My hens aren't laying much!

[SethStarkaddersMum]

I have 3, 2 Gingernut Rangers and a Light Sussex. Had them since Feb.
The biggest of the Rangers had never missed a day till yesterday. The other two seem to take it in turns to lay.

Egg production has gone from a high of 16 a week in March to 11 or 12 a week at the moment.

I wormed them last week (Sat-last Sat) and I haven't found any runny poos for a few days now so I guess they are clear. The other day I found a single louse on my best layer - I had been putting powder in the henhouse as a preventive measure but now I have powdered them all directly.

any ideas....?!

Check the coop for red mite - and give it a very thorough clean with something like Jeyes Fluid or a specialist mite killing liquid and then dust the girls at night with red mite powder each week for 3 or 4 weeks.

You could also put a tonic in their water to give them a boost.

It can take a while for them to start laying again after worms or lice. Give them a tonic as suggested. House arrest for a few days with just layer pellets so that they're not filling up on treats. Did you use flubenvet?

Thanks both.
I am fairly hopeful that it's not red mite as there was definitely no trace in the Eglu when I cleaned & sterilised it the other day (which I do weekly).
Yes I did use Flubenvet.

I will do tonic + house arrest + no more treats!

I do give them a lot of kitchen scraps so maybe that's part of the problem, and now that they're out free-ranging more they probably are finding a lot of their own food.

Their diet is also half layer pellets and half mixed corn (because that's what Hugh F-W says in the River Cottage Cookbook) so perhaps all in all they're just not getting enough protein?

Try putting some fresh chilli in their feed.

Seriously GentleOtter?

It seems to get things going and they like chilli. It works on bacteria - NS report

Dad used to feed his hens chilli and comfrey to get them laying in spring (50 years ago!)

The chilli does not affect the poultry as it does us.

AH! too much mixed corn!
Put them on layer pellets only and see how this goes. I was advised by the omlet guys just to feed a scratch feed of corn later in the day as too much makes em fat and stop laying - perfect for the meat birds that HFW wants!

Thanks for the chili tip!

That's so interesting about the chilli. Personally I always think of it as medicinal when I eat it (eg when I have a cold I seem to crave it) so there's no reason why it shouldn't be the same for hens!

No more corn, then, except a scatter to get them back into their run. They love corn and always eat it first.
Am starting to feel rather sorry for them

You've been running an indulgent health spa for your girls. Time to switch to a soviet era model!

ROFL!
My health spa is closing then in favour of the Cold Comfort Farm Egg Factory.

oh dear, no improvement re eggs and now the runny poos have started again!

If you want your hens to lay regularly, it's best not too feed them much in the way of scarps or corn - they fill themselves up on this and don't eat the mash/pellets which they need to eat to lay eggs. I hope you are knee deep in eggs now!

sadly not!