10 laying hens, 6-8 eggs a day, then all of a sudden--nothing! Just one egg a day, from just one hen! What is going on?!
They're not molting--we've had chickens for 4 years, and here in GA they don't molt until October/November.
The summer heat can reduce egg production, but usually it just cuts it in half--nothing this drastic! Plus, we've had an exceptionally mild summer: upper 80's instead of upper 90's. We did just have a rainy cold snap where it was in the mid. 70's for a few days, but the eggs stopped coming a few days before that, and now we're back up near 90 and still no eggs.
The flock just had a regime change, where the secondary rooster decided he wanted to be the dominant rooster. I had to split the flock into 2 separate pens. All of the laying hens are with the originally dominate rooster and have access to the nesting boxes, and the second rooster is with the younger hens not yet laying. Could the stress between the 2 roosters have something to do with it?
Could they be sick?
Does anyone have any ideas?
They're not molting--we've had chickens for 4 years, and here in GA they don't molt until October/November.
The summer heat can reduce egg production, but usually it just cuts it in half--nothing this drastic! Plus, we've had an exceptionally mild summer: upper 80's instead of upper 90's. We did just have a rainy cold snap where it was in the mid. 70's for a few days, but the eggs stopped coming a few days before that, and now we're back up near 90 and still no eggs.
The flock just had a regime change, where the secondary rooster decided he wanted to be the dominant rooster. I had to split the flock into 2 separate pens. All of the laying hens are with the originally dominate rooster and have access to the nesting boxes, and the second rooster is with the younger hens not yet laying. Could the stress between the 2 roosters have something to do with it?
Could they be sick?
Does anyone have any ideas?