Can you make hens start laying eggs?

Can you force your chickens to start laying eggs? I get asked all the time how to get a chicken to start laying eggs and the short answer is: No, you can't! There are a whole lot of myths around egg laying though. Old wives tales abound, from feeding hot peppers to using fake eggs and unfortunately none of them work.

However, some of these methods seem to work some of the time. That is where it gets tricky!  

Most of the time when someone is getting impatient for their hens to start laying it's either because:

A) The winter laying break has dragged on long enough already! or B) These chickens have to be old enough to lay by now! Right?

In either of these cases, using the old wives methods of prompting your chickens to start laying will generally coincide with the chickens naturally starting to lay anyway. So it only seems like it works. Here are the ones I've heard recently...

Hot peppers: Add hot pepper flakes to your hens feed in late winter to get them to start laying earlier. This old wives tale goes on the theory that hot peppers warm the body making the chickens think summer is here and so they start laying. This would make sense if it was temperature that causes hens to start laying in spring, but unfortunately it's light. No amount of spicy food can replicate the lengthening daylight hours.

Fake eggs: Put fake eggs in the nest boxes to get the hens to start laying. While this can help your hens to figure out where to lay their eggs when it's time, it can't get them started laying any sooner than they would naturally. Kind of like you can't get a girl to start puberty just by handing her a baby to hold. Egg production starts when the body is mature enough and no sooner.

Get a rooster: This old wives tale says that pullets will start laying if you get a rooster so they can reproduce. Fortunately, hens do not need a rooster to lay eggs and getting a rooster does not trigger a pullet to start laying simply because she suddenly wants chicks. As with the previous example, the body has to be mature enough first.

Forcing hen to start laying

What actually can help:

• Adequate light. At least 14 hours of daylight is necessary for peak egg production. You can add supplemental lighting to the coop to lengthen the 'daylight' hours.

• Maturity. Some of my hens didn't lay until they were 8 months old, which is common for certain breeds.

• Good quality layer feed and plenty of fresh water.

Good nutrition is number one with a laying hen. Many people swear by Calf Manna (high protein) and fermented feed as nutrition boosts to prompt a hen to start laying. While these won't make a hen lay that isn't already going to....they can correct a nutritional deficiency that has stalled her laying

These things can cause a hen to stop laying during peak age and season:
Parasites
Squabbles and stress between flock mates.
Space, overcrowding in the coop.
Molting.

I cover these reasons and more in depth in 11 Reasons Why Your Hens Aren't Laying. If your hen was laying and has stopped recently, check out that article to make sure nothing is wrong. 

Unfortunately if you hens haven't started laying yet due to age or season, the only cures are light and time. Many people add a light to the coop in winter for this very reason. Unfortunately, that can increase the incidences of blood spots in chicken eggs. The good news is, that days are lengthening as we speed toward summer and they should start laying again shortly.

If you're not sure what normal egg production looks like for your flock, check out: Tracking egg production in hens and print out the free chart in that post. Simply jot in the daily number of eggs you collect to get a good idea of your flocks highs, lows and average egg production!

~L

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I am not a veterinarian or other animal care professional nor do I claim to be. I am simply passing on information that has worked for me and my flock. This information is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical condition. Please see a vet if your chicken is ill. Click for my full disclaimer.