Eggs slowing down is normal?

Jenneh85 · Dec 31, 2015

I heard during the winter time, Hens start to slow down in laying eggs.

I recently had a broody hen that would lay on all the eggs including the faux ones, we took all the eggs out and left no egg inside the box, Well my gals either got defiant or confused because we started to find eggs being laid in the bog out side of the house itself.

I dont know if taking out all of the eggs including the faux ones made them either confused and stop or just stop because of the cold weather.

Now we get one to two eggs, instead of our 5-6.

I have these following breeds.

2 Easter eggers
2 Buff Orpingtons
1 RIR
1Barred Rock

ChickenCanoe · Dec 31, 2015

Were you successful at breaking the broody?
I'd put the fake eggs back in the nest.
Cold has nothing to do with laying unless it is below perhaps minus 20F.
It is a matter of declining vs. increasing day length.
Your birds must be young if you have been getting eggs till recently.
In the future, expect a molt each year in autumn when they will lay no eggs. Then they'll lay well (all things considered) after days get longer.

Jenneh85 · Dec 31, 2015

ChickenCanoe said:
Were you successful at breaking the broody?
I'd put the fake eggs back in the nest.
Cold has nothing to do with laying unless it is below perhaps minus 20F.
It is a matter of declining vs. increasing day length.
Your birds must be young if you have been getting eggs till recently.
In the future, expect a molt each year in autumn when they will lay no eggs. Then they'll lay well (all things considered) after days get longer.

I would like to say my hens are almost 11 months old, I bought them March 25, they recently started laying but that broody hen I think screwed up things. When there isn't an eggs in there she goes in and out a few times during the day, I see her spot that she lays in which blocks the two nesting boxes for all the others, So we put one faux egg back in and i'm hoping she doesn't turn broody again. I have to go out there again and check later on because we got 2 eggs today and one of them is a orpington egg. I personally dont know what to do at the moment about this situation as I have never owned chickens before and am starting to grow my flock a bit more by buying more, I ended up with possibly 4 roosters out of 100% guarantee sexed females.

Jenneh85 · Dec 31, 2015

Yesterday my husband found egg on the outside of the chicken house and it was in the bog, I hope this broody didnt screw up the laying of my other hens.

lulubell15 · Jan 2, 2016

Hi there, I live in Ireland & it's suposed to be cold now. My chickens (9 of them ) are laying better now than they did in the summer. Most days i get 6 eggs , & at least once a week i get 8. Back in May i had 2 eggs hatch & they both turned out to be roosters. We havn't had the heart to give them the chop & i'm wondering if having the boys in with the girls makes them more productive.

Jenneh85 · Jan 2, 2016

lulubell15 said:
Hi there, I live in Ireland & it's suposed to be cold now. My chickens (9 of them ) are laying better now than they did in the summer. Most days i get 6 eggs , & at least once a week i get 8. Back in May i had 2 eggs hatch & they both turned out to be roosters. We havn't had the heart to give them the chop & i'm wondering if having the boys in with the girls makes them more productive.

That I am not sure of.

I just googled and this is what I got.

A: No. This is one of the most common misconceptions about chickens.Hens will lay eggs just as well in the absence of roosters. If roostersare present, however, the eggs may be fertilized!

Jenneh85 · Jan 2, 2016

http://animals.mom.me/having-rooster-around-make-hens-lay-more-8047.html

Try going there.

cstronks · Jan 2, 2016

Jenneh85 said:
Yesterday my husband found egg on the outside of the chicken house and it was in the bog, I hope this broody didnt screw up the laying of my other hens.

Jenneh85, I highly doubt the broody had much to do with the lack of eggs you are getting. The only way a broody can affect egg laying is by having only one nesting box. If chickens have nowhere else to lay, then you will find the chickens getting "creative" and laying eggs in areas that they feel safe. I've had my share of eggs in the run due to high traffic in the nest boxes. My girls almost line up outside the nest box and wait for an opening sometimes (I have 4 boxes for 14 hens). They all seem to want to lay at one time, however, something I find comical. But in reality, the broody likely had nothing to do with the other hens.

The removal of the faux eggs would be my bet. Chickens are extremely sensitive when it comes to the egg laying environment. Any slight change can be enough to jar them and reduce egg laying. I actually attempted to shift from pine shavings to shredded leaves in the Fall when leaves are abundant, and I actually freaked my chickens out. Very few were willing to lay in the crunchy, colorful nesting box. I switched back to pine shavings when I found eggs on the floor of the coop. Maybe they became used to the faux eggs, and noticed their removal. Next time you get eggs, throw them into the nest box and leave them for a day or two. The hens should, SHOULD get the idea...but you never know with chickens.

The reality of egg laying is that it is dependent on light. Longer days have more light, and thus encourages the chickens to lay more eggs. The shorter days have severely impacted my egg counts as well. Went from a dozen a day to roughly 5, and continuing molts will likely drop this number lower. It is what I expect given the seasonal changes and molting.

If you want higher production from your hens through the winter, you will need to install some type of artificial light. I have chosen not to do this, but plenty of chicken keepers do, so it is something to look into to boost the production of your hens.

Jenneh85 · Jan 2, 2016

cstronks said:
Jenneh85, I highly doubt the broody had much to do with the lack of eggs you are getting. The only way a broody can affect egg laying is by having only one nesting box. If chickens have nowhere else to lay, then you will find the chickens getting "creative" and laying eggs in areas that they feel safe. I've had my share of eggs in the run due to high traffic in the nest boxes. My girls almost line up outside the nest box and wait for an opening sometimes (I have 4 boxes for 14 hens). They all seem to want to lay at one time, however, something I find comical. But in reality, the broody likely had nothing to do with the other hens.

The removal of the faux eggs would be my bet. Chickens are extremely sensitive when it comes to the egg laying environment. Any slight change can be enough to jar them and reduce egg laying. I actually attempted to shift from pine shavings to shredded leaves in the Fall when leaves are abundant, and I actually freaked my chickens out. Very few were willing to lay in the crunchy, colorful nesting box. I switched back to pine shavings when I found eggs on the floor of the coop. Maybe they became used to the faux eggs, and noticed their removal. Next time you get eggs, throw them into the nest box and leave them for a day or two. The hens should, SHOULD get the idea...but you never know with chickens.

The reality of egg laying is that it is dependent on light. Longer days have more light, and thus encourages the chickens to lay more eggs. The shorter days have severely impacted my egg counts as well. Went from a dozen a day to roughly 5, and continuing molts will likely drop this number lower. It is what I expect given the seasonal changes and molting.

If you want higher production from your hens through the winter, you will need to install some type of artificial light. I have chosen not to do this, but plenty of chicken keepers do, so it is something to look into to boost the production of your hens.

We put one fake egg back in, and got 4 today. The so called broody hen hasnt gone back to being broody so far. For the 6 hens there is a house, built in with 2 boxes, but they have a roosting area inside as well, I sometimes find a egg in there from my 200$ chicken.

Maybe it was the removal of the fake egg that made them freak out. I will keep this in mind. I will leave one in there just for the heck sake of it. I went from wood shavings to straw and they didnt care of it either, eggs were slowed down but still got my minimum of 6 through out the day, I have never gotten more then 6 eggs in one day.

Chickens are funny and Im still learning, I have to learn not to freak out myself as well.

lulubell15 · Jan 3, 2016

Thanks for the reply jenneh85. I'm still learning a lot about chickens as i've only been keeping them around 18 months. I have one white leghorn hen who has gone broody 3 times now & it was on her second time i got some fertile eggs from a neighbour. I placed 5 under her & just the 2 hatched. During the times she was broody the othe 8 hens just carried on as usual, but they do have 4 boxes to choose from. I have sometimes seen 2 girls in the same box. Lucky they all get on very well.

Eggs slowing down is normal?

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