Wheat and chooks?

[Snadger]

I feed my chooks with layers pellets on demand through 'spring' feeders.
I usually give them a couple of handfulls of mixed corn before bed to keep them warm through the night.
Last time I went for the mixed corn at the supplier they only had bags of wheat so I bought one of these.
Since I started giving them some wheat on an evening they have stopped laying!

Could the wheat be affecting the laying or is it just coincidence?

Even youngsters that had just started to lay have stopped.

I now get between one and four eggs a day from sixteen chooks.

PS I now have some mixed corn but have decided to withhold everything but the layers pellets to see if it makes a difference.

[Glutton4...]

Well, I know that they'll fill up on corn in preference to pellets. Have to say, I only got four eggs yesterday from my sixteen, but they are 'spent' Hens, and some days I get eight or nine. They have slowed right down in the last two weeks - I was getting a dozen a day!

I reckon you're doing the right thing by cutting out the corn. Protein only, and fingers crossed.

[RichmondHens]

Chances are it is just coincidence as it is the time of year when birds slow down or stop laying. I have always fed straight wheat rather than mixed corn as I can get it direct from the farms at much cheaper cost than the feed merchant. You also get more for your money - volume wise 20 kilos of wheat goes a lot further than 20 kilos of mixed corn. Obviously it is just fed as a scratch feed at the end of the day, the rest of the time they have pellet in a feeder.

[kathyd]

My birds are on layers' strike too Snadger - I think most of them are moulting because there are a lot of feathers around, although they don't look baldy apart from one. Two of the hybrids stopped for a few weeks, but have just started popping out the odd egg again, but even my most regular layers are being quite random at the moment. Various people over here on a forum I use are saying the same thing, so it seems quite normal . I give them all wheat at bedtime too, and have done for ages, so I don't think it's that.

[Snadger]

Well....................I didn't give them any wheat last night and they must have taken the huff, cos I didn't get any eggs today!

What I find starnge though is that one of my allotment neighbours who has neve kept chickens before in his life is getting 10 eggs from ten newbies that were purchased the same time as six of my newbies, from the same farm.

Doesn't do much for my image as the chook meister on our site!

[darkbrowneggs]

Things I would say are
1- Its Autumn - the time to moult those worn out feathers and grow a smart new set ready for next spring's breeding season
2 -Days are darkening quickly. I have a feeling it takes 14 hours of daylight to encourage a hen to lay an egg
3 -The dark overcast weather is making even the days feel dark
4 - Would this wet weather encourage you to do anything much?

It may be coincidence owing to the above, but a handful of grain at evening gives the birds something in their crops over the long nightime period before they can have some more pellets again. A bit of extra lighting can bring them back on lay if you want to go down that road as its not just the light it allows them to break-their-fast that much sooner.

Its odd your neighbours birds are still in lay, find what protein levels are in his rations compared to yours. It also might be worth checking your birds are not getting disturbed by rats or foxes hanging round at night, or some other vermin is not making away with the eggs in the day.

The other thing to check is mites/lice/worms any of these will put birds off lay.

[Cidermaker]

Daylight hours do have a great baring on egg laying but so does the age of your birds. I have a batch of pullets that are just coming on to lay and they were hatched in May and June. I'm expecting them to lay right through the winter, as similarly bred lots certainly have done in previous years.