Reasons for Chickens Not Laying

For a poultry farmer or keeper of backyard chickens, panic can set in during extended periods of low or nonexistent egg production. The flock goes from the asset to the liability column. Yet this phenomenon is not uncommon. Several factors, some naturally occurring and others relating to care, underlie poor production among hens. Most causes, disease and old age the exceptions, have corresponding remedies to restore optimal egg laying.

  1. Decreasing Daylight

    • Between the summer solstice and winter solstice, the amount of daylight declines. As the reduction progresses, hens are prone to cease laying eggs. This biological sensitivity works to the farmer's advantage as the days lengthen over the winter and spring. Until then, flock owners can resort to manipulating artificial light to simulate the conditions conducive to copious egg production. Still, they should take care not to overextend light durations beyond what they are at the onset of summer.

    Poor Diet

    • As a human mother must "eat for two" when pregnant, the egg-laying hen is likewise robbed of nutrients with each egg. Calcium is especially affected during this time and needs to be supplemented in the feed consumed. Most feed dealers provide rations with calcium fortification. Another egg-depressing influence is the dearth -- or glut -- of salt in the chicken's diet. Sodium must be properly balanced: Too little is usually rooted in a feed mixture error; too much may be because of the presence of salt in the water source. Either condition will inhibit production.

    Brooding Instincts

    • As long as her eggs remain with her, the hen will instinctively brood. This desire to incubate the eggs to hasten hatching is deeply ingrained in the bird, and physiologically signals the reproductive system to cease and desist. The simple solution is to gather the eggs on a daily basis. Their absence immediately shuts off the brooding instinct so that more normal production levels can resume. As a supplemental measure, the farmer can rotate the hen's nesting place to further stifle this maternal inclination.

    Molting

    • Just as land needs to lay fallow for a while to maintain crop fertility, so too does a chicken hen require a break from laying eggs. The shedding and replacement of feathers is the clearest sign that the required hiatus has begun. Molting is not, therefore, a cause of non-production in and of itself, but a phase whereby the hen's procreative system regenerates for continued fertility. In fact, the break allows for higher production levels and better quality eggs in the future. If this is the cause of the current dearth, it is most often resolved within a month.