30 hens, 1 egg? Terrible egg production!

[katiemdenne]

I have 25 Australorp hens, 2 dorking hens, and 2 Orpington hens. It is the dead of winter here in Western Canada, and my ladies have all but stopped producing eggs! We have installed a light (bright enough to read a newspaper) in the coop, on a timer that gives them 14 hours of natural light a day. They have oyster shell supplements, a lovely coop, they free-range all day on 5 acres, and they should be HAPPY. Any suggestions as to whats going on? They were born last spring and summer. My only thought is that they have had mites, but we've treated them extensively. They seem fine in that regard.

 

[Choco Maran]

You do not say how old just that they are late spring early summer. Mine are all June 22 born and are all starting to lay now. I have about 45 hens and I get any where from 4 to 20 eggs a day right now. I have a light on 24/7. They get a 22% layer from Onate (New Mexico brand I think) Calf Manna supplement and I add 5% of their daily feed in Diaetimous Earth. ( not spelled right) aka Perma-Guard, aka Fossil Shell Flour all food grade and that has seemed to help alot. Eggs production depends on weather we are having a real cold and windy spell right now. The more wind and cold it is the lower the eggs. They have a nice 12X12 coop with a 12X48 yard. I can not let them truly free range because of hawks, eagles, and coycotes. Hope this helps a little. Good luck

 

[chooniecat]

I personally wouldn't leave a light on 24/7 (for chickens sake) but, yes, I think if they are JUST starting to lay it may take a while. My 7 month olds are doing better now.

 

[AngryRooster]

Don't worry. My hens are like this too in the winter, so keep the lights in the coop on and hope for the best!

 

[jean villarreal]

My hens are marans, delaware, rhodes, barred rocks, and easter eggers. My delaware and maran hens were born in March 2012. All the rest are 18 mos to two years. The older ones layed fine until late October. Since then, I have not had one egg. I am from South Texas so I know it is not the change in climate because there is not. Except going from high nineties farenheit to seventies. Any suggestions?

 

[lahowardjr]

Two eggs out of fourteen hens today. I have twelve Buff Orphingtons and two marans and culled my roosters last week.

 

[spikey 707]

We have 5 laying hens. Sex-a-links they are called. We were always just getting 2 eggs a day sometimes 3 for the longest time. I did some research on the internet and found out that the chickens need high protein to produce eggs. It makes sense. Every morning now we give them cooked soybeans along with sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and rolled oats. They love it. Just 2 tablespoons of the beans. In the afternoon same thing. And I swear the day after or 2nd day we were getting 4 to 5 eggs a day!! And it is now winter and they are still laying those eggs. Try it. The soybeans need to be soaked overnight and cooked for at least 15 min. to kill off something the beans have in them. good luck.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

My Orpington hen born in may was laying daily but stopped about a week ago. The Brahma is still laying every other day. However, I do not have supplemental lighting. Did you just install the light or have you had it on for awhile?

 

[EggieRowe]

With my my previous flock of RIRs, laying started up again after putting in a 25 watt bulb that came on at 5:30 am until sunrise and came back on at 4:30 to 7:30 pm. They never quit, but out if six I was getting one egg every 2nd/3rd day. The light took about 5 days to get them back to 5-6 a day.

 

[K-9Dog]

if they are free ranging - good chance they are laying all over the place. a friend down the road lets his 5 free range and he found 9 eggs in a rim of an old tire and a few more all over the place - so now he has no clue how old any of the eggs are and he finds them randomly. I get 3 eggs almost daily from 4 chickens and the 1 may be a dud. some days he gets 2 eggs out of 5 so go figure. the free range ones seem to find their own places to lay and they do not just lay in the AM before you let them out.