Drop in egg production

[FarmerWife]

Hi,
I've got a question about egg production. All of a sudden our chickens have gone on strike, egg production has dropped by nearly half, and we sell our eggs. They're so slow now that I have back orders, and I never had that trouble. We were giving our chickens 20% protein feed, but heard that Nutrena was very good. So we did switch, and they inhale that feed like crazy. But why did the egg production slow down?? The weather is warm, days are longer, we haven't made any drastic changes in the coop, we do have a couple of broody hens, one of which I have pulled out of the coop and have her in a nesting box off by herself so nobody bothers her. The other is just plain stubborn, she wants to lay in that spot even if I remove the eggs other chickens lay by her spot. I have nesting boxes, but some prefer to lay in the corner of the coop. Anyway, I don't know what to make of this problem, but I need to solve it quick. Can anyone out there help me??

Thanks,
Dianna

 

[CheddarChicken]

Do you let your chickens free range? The only thing I can think of is that they found a more desirable nest elsewhere, like under a bush, etc. The same thing happened to me last year before I found a nest of 20+ eggs under a pricker bush.

 

[FarmerWife]

Do you let your chickens free range? The only thing I can think of is that they found a more desirable nest elsewhere, like under a bush, etc. The same thing happened to me last year before I found a nest of 20+ eggs under a pricker bush.

I'm hoping thats all it is, yes, I do let them free range, and lock them up at night. I've been looking under the bushes, but so far have not found any. Going to keep looking, hope I find a hidden nest somewhere, because for the life of me, I can't think why they would just drop off like that.

 

[sparrker]

Mine have to and I don't understand. Thy free range inside a large polynet, so no hidden eggs. I will try cayenne pepper and fermented feed to see if that helps.

 

[aart]

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for 2-3 days can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. They can be confined to coop 24/7 for a few days to a week, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it.


Break your broody...still might take awhile before she starts laying again tho.
My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a few bricks right in the coop and I would feed her some watered down crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.

 

[FarmerWife]

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for 2-3 days can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. They can be confined to coop 24/7 for a few days to a week, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it.


Break your broody...still might take awhile before she starts laying again tho.
My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a few bricks right in the coop and I would feed her some watered down crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.

I'll try that, I have a small pen that we use when we have a sick chicken. Today was even worse than yesterday, good grief.
Thanks!