Calling all experienced chicken farmers.....

henmommy

Songster
11 Years
Jul 17, 2008
101
2
121
Upstate NY
Here's my dilemma.... I have 13 18 month old girls (BO's, RIR, EE's, BR & Calf White). I feed them Blue Seal layer feed and they free range. I give them an occasional treat (recently added BOSS to their feed). For the last few months their egg production has declined. Most days I am getting 3-6 eggs (no green eggs for several days), I was getting 8-10 a day. They act healthy, one maybe moulting, but all others look good. I am just wondering if something is wrong, or is this normal after 1 year of laying? Days are getting shorter, so I added more light yesterday on a timer. Any thoughts? Just want to make sure they are healthly...seems too soon for them to be running out of gas.
 
That time of year. Mine have done the same, was getting 18 now 7-9. The Delawares haven't laid in 3 days so figure they have quit for the winter. I have a light in the big house but not in two small coops. They still slow down.
 
Thanks for the response. On another note, do you remember how old your marans were when they laid their first egg? any pics? are they really choc. brown? I brought 3 cuckcoo marans this spring, lost one and one turned into a BR (LOL!), so now I'm down to one.
 
Generally speaking, when there is less than 14 hrs of sunlight a day, the egg production will drop dramatically. In the wild, chickens don't want to raise a clutch in the dead of winter, so their bodies have no need to produce eggs.
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I have 28 hens and as of noon, I only have gotten 4 eggs. Supplementing light, as you mention, will help, just give a few days or a week to let their systems adjust to their "new" schedule.
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