Trouble with laying hens - feed problems

Hey all.

So a few months ago I had the birds on layer feed from Early's farm & garden.

Then we switched to some grains that we soak for 4 days - turning each day. The grains were oats, lentils & some other things.

The guy we got them from had birds that are doing REALLY well on them, but ours went from laying normally to not a single egg 2 days after switching.

It's been 2 months on this feed with no change.

We now have them on soaked oats and they're pumping out a bit more but obviously this won't be super long term since it's not good for them.

Can I get some insight into whats going on here?

I was told it's normal for them to stop laying for a bit, but this isn't normal. Not for this long in summertime.

I dont have the answer, but I would switch back to what worked.

My birds are molting right now which slows the egg production right down.

John F Dean wrote:I dont have the answer, but I would switch back to what worked.

We switched to this because the other stuff was costing us a fortune.
10/day a bag of feed.

Can't do it financially.

Mike Haasl wrote:My birds are molting right now which slows the egg production right down.

When do they start molting?
This has been going on since July. :(

when i was feeding my chickens only hen scratch which is barley, wheat, split pea, flax oil. I also gave them this chicken food remix stuff which is basically what they were putting in the pellets. It contained the salt, calcium, phosphorus, b vitamins, copper, etc,etc. They got this along with being fed oyster shells. We pasture raise our chickens so they received new grass everyday.


Are you only feeding them the oats/lentils? Have your tried giving them sea90 or kelp meal?
What else do these chickens have access to eat?


I have noticed people where i live who give their chickens minimal food variety. they offer them also a lot of land to scrounge the rest of their requirements from. be it plants/animals,bugs,poop, etc.

Was an oat/lentil mix.

Right now just soaked oats. I think I might just get a bag of the pre mixed feed here or there to mix in here or there cause I'm learning now just oats is a bad idea.

Birds are free range. They got access to 10 acres, a bunch of bush, goat & cattle pens.

I feed soaked wheat. The hens are in a chicken tractor that is moved each evening giving them a 4 x 8 foot plot of weeds and bugs for the next day. Feeding in the evening makes sure they sleep with crop full. I only have to visit the tractor once a day with this plan.  I have access to beach sand and sea weed that has barnacle shell in it. This grit supplies all the needed micro nutrients.

Do you know what the protein is in the mix you feed them?  If they were laying fine then stopped with the feed change, there's something they're not getting.

How many chickens do you have?  $10/day is a lot of money for a few eggs but I feed about a bag a day at $15/bag for about 150 birds.  

edit:  where are you located?