40 hens laying only 2-4 eggs per day this winter??? please help!

[unclejohn]

So my hens were laying only about 16-23 eggs per day. Even though there are 40 of them.

But then a series of events happened and now I'm down to 2-4 per day. This is driving me nuts!

All in the same week I got a new puppy, who I bring with me into the coop because I want to train him to be friendly with the birds. That same week I got two new roosters and did away with the old guy. Also that same week the weather turned bitterly cold.
That was about 3 weeks ago though and now they are all used to the new roosters and only 2 or 3 hens still freak out from the dog. The rest come right up to him and don't seem bothered by him at all anymore.

I have a good lighting schedule in there, a timer and a bulb in each coop. They also didn't lay well all summer long for some reason. I should be getting more than 20 eggs from 40 chickens.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Spartan22]

What kind of hens do you have? And how old are they? Any possibility of mites? Or fleas?

 

[Old Philosopher]

IMO, it's pretty normal for a hen to lay every other day. While it's true that, depending upon breed, a hen might lay 200+ eggs over the course of a year, I always seem to get half the number of eggs per day as the number of hens I have. 20 eggs per day for 40 birds wouldn't worry me.
But the decline you've seen sounds like what I'm going through this winter. Late last fall we culled the cockerels from the Summer hatch, and introduced the new pullets to the flock. Then we had a sudden cold snap which lasted about a week. I was late getting the lighting into the coop, also. Long story short, the whole flock went into molt, which this time lasted almost a month.

The molt is over, and the pullets are now hens. My problem is my two Americanas haven't started laying yet. Last Fall, they were out-laying the Australorpes 3:1. Now, nothing! I haven't had any eggs from either of my two for over two months.

I'm now getting 5 eggs a day from 9 hens, but they are all coming from the young hens. Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'm wondering if it's possible for two 3 year old hens to go into "chicken menopause" at the same time, and just be done?

 

[unclejohn]

IMO, it's pretty normal for a hen to lay every other day. While it's true that, depending upon breed, a hen might lay 200+ eggs over the course of a year, I always seem to get half the number of eggs per day as the number of hens I have. 20 eggs per day for 40 birds wouldn't worry me.
But the decline you've seen sounds like what I'm going through this winter. Late last fall we culled the cockerels from the Summer hatch, and introduced the new pullets to the flock. Then we had a sudden cold snap which lasted about a week. I was late getting the lighting into the coop, also. Long story short, the whole flock went into molt, which this time lasted almost a month.

The molt is over, and the pullets are now hens. My problem is my two Americanas haven't started laying yet. Last Fall, they were out-laying the Australorpes 3:1. Now, nothing! I haven't had any eggs from either of my two for over two months.

I'm now getting 5 eggs a day from 9 hens, but they are all coming from the young hens. Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'm wondering if it's possible for two 3 year old hens to go into "chicken menopause" at the same time, and just be done?

That molting you're talking about maybe is what's happening to some of mine. I did notice they were all starting to go featherless, and now they all seem to be growing their feathers back. Though it's only about 7 or so birds. Hmm I hope mine start laying again soon!

 

[Old Philosopher]

That molting you're talking about maybe is what's happening to some of mine. I did notice they were all starting to go featherless, and now they all seem to be growing their feathers back. Though it's only about 7 or so birds. Hmm I hope mine start laying again soon!

I go through a winter molt every year. Shorter days, colder nights.... Chickens are like house plants, you can only fool them so much with lights and heat.

Be prepared. I don't know how long your flock as been a unit, but you'll eventually get a bunch of them all getting on the same cycle of molting. With 40 birds, you might not have too much of an issue, but with around a dozen, they all molt at the same time.

My Americanas were supreme layers, and this dry spell has me bummed. I lecture them every night, and show them pictures of Col. Sanders.....

 

[unclejohn]

I go through a winter molt every year. Shorter days, colder nights.... Chickens are like house plants, you can only fool them so much with lights and heat.

Be prepared. I don't know how long your flock as been a unit, but you'll eventually get a bunch of them all getting on the same cycle of molting. With 40 birds, you might not have too much of an issue, but with around a dozen, they all molt at the same time.

My Americanas were supreme layers, and this dry spell has me bummed. I lecture them every night, and show them pictures of Col. Sanders.....

hahaha! col.Sanders lol. I tell my hens things like that a lot too. I've turned a couple of the older hens into a nice slow cooker dish already. They were laying badly even before though. I was just in there and at least 11 are in molt that I could tell. All kinds of very fluffy feathers sticking out all over.

 

[Keith W]

So my hens were laying only about 16-23 eggs per day. Even though there are 40 of them.

But then a series of events happened and now I'm down to 2-4 per day. This is driving me nuts!

All in the same week I got a new puppy, who I bring with me into the coop because I want to train him to be friendly with the birds. That same week I got two new roosters and did away with the old guy. Also that same week the weather turned bitterly cold.
That was about 3 weeks ago though and now they are all used to the new roosters and only 2 or 3 hens still freak out from the dog. The rest come right up to him and don't seem bothered by him at all anymore.

I have a good lighting schedule in there, a timer and a bulb in each coop. They also didn't lay well all summer long for some reason. I should be getting more than 20 eggs from 40 chickens.

Thanks in advance for any input.

i have about 80 chickens (Wyndott, Brahmas, Rhode Island reds, some mixed breed brown egg layers, and Im getting 1 or 2 eggs a day. i do not have artifical lighting in the coop. The days are starting to get longer now. Ive removed all but 3 roosters. I can not determine what causes this, but Ive experienced it before, so Im not real concerned. I have enough eggs to last until the situation is corrected. I hope! We just experienced record cold weather (-4 F) here in Texas with 9 consecutive days staying below freezing. All the birds survived, but food consumption went down. In my previous experiences when they recover they all recover at the same time. Last time I cleaned out the coop and put out DE, and they started laying the next day, but I do not know if that had anything to do with their egg production. fewer roosters has seemed to help with egg production, I think thats from lees stress on the hens