I am having trouble in my flock. I have an original flock of 6 girls. I wanted a variety so I had 6 different breeds. Bought them when they were just a day or two old. All my original girls were great layers. I would get on average 5 eggs a day. The coop I built for them is15x15 foot coop with many different level perches and logs to keep them busy/happy. I have always had a solar powered green light to keep them relaxed and keep pray away. Green just because I didn't read what I ordered online and the light happens to shine green. Everyone was happy for the first year and a half.
I decided that I needed more eggs simply because it was not enough for my family to eat and give to friends and family and sell just enough to pay for feed. So I decide to buy a total of 15 more chickens. 4 RIR, 4 Bared Rock, 4 Buff Orpington and 3 Bantums. All were about 2.5 months old. I researched some and put the new hens in a cage inside the coop for about a week then let them free range close to each other for a while then mixed them in where the smaller birds could go in a separate section of the coop where the bigger birds could not fit. I thought this would be a good idea.
Well this shocked the original 6 and probably upset them. Egg production went fron 5 to 1 egg a day if that. And now I haven't got a single egg in 3 weeks from my original girls. They have been integrated for about 2 months. My younger girls are not set to start laying until around January. I live in South LA so we have a warm climate here. Do you think I have an egg eater? I'm about to separate the bantams out of the coop because they hang out in the laying boxes and they might be guilty of eating eggs. Or are they molting being October they could be. But 0 eggs. I thought production just slowed down during molting not stopped. Or is it my original girls are mad and are on strike? Will this last until my younger birds start laying? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I did spontaneously lose one of my original 6 last week. I believe she must have been bit by a disease carrying mosquito (being from south LA) I felt around for a lodged egg but there was nothing. She was safely in the coop when she died.
Sorry for being so long winded. I have a lot I was trying to get out and it tends to get jumbled up sometimes.
Sincerely
eggless
I decided that I needed more eggs simply because it was not enough for my family to eat and give to friends and family and sell just enough to pay for feed. So I decide to buy a total of 15 more chickens. 4 RIR, 4 Bared Rock, 4 Buff Orpington and 3 Bantums. All were about 2.5 months old. I researched some and put the new hens in a cage inside the coop for about a week then let them free range close to each other for a while then mixed them in where the smaller birds could go in a separate section of the coop where the bigger birds could not fit. I thought this would be a good idea.
Well this shocked the original 6 and probably upset them. Egg production went fron 5 to 1 egg a day if that. And now I haven't got a single egg in 3 weeks from my original girls. They have been integrated for about 2 months. My younger girls are not set to start laying until around January. I live in South LA so we have a warm climate here. Do you think I have an egg eater? I'm about to separate the bantams out of the coop because they hang out in the laying boxes and they might be guilty of eating eggs. Or are they molting being October they could be. But 0 eggs. I thought production just slowed down during molting not stopped. Or is it my original girls are mad and are on strike? Will this last until my younger birds start laying? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I did spontaneously lose one of my original 6 last week. I believe she must have been bit by a disease carrying mosquito (being from south LA) I felt around for a lodged egg but there was nothing. She was safely in the coop when she died.
Sorry for being so long winded. I have a lot I was trying to get out and it tends to get jumbled up sometimes.
Sincerely
eggless
Last edited: