need help with egg production/egg eaters.

[raspeary]

So back in the summer my egg production dropped. I took it as normal since i had two broodies out of seven. I have 7 chickens all together, 5 bo's and 2 RIR's. But at the same time, I started to buy the country max layer crumbles/mash. Right around the same time as switching them to the country max food egg production dropped....which we reallly didn't think it was the food at that point, just having the 2 broodies. Egg production still hasn't kicked backup and i'm only getting between 0-3 eggs a day, from 1 1/1 year old hens. We think there might also be some egg eating going on, i put oyster shell in the coop for them but they don't realy eat it, the just knock it down because they won't go out in the snow, so they remain in their coop all day and night. I've tried the soap egg trick three times, now. The first two times it worked but last time i put it in their, it didn't seem to be effective. I haven't seen any remnents of eggs but like i said, theyare stayin in 24/7 so they probably got all the shells.

Any body got suggestions on how to increase egg production. Since then, I am mixing my last bag of country max feed with a bag from local mill that I had good luck with before.

getting frustrated and my egg buyers are disappoointed

 

[Eastins Eggs]

Are you running lights, this is very important in the winter with shorter daylight hours. There is a very good chance your feed may also be your problem. We have tried many different feed mixes over the years and have discovered that types of feed can drastically effect egg production. Usually if you are having an egg eating problem you will see evidence of this in the nests with bits of shell and wet egg mess in the nests, chickens are very messy eaters.

 

[panner123]

With only a few chickens, you may not have the space to check for egg eaters. If you think you can manage it, take 1 hen at a time and keep her seperated from the others for a couple of days. By the time you have done this with all of them, you should know which hen is the egg eater. If the eggs continue to dissappear, you have a shunk or other animal getting the eggs. Forgot to tell you how to ure an egg eatting chicken, it is called fried chicken.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Mine show little interest in oyster shell. When one of my hens started getting thin shells, I took my backlog of eggs and made them a high-calcium treat .

 

[Sueg4332]

I dont know about anyone elses chickens but if one starts eating a egg they all fight over it. They run around the yard chasing the bird with the egg. They all love eggs. Good luck