The girls all but stopped laying Eggs

[Deputydawg]

I'm new at this, but I have 10 chickens about eight months old. At most I ever gotten was 7 eggs. Yesterday I went out to the coop and there were no eggs. It has decreased for the past month. I'm in Texas where it's hot and I heard that maybe the problem. I'm just not sure. I give them all the pellets and water they want. I did have 12 hens, but two have died. One died three months ago and one a week ago. I'm just at a lost to what I if anything I need to do. Any suggestion are welcome. Thanks

 

[aggiemae]

It's been a hot summer and that does slow things down some, Add some protein to their diet and make sure they always have water and maybe add some electrolytes (like SAV-A-CHICK) to that water.. I leave out a bowl of ice around mid day when it's over 90 degrees.

 

[Deputydawg]

Okay I'll try that. They have a auto watering bowel so they get plenty of water. It has been 105 here. Ill get some (like SAV-A-CHICK). I also put a fan in the coop to move some air around. thanks

 

[aggiemae]

You didn't mention why your two chickens died but I wanted to add that I have notice that if they survive the first week the next most common time for hatchery chickens to die is from around 6 mos to 12 mos old.. I can't think of any other reason for this besides genetic problems. Last year we got six hatchery chicks from the feed store, 2 didn't make it past the first 48 house and a third died right around 10 months old. She was waking around scratching with the flock I went in to answer the phone and when I came back out a few minutes later she was dead. We have had much better results with locally hatched chicks and have lost only one out of ten in the past two years.

 

[Deputydawg]

@aggiemae thanks for the info. I don't know why they died. I went to the coop one morning and she was dead. No signs of trauma or anything like that. All my hens came from a feed store, but I'm sure they got them from a hatchery. I have been a little frustrated with them, because when I had 13 (my dog got one :-( ) the most eggs I got was 8, I never figured which were laying and which weren't. I got two eggs today out of 10 hens.

I read some about feed them some fermented feed. Any one thinks that would help there health.

 

[Cindy in PA]

@aggiemae thanks for the info. I don't know why they died. I went to the coop one morning and she was dead. No signs of trauma or anything like that. All my hens came from a feed store, but I'm sure they got them from a hatchery. I have been a little frustrated with them, because when I had 13 (my dog got one :-( ) the most eggs I got was 8, I never figured which were laying and which weren't. I got two eggs today out of 10 hens.

I read some about feed them some fermented feed. Any one thinks that would help there health.

Most chickens will not lay an egg a day. If you were getting 8/13 they might have all been laying, but on different days. Over 20 years I have gotten 9/9 or 12/12 per day at times, but it not a regular thing most of the year. The ones that most consistently do that are the sex linked & even they cannot lay every day all the time in my experience. I think they say most chickens will lay 4-6 eggs a week, so they take days off.

 

[Deputydawg]

Okay this is more a moral question I guess. There is a lady down the road from me and she has chickens. Well she did then she didn't then she did. Let me explain, she had four hens and her pen just was bad. I offered some wire to help protect the chickens from dogs and such. Well the hens got out and were killed by dogs. So she was talking about getting some new hens and I told her I had plenty of wire and she was welcome to it. She refused and got more hens. You guessed, dogs got in and killed the hens. So I was talking to her about a month ago and she told me she was goingt o get some new hens. I insisted she take the wire I had and secure her pen. She took the wire but after looking at her pen I just new it was only a matter of time. You guessed, then hens got out, but I found them down at my house. There were a total of three hens. It was clear one had a close call with a dog, cause the leg was hurt. The other two just lost some feathers. So thanks for reading this far. So here is the question. Do I keep the hens and raise them. (I have them ina wire cage in the coupe) or give them back to the lady. Regardless if I know they will be dog food later. I am having a tough time with this, I know I should give them back, but I hate seeing her hens get killed. Thoughts??

 

[Bullitt]

@aggiemae thanks for the info. I don't know why they died. I went to the coop one morning and she was dead. No signs of trauma or anything like that. All my hens came from a feed store, but I'm sure they got them from a hatchery. I have been a little frustrated with them, because when I had 13 (my dog got one :-( ) the most eggs I got was 8, I never figured which were laying and which weren't. I got two eggs today out of 10 hens.

I read some about feed them some fermented feed. Any one thinks that would help there health.

Your chickens may have died from the heat. What breed or breeds are your chickens?

 

[sbhkma]

I'm in Texas too and the weather has been horridly hot, typical TX summer/fall. My birds free range and have access to shade all day and 2 water bowls which are fed by my AC drip lines plus an automatic waterer in the coop. I also keep bottles of water in the freezer and put one in each water bowl during the day, swapping them out around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I'm sure this has been a big help in keeping them from overheating all summer. They've been laying well for the last month or so - 5 birds giving me around 25-27 eggs a week. If yours don't free-range, I would make sure there's plenty of spaces for air flow in the coop & run, use the frozen water bottles in their waterer (I discovered mine actually like to stand belly deep in a wading pool to cool off-I use a shallow metal pig feeder). Make sure their run is shaded and perhaps even mist them in the afternoon to help them cool off. If you have birds with feathered feet, be aware that they don't do well in our summer heat spells and will really need some special cooling-off attention.

Although I've not used fermented feed, it's my understanding it's a great way to feed chickens. There's a ton of info on that here on these boards.
At least we're halfway through September now and the weather is starting to cool off - next week's prediction is only the upper 80's to low 90's!