12 hens =2 eggs a day Road Island Reds

[darrel99]

Two months a got I got twelve hens and one rooster. I new so i started from scratch . I got a coop , feeders, waters fencing and waited for my eggs to come in. what I read about RIRs is that they lay 5 to 6 eggs a week meaning that with 12 birds normally I get 60 to 72 eggs a weeks .I am getting 12 to 14 eggs a week, something is wrong but I cant fix it if I don't know what to fix. any ideas?

 

[hysop]

How old are the hens?

What are you feeding them?

Do you have a picture of them?

Are they healthy?

 

[WindingRoad]

Two months a got I got twelve hens and one rooster. I new so i started from scratch . I got a coop , feeders, waters fencing and waited for my eggs to come in. what I read about RIRs is that they lay 5 to 6 eggs a week meaning that with 12 birds normally I get 60 to 72 eggs a weeks .I am getting 12 to 14 eggs a week, something is wrong but I cant fix it if I don't know what to fix. any ideas?

Were these hens given to you. Want percentage feed are you giving. Them are they getting an full day of sunshine now? How old are they. Are they eating eggs, see below I have 2 RIR's They lay most days. I have 13 Chickens. All laying. My White Leghorns lay most every day. Larger than 70 grams. They were laying back in September when I got them so figured they were hatched some time May-June of earlier. My other birds are laying pretty good. Get 9-12 eggs a day. They are still eating eggs. They don't eat white eggs to often. Shells are very hard. I am gonna do the sloped board in the back and another board up high enough for eggs to clear and and roll under it . I tried the hot sauce/ mustard trick. They like hot sauce/mustard. EEEEEEEEE. I tried fake eggs they like to brood them. I have a BR that will collect eggs in a box and brood them too. At least she is protecting them from being eaten. LOL.

 

[darrel99]

I bought them and they were young pullets 2 months ago . I feed them purena layers crumbles. they get out of the coop at daylight . I don't see any sign of egg eating.

 

[hysop]

I bought them and they were young pullets 2 months ago . I feed them purena layers crumbles. they get out of the coop at daylight . I don't see any sign of egg eating.

How old exactly. Maybe they haven’t started laying yet. RIR start laying around 18-20 weeks.
How much and how often do you feed them? Some people prefer to free feed their chickens. (I don’t but that’s just me).

 

[darrel99]

I don't know the hatch date for my birds but I have had them for 7 weeks and they started laying 2 eggs a weeks 6 weeks ago but early on one egg was always thin shell so I added oysters shells .

 

[hysop]

I don't know the hatch date for my birds but I have had them for 7 weeks and they started laying 2 eggs a weeks 6 weeks ago but early on one egg was always thin shell so I added oysters shells .

How much do you feed them?
At the least it should be 3/4 cups per bird. But some free feed all day.

 

[WindingRoad]

I bought them and they were young pullets 2 months ago . I feed them purena layers crumbles. they get out of the coop at daylight . I don't see any sign of egg eating.

My birds will eat ALL of the egg. The only telltale sign is a wet spot in the nest box. No matter what I do my birds will scratch every last piece of bedding in the nest box so it's easy to see when they've eaten and egg. Big sticky wet place on the floor. Funny they don't eat eggs in the top box. And some of them don't like the fake eggs in the box so they lay on the coop floor in a corner right outside the nest box. They tend to lay outside too. I guess they don't get the urge quick enough to get into the coop/nest box. My RIR will lay outside right after I let them out for their morning meal worms. IDK what to tell you. Are you sure you don't have some Roos.....

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Are your hens confined to a fenced run and a coop with nests, so you can be absolutely sure you know where the eggs are being laid? The eggs cannot be being laid out in tall grasses or under a porch or other building somewhere, where you can't find them, in a secret, hidden nest? Don't laugh, one poster has 3 hens and recently found a stash of 76 eggs she didn't know her girls were hiding! . Those sneaky girls!

 

[WindingRoad]

Are your hens confined to a fenced run and a coop with nests, so you can be absolutely sure you know where the eggs are being laid? The eggs cannot be being laid out in tall grasses or under a porch or other building somewhere, where you can't find them, in a secret, hidden nest? Don't laugh, one poster has 3 hens and recently found a stash of 76 eggs she didn't know her girls were hiding! . Those sneaky girls!

I keep count every day. When I get to 12 eggs I stop looking. LOL. Laying them on the coop floor is not a problem. I can see them. The other day I let them out and one of my RIR's laid in between the feed barrels. I saw it the next morning. It was cold but not broken. Funny my girls won't eat eggs laid on the coop floor or outside. BTW I only have 13 chickens. So 12 a day is a good number. I also keep track of how many they eat. It's kinda funny. If I go into town for a couple of hours they don't eat eggs. I came back one day and found 5 eggs in the corner. Brown and white. But if I'm home and don't go out every hour when I do go out I will find them eating an egg. Some days even when I'm home they don't eat. Other days they eat. No rhythm or reason.