Chooks not laying eggs?

Yep, this was us just a week ago. Then we were 1 egg, then 2 and 3 all in about a week, when we got 4 eggs from our 5 chooks I nearly laid an egg myself with excitement.!

Then this afternoon when I went down to the chookhouse to feed and let them out for free range, checked the nest, and... 5 eggs! So after a rough few months we have finally made it in life - 100% production - we're there...  at the pinnacle of chicken raising life!

4yo loves to collect the eggs - especially now he needs a bucket to carry them!

So, what did we change to get eggs? We wondered allot and we questioned allot, I even threatened them suckers with a dam pot and jar of 'chicken tonight'. Not that I could eat them but I really was thinking of knocking the suckers off their perch.

2 or 3 of them were definitely molting, loss of feathers was obvious but not severe as some people suggest and only lasted a few weeks. They are about 18mths old, so should still have some lay in them yet.

We changed the food about 1 month ago from a cheap pellet food (I am cheap skate on everything!) to a mixed grain. About 1 week after the change to grain at they started laying again. Who knows, was it the food? I tend to think about 70% correct as more protein and other goodies in there. Having a science background, my brain needs logic to function so I reckon in this case it's simple; if you want more from the body than just to survive, give it more quality fuel, same goes with building muscle etc in people or overcoming an illness.

The weather is getting colder and days shorter but this has obviously had nothing to do with it. Or we're just lucky - I'll go with that that!

(30% of me believes they are back on the lay due to threat of being
teamed up with a jar of 'Chicken Tonight')