Less eggs suddenly/Too young to be broody?

[Pmc3697]

Hi all,
I have 2 questions.

I have 4 hens (3 barred rock and 1 miscellaneous red). They started laying just about a month ago. For a while I was getting 3-4 eggs a day, all of a sudden it's dropped to 1-2. Is this due to the days getting shorter, something missing in their diet, or should I search for someplace else they might be laying?

Next issue, 1 of the barred rocks is acting broody. She's 6 months old and hasn't been around a rooster for over 2 months. Is she too young to be broody?

Background- Fed them grower feed until they started laying, then switched them to layer feed. they get cracked corn, meal worms, fruit and veggies for treats. There is grit provided and I added oyster shell available when I had some soft shell eggs about 10 days ago.

Any info you can provide would be great. Thanks! Paula

 

[sourland]

Shortening day length may be a factor, a hidden nest may be a factor and a hen going broody is a factor in decreased egg production. 6 months is somewhat unusual but not unheard of for a hen to go broody

 

[SniperGoose]

Chickens generally don't produce a lot of eggs this time of year. My egg production is down quite a bit given the shorter days/less sun/etc. Do you free-range your chickens, or are they in some sort of enclosure all day? If you free-range them, they could definitely have other nests you don't know about. That was the case with mine when I used to free-range them. So definitely look around for that.

As for the broody issue, I've never personally had a hen go broody at that young of age, but it can definitely happen. She should snap out of it soon enough.

 

[aart]

or should I search for someplace else they might be laying?

I'd bet this is the issue.
Is that their coop/run she's sitting on?
She has a very full crop!