Down Home Wisdom

If anyone is searching for the answers to life's questions, I highly recommend a visit to your local feed store/grain mill. 

 Not only can they tell you why your chickens aren't laying and what you can do about it,

they can also fill you in on lots of other nuggets of truth that you may or may not want to know about.
 I went to the mill to get chicken feed, and while there told the owner about my non-laying hens.  I described how I had started feeding them whole dried corn as a scratch mix and wondered if that could possibly be the cause of them not laying.  

"Oh Yes.  You bet.  The corn is only 8% protein, where their real feed is 16%.:

"But I'm only feeding it to them as scratch mix."

"Don't matter.  They ate enough and it threw them off their real feed, and now they're not laying for you."

I thanked him and got ready to go, but he had some more instructions for me.

"There's three things in life that are temperamental:

 laying hens, milking cows, and women. 

 You've got to treat them all just right or else your hens won't give you any eggs, your milk cow won't milk and you won't get any loving.  Know what I mean?"

Hmmm.

So, now my hens are laying and I am much wiser. 

 As my Grandpa used to say, "Now don't that beat all."