16 hens...2-3 eggs per day

[Layzedee]

I have 16 hens that I know are laying age...all 1.5 years old. I have another 10 that are approaching laying age.

I know some are molting because the coup has more feathers in it. However, should I only be getting 2-4 eggs per day? We have killed 2 black snakes this summer that I wondered if spooked them.

I did find two nests that were "hidden" and disrupted them. I haven't found any other hidden ones since.

The other strange thing is they only lay in 1 nest...I have 6 that are all together and almost identical. I even added two nest boxes in the coup to see if that made them more comfortable.

My flock free-ranges all day and are locked up at night. They have access to feed, water and oyster shell all day long.


So frustrating to buy feed...they are chow hounds....and get no return on that investment. I know I won't ever break even, but geez!

I just started chicken keeping last spring so every time something happens or changes, I'm just not sure.

Any advice?

Thank you!

 

[cafarmgirl]

Egg production generally does drop off this time of year due to the onset of molt as well as the shorter daylight hours. Since you've already found a couple of hidden nests there may be more. It's amazing where they can cram themselves into when they want to hide a nest. But I'd suspect the biggest cause is molt and shorter days.