[Asaunders]

i am new to poultry and have halved off my garden to keep chickens, at the moment i have started with around twenty hens which consists of 10 x batts which i have had for nearly two weeks ( no eggs of yet of them) and have a mix of another ten hens which include 1 rhode island red,2 welshsummers, 2 welbars,1light sussex, 2 marans and two others i have no idea of the breed, i have had these hens around a year now but im a struggling to get a consistant amount of eggs, the pen they live is big enough for them they have plenty of room to roam around. there house is full of straw i change once a week and is plenty big enough for them to go in and lay. i feed them on layers pellets every morning and give them a hand ful of mixed corn late afternoon and they have fresh water everyday but i still carnt get enough eggs from them!!! from the 10 hens i have had longer i get 4 a day and then nothing off the new x batts!!! what am i doing wrong???

[grumpydad]

i do not have ex batts, but from reading other posts on this site, they will take a while to settle down.
the layers should be down all day, and they should have unlimited supply available to them, when they are full they will stop eating.
egg production will drop year by year by up to 20 % from a hen, depending on its breed.
there are other factors which also interupt egg laying, the moult which occurs yearly in the autumn will stop them laying.
stress can interupt laying, if you have added significantly to your flock, that could have had an influence.
eggs will only be produced by healthy happy hens, when they stop, there is generally something that is upsetting the balance on their life.

martyn

[agapanthus]

Just give them time to get their routine established. Usually at this time of the year they will go off lay for a while....basically to give themselves a break from all the egg-laying during the summer months. As Grumpy said, make sure they have the layers all day. You'll soon get your eggs, just be patient. 

[Asaunders]

also forgot to mention is it anything to worry about as just laterly all of my hens poo is coming out bright orange and really runny??

[grumpydad]

i would say yes, look through the poultry stickies for onr about poo.
someone more experienced will be able to tell you what it may mean.
are they having any medication ?
any tonics ?

[Aunt Sally]

Do you worm your hens regularly with flubenvet Asaunders ?

[Asaunders]

I have never wormed them no is this something I should do?

[SMD66]

Sorry if I mis-read what you put, bus based on my interpretation.....

The way you wrote your first post makes me think they have layers pellets just in the morning then the corn in the evening.  As Grumpydad said they need access to layers pellets all day long.  It may just be that they are not getting enough to eat!  Only give a small amount of grain in the evenings, the pellets are the main thing they need to be able to produce eggs.

Ideally they like to have sectioned off nest boxes to lay in, they feel safe and are not bothered by other hens.

Worming is a good idea especially if they are on the same ground all the while and hens with worms are likely to lay less.

Good luck

[Aunt Sally]

Have a read through this topic:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=4348.0

How you choose to worm your hens is your decision but I always use and recommend flubenvet.

[Asaunders]

would this be the reason for my x batts not laying? and why im not getting alot of my others?

[Aunt Sally]

The hens you've had for a year may have worms.  This will reduce their egg laying and cause them to have loose poos. 

The battery hens may just be going off lay for a while but will come back into lay in due course.  Battery farmers often reduce the hens feed supply for a while before they get rid of the birds.  Saves them money and they time it to take them off lay just as they get culled.

Give them some good nutrition, layers pellets all day long or better is the ex-battery hen feed you can get nowadays.  A bit of extra protein would do them good.  Tuna in spring water (NOT in oil as that can damage the liver), white fish or a little fishy cat food, even some mashed hard boiled egg - if you have any to spare 

[Sassy]

Good advice from Aunt Sally re extra feeding. Apart from taking time to settle down they will probably be using their food to regrow feathers rather than lay eggs.

[henrietta5]

Saw a fabulous page on this forum with photos of all the sorts of poo your hens should and should not be doing.  Put my mind at ease a lot.  Actually think it was a posting by Aunt Sally, but perhaps someone else knows