In October, our hens stopped laying. This was the first time we were without fresh eggs and I was concerned that we were doing something wrong. In the summer when the egg numbers rapidly declined, we changed their diet, ensuring there was more protein in it. This led to an improvement in egg numbers but this proved to be temporary.
My conclusion was that the hen houses were to blame. We had 5 small hen houses but they are difficult to clean. They often become infested with red mites which the hens hate. I decided that we needed to replace the small hen houses with a large one which will allow me inside to clean it and which was better suited for the numbers of birds we have.
And then the solution presented itself earlier this month when the temporary restrictions by DEFRA on keeping poultry separate from wild birds were imposed. We have confined ours to the smaller goat house and the fruitcage. The goat house has proved to be ideal for the hens to the extent that we are now starting to get eggs laid again! Okay, not lots of eggs but two days ago, one eggs was laid and yesterday, we had two. None today and I'm not going to count my eggs before they are laid (sorry!) but I'm hoping more of the hens will start laying again.
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