[amsnan]

i have re homed battery hens in the past and one by one in old age have died. I recently took on 9 chickens destined for china for food. All chickens were laying 4 of the nine are very bald and picked on so have seperated them from the rest they  were pecked till bleeding but the main group seem to be laying but the group weve seperated are not layin dont want them to be egg bound what should i do to help them lay ?

[Springlands]

If they seem healthy apart from the lack of feathers it could just be that they have stopped laying for the winter. I have 11 hens and at present am lucky to get 1 or 2 eggs a day. Or they could be putting all of their efforts into growing their feathers again. Make sure that they have good quality pellets and hopefully they will reward you in early spring.

[Helenaj]

Feathers, like eggs require a lot of protein which they probably don't have in abundance so one is sacrificed to produce the other. If they are all off the lay it's unlikely to be anything other than they are reserving their energy for feathers. They will probably benefit from a little cat food chopped up (the cheapstuff!)and fed to them to give them some extra protein, but don't go overboard as too much protein can be bad for them as well - plus you'll end up with fishy tasting eggs, yuk!!