Do you have chickens and having trouble with the egg production slowing down? There are ways that you can help your chickens lay more eggs. I am going to go over a few of the basics to help you do that.
Tips To Help Your Chickens Lay More Eggs
If you are someone that has chickens, did you know there are ways to help your chickens lay more eggs? Some raise hens just to have as pets and are not worried about how many eggs they lay.
However, there are those of us that have hens to get the fresh eggs that they provide. My husband and I choose to eat fresh eggs rather than store bought.
Not only are they healthier for you they are just a better taste too. By collecting your own eggs, you know what the chickens have been eating.
Now don’t get me wrong. When I say you can help them lay more, that does not mean they will lay 3+ eggs per day per hen. It just means that when you give them what they need, they will be able to lay their normal one egg per day and not go days between layings.
Lighting:
Late spring through early fall is when chickens normally lay the most eggs. This does depend on the health of your chickens and the age of them.
There are things you can do to increase your egg production through the winter as well. One factor that can slow down how much your chickens lay is lack of light.
Late fall through early spring the days are shorter with less natural daylight. This makes the chickens not lay as much. One way to help your chickens lay more eggs is to hang a light in the coop.
You can put it on a timer to have it provide the extra light hours that the chickens need. You can make it come on in the evening when the sun starts to go down and have it stay on for 4 hours or so.
Then do the same thing for the mornings, set it to come on in the early morning before the sun comes up. You want them to have a total of 14 hours of light time a day (Including Natural Sun Light).
If you don’t want to set a timer and don’t mind running the light all night, it is ok to leave it on all night. Just be sure that when you add your light to the coop, you do so in a way that will not start a fire.
Water:
Another HUGE factor that impacts how your chickens lay, is water. It takes a lot of water for your hens to produce eggs. I mean think about it, when you crack an egg it is a lot of liquid, right!?
When they don’t get enough water they lay very few eggs if any at all. If you are somewhere that has a long season of low/freezing temps, you may want to invest in a heated water bowl/pail
.
If you don’t want to run a heated water pail, then just be sure to give them fresh water a few times a day. This can be a lot to do in the winter but is needed to have healthy laying chickens.
Feed:
Chickens are much like us when it comes to eating. They need a healthy diet in order to be healthy and for your chickens lay more eggs.
One thing that is very important when feeding, is to make sure they have a good source of calcium. This is needed to make the shell of the egg.
If your chickens do not get enough calcium, it can make them start eating their own eggs (shells) to provide their body with what they need.
Most feeds already have it included, however, if you are making your own feed you can add in crushed oyster shells as a good source. Or you could reuse your shells to make Eggshell Calcium Powder to mix into their feed.
If you are wondering what chickens can eat, check out my post on What Can Chickens Eat to see things that are good and bad for them.
Laying Boxes
Your chickens need a nice and clean place to lay their eggs. Make sure you have a few different laying boxes in the coop as sometimes they all need to lay at the same time.
Also, be sure to clean them out every so often as they do like to be in a clean area to lay. You can simply add a handful of pine shavings (that’s what we use), straw or hay and then just replace every week or so.
You can start a compost pile with it if you like as it is great in the garden after some time has passed.
Exercise:
Last but not least is to make sure your chickens get exercise. If you keep them in a pen, you may consider letting them out a few hours in the evening.
If you free range, then you have nothing to worry about as they already can run and stretch. By getting exercise helps to keep the chickens lean and in shape. This will help them be fit and make it so your chickens lay more eggs.
Looking for more information on chickens? Here are a few other posts to check out.
- Can Eggs Be Washed With Soap? Tips To Clean & Store Eggs
- What Does The Egg Color Say About Your Hens Health
- Tips On How To Raise Baby Chicks
- How To Keep Chickens Safe From Hawks When You Have To Step Away
- How To Tell How Old Eggs Are
- Sprouting Indoors – Growing Sprouts For Chickens
Paul j. says
I have five chooks and at the moment the mozzies are driving them crazy ( us too but we can always come inside to get away from them ) would really like some advice from you guys as to what you would do about them.What do Americans do about mozzies? Regards Aussie Paul.
Reuse Grow Enjoy says
Hi Paul, there are a few things you can do to keep the Mosquitoes down around your chickens. First you want to be sure to not have any standing water around your yard or coop. Be sure to change your chickens water daily or invest into a water bowl that keeps the water moving. Another thing you can do is to plant things around the coop such as marigolds, lemon grass or lavender that repels Mosquitoes. Last but not least, give your chickens a pan of Diatomaceous Earth for them to coat them selves in. That helps to keep a lot of bugs and lice off the chickens.
Hope that helps! Let us know if these work for you too. I just may need to publish a post on this subject, as I have been hearing a lot of people having trouble with Mosquitoes taking over.
Debora says
Hello I’m new to the chicken life! But we bought 3 Rhode Island reds that were already laying had them for about two weeks they were laying fine then boom just stopped any idea why they have plenty of water food light and places to lay. We added in 6 other chickens that are a little young not laying yet should be soon though. Any ideas? Thank you
Reuse Grow Enjoy says
Hi Debora, welcome to the chicken world! You will find that not only are chickens great for getting eggs, they really become pets. As for their laying, that is totally normal. When you move already laying hens to a new environment they lay ok at first, then they will go to laying every few days. This will last 4 to 6 weeks and then they will return to normal. Adding new chickens in can also throw off the laying schedule. Just be sure to give them plenty of water and a good healthy diet while waiting out the 4 to 6 weeks.
We just went through this about a year ago as we bought a house and moved. All of my hens did the same thing. After about 4 weeks they started laying eggs every day again.
Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Anonymous says
Adding the new chickens in makes them all a bit “pecking order crazy”. This will definitely stop egg production for a couple of weeks sometimes. Anything new, especially new hens, will upset them.
Reuse Grow Enjoy says
Yes anything that upsets them will slow down if not stop egg production for a little while.
silvia says
ehehe now i know why my motherinlaw goes,with her84 years,4/5 times a day putting water .in your place remains a lot of bread, so we put with hot water and give them,also helps for having more eggs.thanks for your post:)
Reuse Grow Enjoy says
You are so welcome Silvia! Yes water is one of the biggest reason chickens will slack off from laying, sounds like your mother in law knows what she is doing =)
Stella D. says
Mosquitoes don’t like garlic or apple cider vinagar. Add 1 clove minced garlic and 1 tbsp organic unfiltered ACV per gallon of water (I like Braggs) this works to keep away mosquitoes and boostes your chickens immune system.
Do not use water containers made of galvanized steel the garlic will eat cause the galvanized steel leach out toxic levels of zinc.
Reuse Grow Enjoy says
Thanks for the tip!
Tamy says
When I was little I remember my Grandpa putting a clay egg in the nest of hens that had stopped laying, in a couple of days there would be fresh eggs in there. That trick also worked well for taking care or rat snakes.
Reuse Grow Enjoy says
Thanks for the tip Tamy!
elizabeth says
Hi, I have 2 ameraucana chickens I had them for about three months now and I’m not sure what to do or give them to lay eggs. The man I got them from told me they were laying eggs everyday but when I got them they stopped. I tried to feed them egglay but they still would not lay do u recommend anything that I can do or give them?
Reuse Grow Enjoy says
Hi Elizabeth, sorry took me so long to get back to you. Things have been a little crazy around here. It is pretty normal for chickens to stop laying for a while when they are moved from one place to another. The are a few things to be sure of for getting them to lay. First be sure they have plenty fresh water at all times. Also, depending on your location, you may need to put a light in the coop. This time of year lots of areas do not get enough sunlight, so putting a light in the coop can help with that issue. Other then that, not a lot you can do other then wait.
elizabeth says
Its OK and thank you very much to the advise it was very helpful ?