By Violet Agweya
My name is Patrick Lukanga from Kajiado. My chickens are not laying eggs. What could be the problem?
Thank you for posting this question Patrick. One of the major reasons why laying chickens may start laying fewer eggs or stop laying altogether is the diet they are fed. An improved nutrition can raise the average quantity of eggs laid by 100 percent.
Chickens need energy feeds, protein, minerals and vitamins.
Energy feeds are obtained from cereal grains such as maize and its by-products (bran), sorghum, wheat and its by-products (bran), rice and its byproducts (bran, polishing), and roots and tubers such as cassava root meal, yams and sweet potatoes. A quality formulation should contain 75 percent energy feeds.
Protein sources include Maggots, termite eggs, insects, worms, peas, beans, pumpkin seeds, oats and oil cakes from e.g., ground nuts, cotton seeds, palm kernels, and coconuts. Animal byproducts such as meat meal or bone meal from chicken, and synthetic amino acids are not allowed in organic farming. Protein percentage in a poultry diet need not exceed 20 percent.
Scavenging chickens obtain vitamins from green grass, vegetables, fresh cow dung and through sunlight. For confined birds, vitamins are purchased from agrovet stores or feed stockists and given in very small quantities.
Egg laying chicken require sufficient minerals for bone and eggshell formation. Essential minerals in egg laying chickens are calcium and phosphorus. To ensure adequate supply of these minerals to your egg laying chickens, provide free access to limestone and add bone meal and burned eggshells in the diet.
Free range chickens require enough time and space for scavenging in the surroundings daily, early in the morning and late in the afternoon when there are plenty of insects and less heat. Chicks below six weeks of age should be confined. You can make feeds for these chicks using the rations as follows:
| Ingredient | Quantity |
| 1) Crushed maize/sorghum or millet | 1 kg tin |
| 2) Wheat/sorghum or millet bran | 1 kg tin |
| 3) Sunflower/sesame/groundnut cake | 2 match boxes |
| 4) Fishmeal/salt mix | 1 match boxes |
| 5) Sesbania/Leucaena leaves | 2 match boxes |
Note that the ingredients should be dried under a shade, as sun heat can destroy vitamins, then grounded in a motor before mixing. Do not store mixed ingredients for more than three weeks to avoid contamination by mould, bacteria or rodents and to avoid losing vitamins.
For the scavenging birds, ssupplementary feeds should be offered in the morning and evening when the birds come back for the night. Clean fresh water should be provided throughout the day to avoid heat stress.
For improved breeds, different types of commercial diets available at local agrovets may be offered. These are divided into three distinct categories, with decreasing amount of protein as follows.
- A starter diet or (chick mash): high in protein (18 percent) from day old up to 8 weeks; Each chick will consume 2 kg during this period
- A growers’ diet/mash: lower in protein (14 percent); from 9 weeks up to 18 weeks; Each grower will consume about 8 kg during this period
- A layer diet/mash: medium in protein (14 percent); offered to hens from 19 to 75 weeks. Allow 120 g of feed per bird per day. Hens consume about 45 kg of feed annually
Alternatively, farmers can make their own feeds at home using rations provided below:
Note that the fish meal must be organic, without any chemical composition.
Other causes of chickens’ failure to lay eggs or a reduced egg production include:
2. Not having enough daylight: Chicken layers need plenty of natural day light for at least 14-16 hours a day. To achieve this in areas with inadequate light, one should consider fitting transparent roofing sheets or placing an artificial light in the coop. Light in laying birds stimulates increased egg production. There should be a period of at least 8 continuous hours without artificial light at night to respect the daily rest-period of the chicken
3. Broody hens: When a layer’s hen becomes broody, she will sit on top of her eggs for 21 days until they hatch making it not to lay any egg.
Signs to look out for if your hen is broody: When a hen is broody it will sit in the nest box all day, it will stop anything from getting near her eggs, it will remove her breast feathers to give the eggs heat from her body and when there are new additions to the flock.
Remember, eggs should be collected twice a daily at the same time each day (mid-morning and the evening). Removing eggs continuously is important to stop hens from going broody since broody hens stop laying.
5.Old age
Chickens lay eggs for around 4-5 years, after which they stop laying. If your chickens have exceeded this period in egg laying, then a stop in their egg-laying is perfectly natural and expected. Chickens that lay only occasionally such as bantams and other exotic birds, (see TOF Issue 189 Pg. 6) might lay longer as they only squirt out an egg when they feel like it.
6. Illness
If you have settled for young chickens that are well fed, have plenty of natural daylight, and they have suddenly stopped laying, the chances are that they are ill. For instance, they could have cold or be infested by parasites such as lice, mites and worms. To ensure your chicks are safe from these infestations, provide a clean and spacious environment. The house should not be wet or crowded.
7. Stress: Stress, like for most creatures, causes a decrease in productivity meaning there will be a decrease in egg production. Some causes of stress in chicken include The existence of predators, a high rooster to hen ratio and lack of sunshine.
All creatures need some sunshine. The sun helps the birds manufacture Vitamin E. Chicken must have an outdoor exercise area where they can sun themselves and take dust bath during the day. This helps keep down external parasites, reduces stress and keeps the birds more resistant to diseases.
8. Extreme weather: When the weather is extremely hot or extremely cold, there will be a drop in egg production. The effects of extreme weather can be reduced by providing the chicken with plenty of drinking water and adequate ventilation in the coop if the weather is too hot or deep litter method/ insulating the coop, if the weather is too cold. Deep litter is an animal housing system, based on the repeated spreading of material such as straw, wood shavings, rice husks, hay, crushed maize cobs and shredded paper in layers. As the chickens defecate on it, more is added on top. Start with about 4 inches of fine litter material with additions of 1 to 2 inches later as needed without removal of the old. A depth of 6 to 12 inches is maintained by partial removals from time to time. The deeper litter method provides not only insulation from cold, but also heat from the decomposition of the litter. Allow three to four laying hens and 12-15 broilers per square metre on deep litter floor systems.
To insulate the chickens’ house, use cartons, hay or old clothing, but ensure to leave ventilation spaces.
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