cider vinegar to the water per day for a week will help.
During the molt of pullets in autumn, the productivity of layers decreases sharply. It is necessary to exclude grain from the diet and new feathers will grow faster, the clutch of eggs will be restored. After fouling, give cereals to birds with seedlings to restore productivity. You need to feed such chickens 3-4 times a day.
To prevent the bird from contracting infectious diseases, it is necessary to be vaccinated against diseases that are common among birds in the region. When free-roaming, you can infect a flock from wild pigeons or crows.
Anxiety and stress in laying hens, a decrease in egg production, will cause parasites that have settled in. If the chickens are restless, constantly plucking, it's time to put them in an ash-sand mixture.Fluttering in it will get rid of feathers and ticks. Internal infection can be expelled with anthelmintic drugs. Sanitize the chicken coop.
When choosing a laying hen for a household, you need to take a light individual, weighing 1.5 kg. Feathers should be shiny, dense. The comb of the chicken is bright red.