Limiting Sunlight to Slow Egg Laying (and to prevent EYP)

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

My tiny, almost 2 year old EE has a history of egg laying troubles. Despite her size, the poor girl tends to crank out eggs as big as the rest of 'em, and at faster the rate.

Last spring/summer her egg laying became closer in time to one another, and with that her shell quality degraded: first the shells got pimply in texture and lost color, then they got thinner and more fragile, and then finally she began laying some shell less eggs--often from the roost or in the run. Before, during, and after laying these eggs she'd get lethargic--penguin stance, eyes closing, clear fluid leaking from her vent, sometimes panting. She'd bounce back a bit later only to deal with the same thing the next day. And then one day, this past September, the worst happened: an egg broke inside her. Luckily I caught it immediately, got her to pass the rest and then got her in to see a vet. She then fought EYP over a long month, during which time I truly didn't think she'd make it. But meantime, while kept in a pen in my dark-ish basement (some natural light but not all day), she started molting, stopped laying, and one day suddenly bounced back. We had been close to putting her down!

Well she'd since gone back with her flock and started laying again a couple months ago. Healthy, beautiful eggs regularly. But a couple weeks ago her old pattern started up: laying too often, shell quality degrading, becoming lethargic, with clear fluid seeping from her vent before and after laying (thankfully they have stilled been shelled--on the thinner side but intact).

So, I've begun three things: treating her with curcumin which is supposed to be an anti-inflammatory (via turmeric, dosed orally in a mash), giving her small amounts of a calcium supplement, and limiting her sunlight to 8-9 hours a day. Since starting a few days ago, her laying has begun to slow down a bit, so that each day she lays, she's laying an hour or two later than the day before, which is huge. And her shell quality has been decent for her. Not great but not further deteriorating and still on the thicker side of being thin shelled. She's also acting less lethargic around those times. Her poop seems okay and her crop is working (used to be it'd temporarily stop up when she had an egg she needed to pass).

Has anyone else tried the light reduction, or any of the above? I feel cruel taking her in for a few hours each morning--especially if she's acting vibrant--but I try to tell myself it's ultimately for the best (and she still spends most of her day with the gang). I'm looking for any and all advice. Should this fail I may look into the hormonal implant. But I think her issue is with overproduction, so that her little body can't keep up and becomes depleted. Hopefully slowing her down will allow her to still lay but not in a way that kills her.

*I should also note that both times her issues began it was when our hours of daylight started to increase--and her egg laying did too (such that not even 24 hours would pass and she'd be laying again). So hopefully less daylight = less overproduction of eggs.

 

[sourland]

It sounds as if what you are doing is having a positive effect.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Update: I've been doing the following for over 2 weeks with wonderful results. My hen is now thriving and laying strong healthy eggs every day:

• 1/4 tsp turmeric daily for inflammation, which is often a cause, result, or otherwise a contributing factor in reproductive issues (including eyp)
• 1/4 contents of human calcium softgel once every other day and as eggs stabilize, every couple days for maintenance.
• Limit time in sunlight to 8-10 hours a day. I take my girl into a darkened coop from 7a-noon and then put her back with the others. This will change as days get longer/shorter

I hope this helps others who may be dealing with shell gland issues or recurring eyp!!

 

[kristieh]

My tiny, almost 2 year old EE has a history of egg laying troubles. Despite her size, the poor girl tends to crank out eggs as big as the rest of 'em, and at faster the rate.

Last spring/summer her egg laying became closer in time to one another, and with that her shell quality degraded: first the shells got pimply in texture and lost color, then they got thinner and more fragile, and then finally she began laying some shell less eggs--often from the roost or in the run. Before, during, and after laying these eggs she'd get lethargic--penguin stance, eyes closing, clear fluid leaking from her vent, sometimes panting. She'd bounce back a bit later only to deal with the same thing the next day. And then one day, this past September, the worst happened: an egg broke inside her. Luckily I caught it immediately, got her to pass the rest and then got her in to see a vet. She then fought EYP over a long month, during which time I truly didn't think she'd make it. But meantime, while kept in a pen in my dark-ish basement (some natural light but not all day), she started molting, stopped laying, and one day suddenly bounced back. We had been close to putting her down!

Well she'd since gone back with her flock and started laying again a couple months ago. Healthy, beautiful eggs regularly. But a couple weeks ago her old pattern started up: laying too often, shell quality degrading, becoming lethargic, with clear fluid seeping from her vent before and after laying (thankfully they have stilled been shelled--on the thinner side but intact).

So, I've begun three things: treating her with curcumin which is supposed to be an anti-inflammatory (via turmeric, dosed orally in a mash), giving her small amounts of a calcium supplement, and limiting her sunlight to 8-9 hours a day. Since starting a few days ago, her laying has begun to slow down a bit, so that each day she lays, she's laying an hour or two later than the day before, which is huge. And her shell quality has been decent for her. Not great but not further deteriorating and still on the thicker side of being thin shelled. She's also acting less lethargic around those times. Her poop seems okay and her crop is working (used to be it'd temporarily stop up when she had an egg she needed to pass).

Has anyone else tried the light reduction, or any of the above? I feel cruel taking her in for a few hours each morning--especially if she's acting vibrant--but I try to tell myself it's ultimately for the best (and she still spends most of her day with the gang). I'm looking for any and all advice. Should this fail I may look into the hormonal implant. But I think her issue is with overproduction, so that her little body can't keep up and becomes depleted. Hopefully slowing her down will allow her to still lay but not in a way that kills her.

*I should also note that both times her issues began it was when our hours of daylight started to increase--and her egg laying did too (such that not even 24 hours would pass and she'd be laying again). So hopefully less daylight = less overproduction of eggs.

I have a girl with the same problem, so I had her implanted by the vet to stop her from laying altogether, it lasted for 5 and 1/2 months. She had no problem after that but on vet advice I only let her lay for 6 months at a time and have her implanted for the other part of the year.

 

[Katanahamon]

My tiny, almost 2 year old EE has a history of egg laying troubles. Despite her size, the poor girl tends to crank out eggs as big as the rest of 'em, and at faster the rate.

Last spring/summer her egg laying became closer in time to one another, and with that her shell quality degraded: first the shells got pimply in texture and lost color, then they got thinner and more fragile, and then finally she began laying some shell less eggs--often from the roost or in the run. Before, during, and after laying these eggs she'd get lethargic--penguin stance, eyes closing, clear fluid leaking from her vent, sometimes panting. She'd bounce back a bit later only to deal with the same thing the next day. And then one day, this past September, the worst happened: an egg broke inside her. Luckily I caught it immediately, got her to pass the rest and then got her in to see a vet. She then fought EYP over a long month, during which time I truly didn't think she'd make it. But meantime, while kept in a pen in my dark-ish basement (some natural light but not all day), she started molting, stopped laying, and one day suddenly bounced back. We had been close to putting her down!

Well she'd since gone back with her flock and started laying again a couple months ago. Healthy, beautiful eggs regularly. But a couple weeks ago her old pattern started up: laying too often, shell quality degrading, becoming lethargic, with clear fluid seeping from her vent before and after laying (thankfully they have stilled been shelled--on the thinner side but intact).

So, I've begun three things: treating her with curcumin which is supposed to be an anti-inflammatory (via turmeric, dosed orally in a mash), giving her small amounts of a calcium supplement, and limiting her sunlight to 8-9 hours a day. Since starting a few days ago, her laying has begun to slow down a bit, so that each day she lays, she's laying an hour or two later than the day before, which is huge. And her shell quality has been decent for her. Not great but not further deteriorating and still on the thicker side of being thin shelled. She's also acting less lethargic around those times. Her poop seems okay and her crop is working (used to be it'd temporarily stop up when she had an egg she needed to pass).

Has anyone else tried the light reduction, or any of the above? I feel cruel taking her in for a few hours each morning--especially if she's acting vibrant--but I try to tell myself it's ultimately for the best (and she still spends most of her day with the gang). I'm looking for any and all advice. Should this fail I may look into the hormonal implant. But I think her issue is with overproduction, so that her little body can't keep up and becomes depleted. Hopefully slowing her down will allow her to still lay but not in a way that kills her.

*I should also note that both times her issues began it was when our hours of daylight started to increase--and her egg laying did too (such that not even 24 hours would pass and she'd be laying again). So hopefully less daylight = less overproduction of eggs.

In Gail Damerow’s book on Chicken Health she recommends limiting to only 8 hours of light in cases of prolapse to hopefully prevent laying, so, yes, this is a proven technique to help them heal from certain ailments..

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

In Gail Damerow’s book on Chicken Health she recommends limiting to only 8 hours of light in cases of prolapse to hopefully prevent laying, so, yes, this is a proven technique to help them heal from certain ailments..

I'll have to check that out! So it's been a few months now and the whole reducing sunlight thing is working for her. It's crazy though--even with 9 hours spent in the dark, she STILL lays an egg every day (this is with less than 5 hours of sunlight). If I slack off just a little and she gets more like 8 hours in the dark, she'll lay a thin, fragile-shelled egg from her roost. Her egg-makrr is ramped up!

I can't wait till she molts--typically that's when she takes a long break from laying and can be out with the others all day. And she's usually good till late Spring/early summer when her egg maker gets all ramped up again.

 

[Alilbit88]

I'll have to check that out! So it's been a few months now and the whole reducing sunlight thing is working for her. It's crazy though--even with 9 hours spent in the dark, she STILL lays an egg every day (this is with less than 5 hours of sunlight). If I slack off just a little and she gets more like 8 hours in the dark, she'll lay a thin, fragile-shelled egg from her roost. Her egg-makrr is ramped up!

I can't wait till she molts--typically that's when she takes a long break from laying and can be out with the others all day. And she's usually good till late Spring/early summer when her egg maker gets all ramped up again.

Hi I know this is old but how did reducing light work for your hen? I have 2 ISA brown/red sex linked production hens who lays massive eggs everyday even through winter and I want to slow them down to give them time to recover. They did not even molt this winter. They are my pets and I want to extend their life and help them recover! I’m thinking of doing the implant to make them stop laying but as of now I started reducing light for 8-9 hours only. Sun goes down around 630pm and I keep them inside till about 1015AM. Did this reducing light help your hen? U said only 5 hours of light and 9’in the dark but im confused bc thats only 14 hours a day…did she go into molt? How was her health? How many months did u do it for?

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Hi I know this is old but how did reducing light work for your hen? I have 2 ISA brown/red sex linked production hens who lays massive eggs everyday even through winter and I want to slow them down to give them time to recover. They did not even molt this winter. They are my pets and I want to extend their life and help them recover! I’m thinking of doing the implant to make them stop laying but as of now I started reducing light for 8-9 hours only. Sun goes down around 630pm and I keep them inside till about 1015AM. Did this reducing light help your hen? U said only 5 hours of light and 9’in the dark but im confused bc thats only 14 hours a day…did she go into molt? How was her health? How many months did u do it for?

Hi, the light reduction plus extra calcium supplementation has continued to work WONDERS for her specific issue. She's still with us, so we've been doing this whole song and dance for four, going on five years now. I'm convinced she wouldn't have made it past 2 otherwise.

She started laying again last month, and we'd been getting about 11-hours of light each day (which is increasing of course). Currently I have her in complete darkness without food or water for 4 hours during the daytime; so, ultimately, she has about 7 hours of light each day. And then, of course, in addition to those 4 hours of darkness she gets the normal amount of darkness when night falls and she's asleep with the others in the coop. The key is just making sure her amount of time in daylight is limited.

That limit depends on the individual chicken and, I suppose, how cranked up her system is. Right now, having 7 hours of daylight is working well for my chicken, though, as she gets deeper into the season, I may have to bring it down to 6 to keep her from having issues. I just monitor egg shell quality/how often she's laying, how she's looking/feeling, and tweak it from there. It sounds like a lot more than it is. This monitoring also helps me to tackle any issues that spring up quickly (such as an internally broken egg or EYP, which is a risk for layers like her).

It's funny. She's so used to her routine she yells at me if I'm late to give her her "ride" to her laying "suite." She's always by the door like, "come on--pick me up! It's time for me to go in my special room!" She's also always excited to go back out.

A couple more things that help: in my case, I give her 1/3 contents of a human grade calcium + vitamin D capsule every other day just because she produces so much. I also stopped giving her access to food or water while she's in her dark box, because she'd gorge herself and it ended up working against any attempt to calm down her production. She's healthy, strong, happy, and active--and yes, still laying almost every day like a psycho haha--as we push into her 6th year!

(P.S. I only do this when she's actively in lay, once she shows she's having issues. She had a nice break from the routine from October through January. In February, she started laying and I let her do her thing--but it only took less than a week for her to start with the soft/thin-shelled eggs overnight).

 

[Alilbit88]

Hi, the light reduction plus extra calcium supplementation has continued to work WONDERS for her specific issue. She's still with us, so we've been doing this whole song and dance for four, going on five years now. I'm convinced she wouldn't have made it past 2 otherwise.

She started laying again last month, and we'd been getting about 11-hours of light each day (which is increasing of course). Currently I have her in complete darkness without food or water for 4 hours during the daytime; so, ultimately, she has about 7 hours of light each day. And then, of course, in addition to those 4 hours of darkness she gets the normal amount of darkness when night falls and she's asleep with the others in the coop. The key is just making sure her amount of time in daylight is limited.

That limit depends on the individual chicken and, I suppose, how cranked up her system is. Right now, having 7 hours of daylight is working well for my chicken, though, as she gets deeper into the season, I may have to bring it down to 6 to keep her from having issues. I just monitor egg shell quality/how often she's laying, how she's looking/feeling, and tweak it from there. It sounds like a lot more than it is. This monitoring also helps me to tackle any issues that spring up quickly (such as an internally broken egg or EYP, which is a risk for layers like her).

It's funny. She's so used to her routine she yells at me if I'm late to give her her "ride" to her laying "suite." She's always by the door like, "come on--pick me up! It's time for me to go in my special room!" She's also always excited to go back out.

A couple more things that help: in my case, I give her 1/3 contents of a human grade calcium + vitamin D capsule every other day just because she produces so much. I also stopped giving her access to food or water while she's in her dark box, because she'd gorge herself and it ended up working against any attempt to calm down her production. She's healthy, strong, happy, and active--and yes, still laying almost every day like a psycho haha--as we push into her 6th year!

(P.S. I only do this when she's actively in lay, once she shows she's having issues. She had a nice break from the routine from October through January. In February, she started laying and I let her do her thing--but it only took less than a week for her to start with the soft/thin-shelled eggs overnight).

Hi, the light reduction plus extra calcium supplementation has continued to work WONDERS for her specific issue. She's still with us, so we've been doing this whole song and dance for four, going on five years now. I'm convinced she wouldn't have made it past 2 otherwise.

She started laying again last month, and we'd been getting about 11-hours of light each day (which is increasing of course). Currently I have her in complete darkness without food or water for 4 hours during the daytime; so, ultimately, she has about 7 hours of light each day. And then, of course, in addition to those 4 hours of darkness she gets the normal amount of darkness when night falls and she's asleep with the others in the coop. The key is just making sure her amount of time in daylight is limited.

That limit depends on the individual chicken and, I suppose, how cranked up her system is. Right now, having 7 hours of daylight is working well for my chicken, though, as she gets deeper into the season, I may have to bring it down to 6 to keep her from having issues. I just monitor egg shell quality/how often she's laying, how she's looking/feeling, and tweak it from there. It sounds like a lot more than it is. This monitoring also helps me to tackle any issues that spring up quickly (such as an internally broken egg or EYP, which is a risk for layers like her).

It's funny. She's so used to her routine she yells at me if I'm late to give her her "ride" to her laying "suite." She's always by the door like, "come on--pick me up! It's time for me to go in my special room!" She's also always excited to go back out.

A couple more things that help: in my case, I give her 1/3 contents of a human grade calcium + vitamin D capsule every other day just because she produces so much. I also stopped giving her access to food or water while she's in her dark box, because she'd gorge herself and it ended up working against any attempt to calm down her production. She's healthy, strong, happy, and active--and yes, still laying almost every day like a psycho haha--as we push into her 6th year!

(P.S. I only do this when she's actively in lay, once she shows she's having issues. She had a nice break from the routine from October through January. In February, she started laying and I let her do her thing--but it only took less than a week for her to start with the soft/thin-shelled eggs overnight).

that is AWESOME. So glad she’s currently in her 6th year. I’m currently limiting 3 ISA browns/Red production sex linked to 8 sunlight hours per day. so far the younger ones are laying an hour later each day. The “elder” one hasn’t laid an egg in 2 days so far. Still eating and drinking/foraging and their chicken thing. I still give regular food/treats/mealworms/scrambled eggs and water. However instead of giving like an entire 1.5 cups for 12 chickens, I’m limiting their mealworms for the 3 girls to like 30 each lol. And a small portion of scrambled eggs mixed with egg shells and corn/veggies. I also made a steel cut oats mixed with veggies and brown rice and organic calendula flowers mixed in(helps with healing and helps inflammation, antioxidants) I also give chicken elixir by strong animals to add vitamin d and calcium, probiotics and electrolytes, oregano essential oil.i have just switched their feed to Grubby Farms layer crumbles bc i saw it has alfalfa meal, dried kelp and marigold extract which I think is good to have that in their diet for immune system. Marigold is great for “menstrual cramps” as well. I was feeding kalmbach organic layer crumbles which is a decent one too.
But it’s been only 5 days. I will keep a log and update when I get more info. So maybe it can help someone else’s hen who is producing too much and having a strain on their reproductive system. I called all the vets in the city and none of them do an lupron injections for chickens or implants so this is what I’m going to try for now. I may call some cities 2-3 hours away and see if I can find any.

For me, if this is working and helping slow down their production, I’m thinking I do this for the future during summer/heat waves in TX. I put them inside in dog crates with a roost with food and water.there is a blackout curtain on the window and a small night light in there. That way during the summer they won’t be outside in the hot and can just go to bed earlier and have their reproductive system take a rest.

Again thank you for your response, it was very helpful!!!!