The Layer That Stopped Laying: 7 Reasons Your Hens Are on Strike
Last week your hens were laying 880 eggs from 1,000 birds. This morning you counted 640. No be small drop.
When egg production drops sharply, panic is natural. But before you spend money on supplements or call the feed seller, work through this list. The cause is almost always one of these seven, and most farmers fix the wrong one first.
1. Light schedule broke down
Layers need 14-16 hours of light per day to maintain peak production. If your bulbs blew, your generator failed for three days, or you accidentally reduced light hours, production drops within 5–7 days. Check the schedule first.
Fix: minimum 16 hours of light. Add 0.5 watts per square metre of warm-white LED. Stagger the increase — adding 4 hours overnight panics the birds.
2. Water access dropped (and you didn't notice)
A blocked nipple, a leak, a fallen drinker — a hen that drinks less lays less, full stop. Check every drinker line at the morning and evening rounds. If water flow is below normal, fix it before you do anything else.
3. Feed quality changed
If you bought a new batch of feed or changed millers in the last week, that is almost certainly the culprit. Common issues:
- Protein dropped (cheaper soya substitution).
- Calcium dropped or limestone wasn't fine enough.
- Mycotoxins in stored maize (especially after a wet harvest).
- Salt was over-added (this kills layers in 24 hours; rare but happens).
If you suspect feed, return what's left and switch immediately. Egg production responds within 5–10 days.
"I switched to a cheaper feed and my production dropped from 91% to 74% in two weeks. The 'savings' cost me ₦340,000 in lost eggs before I switched back." — Tunde S., layer farmer, Oyo
4. Stress — anything new in the environment
New person handling birds, new pen mates, a thunderstorm during the night, a stray dog in the pen, vaccinations done in the wrong season. Hens are creatures of habit. Disrupt the habit and they punish you with empty trays.
5. Internal or external parasites
Worms (especially Ascaridia and Heterakis), red mites, and lice all reduce production. If your birds look thin, are scratching too much, or you see mites at the cracks of the pen — deworm and treat for ectoparasites. Standard programme:
- Deworm every 8-12 weeks with piperazine or levamisole.
- Spray pens with permethrin or cypermethrin against red mites every 3 months.
6. Disease — silent ones
Not every disease announces itself with deaths. Newcastle (mild strains), infectious bronchitis (variants), and egg drop syndrome can all hit production without killing many birds. If you have ruled out the first 5 causes, get a vet to do a quick clinical exam and serology.
How SmartFlok helps
The Layer module tracks daily production against breed expectation and flags drops bigger than 5% within 24 hours. You also get prompts on the last vaccination date, last deworming, light hours logged, and feed brand on file — so when production drops, you have all the diagnostic data on one screen instead of trying to remember.
7. They are just getting old
This is the one farmers refuse to accept. By 75 weeks of age, your layers are entering decline. By 90 weeks, production is dropping naturally to 50–60%. No amount of feed adjustment fixes it. Plan replacement flocks ahead, and don't blame the birds for getting old.
The diagnostic flow
- Light schedule — confirm 16 hours.
- Water — every line, every drinker.
- Feed — any change in the last 14 days?
- Stress — anything different this week?
- Parasites — last dewormed when?
- Disease — call vet if previous 5 are clean.
- Age — how old is this flock really?
9 times out of 10, the cause is in the first three. Work through them in order before spending money on the rest.
The bottom line
Egg production drops are diagnostic puzzles, not panic moments. The farmers who keep records solve them in a day. The ones who don't, lose weeks of production trying to fix the wrong thing.
Want the tools the smart farmers in this story are using? SmartFlok gives you flock records, vaccination reminders, feed and finance tracking, plus access to the largest poultry marketplace in Nigeria — all from your phone.
