Chickens laying less eggs

[aart]

Well, one of those roosts is higher.
How long are roosts and how many birds do you have?
Spacing of lower roosts is tight.
12" diff in height, and 12-18" horizontal spacing works pretty good.
Blocking off top of nests would be good, not sure how tho.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

One thing I notice is how dark it is in the coop. I would get out a saw and make a bunch of big windows. Lighting is very important for ovulation.
While it is true that heat stress can slow egg laying and for most breeds, I like foot baths.
What really stood out to me is that at a time of the year when production should be at the highest for a flock of hens, the first post said that egg size was getting smaller over time and number of eggs were continually declining.
In order to help reverse this trend, I need to know exactly what the hens eat every day. I need to know the crude protein percentage of the feed and anything else fed, whether it be scratch, treats or whatever. How much of the total intake is that chicken feed?
Adequate crude protein and especially attention to essential amino acids are necessary for acceptable ovulation rates. The lower the protein, the smaller the yolks. The smaller the yolks, the smaller the eggs.
Insufficient protein can prevent ovulation completely.
I was at a local feed mill and a guy in there wanted to buy some of my hens. I asked him why. He said his hens were broken. They were under two years of age but had stopped laying completely. I asked him what he was feeding. He said, "corn". I said, "what else?" He said, "just corn". I said, "you're starving them". I told him to buy a proper chicken feed, stop the corn completely. Within 3 weeks his birds had all resumed laying.

 

[HarleyBarley]

One thing I notice is how dark it is in the coop. I would get out a saw and make a bunch of big windows. Lighting is very important for ovulation.
While it is true that heat stress can slow egg laying and for most breeds, I like foot baths.
What really stood out to me is that at a time of the year when production should be at the highest for a flock of hens, the first post said that egg size was getting smaller over time and number of eggs were continually declining.
In order to help reverse this trend, I need to know exactly what the hens eat every day. I need to know the crude protein percentage of the feed and anything else fed, whether it be scratch, treats or whatever. How much of the total intake is that chicken feed?
Adequate crude protein and especially attention to essential amino acids are necessary for acceptable ovulation rates. The lower the protein, the smaller the yolks. The smaller the yolks, the smaller the eggs.
Insufficient protein can prevent ovulation completely.
I was at a local feed mill and a guy in there wanted to buy some of my hens. I asked him why. He said his hens were broken. They were under two years of age but had stopped laying completely. I asked him what he was feeding. He said, "corn". I said, "what else?" He said, "just corn". I said, "you're starving them". I told him to buy a proper chicken feed, stop the corn completely. Within 3 weeks his birds had all resumed laying.

They eat purina later feed. The roosts are 5' long and I only have 8 birds. The eggs are few today but large. I also gave them a big block of ice in the shade today as well.

 

[HarleyBarley]

One thing I notice is how dark it is in the coop. I would get out a saw and make a bunch of big windows. Lighting is very important for ovulation.
While it is true that heat stress can slow egg laying and for most breeds, I like foot baths.
What really stood out to me is that at a time of the year when production should be at the highest for a flock of hens, the first post said that egg size was getting smaller over time and number of eggs were continually declining.
In order to help reverse this trend, I need to know exactly what the hens eat every day. I need to know the crude protein percentage of the feed and anything else fed, whether it be scratch, treats or whatever. How much of the total intake is that chicken feed?
Adequate crude protein and especially attention to essential amino acids are necessary for acceptable ovulation rates. The lower the protein, the smaller the yolks. The smaller the yolks, the smaller the eggs.
Insufficient protein can prevent ovulation completely.
I was at a local feed mill and a guy in there wanted to buy some of my hens. I asked him why. He said his hens were broken. They were under two years of age but had stopped laying completely. I asked him what he was feeding. He said, "corn". I said, "what else?" He said, "just corn". I said, "you're starving them". I told him to buy a proper chicken feed, stop the corn completely. Within 3 weeks his birds had all resumed laying.

Any treats they get are usually just vegetables scraps from preparing dinner and occasionally I'll hang a cabbage for them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is layer feed all they eat? No scratch, treats or other foods?

 

[HarleyBarley]

Is layer feed all they eat? No scratch, treats or other foods?

Occasionally they'll get squash or zucchini, bell peppers or tomato scraps when I'm preparing dinner, or I might hang a cabbage everyone once in a while but we stay away from the treats. My neighbor is growing okra and stuff which they try to get into

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So you did have a predator attack a few days ago and that stress could inhibit ovulation.
Have we ever heard what breeds of chickens you have?

 

[HarleyBarley]

1

So you did have aa predator attack a few days ago anad that stress could inhibit ovulation.
Have we ever heard what breeds of chickens you have?

1 barred rock, a little over a year old
3 barnevelders, under a year
1 silver laced wyandotte, under a year
2 barn yard mixes, 1 over a year and 1 under a year
1 juvenile rooster. Unsure of his age but as he doesn't have spurs and only started the crow about a month ago we're guess he's young

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Occasionally they'll get squash or zucchini, bell peppers or tomato scraps when I'm preparing dinner, or I might hang a cabbage everyone once in a while but we stay away from the treats. My neighbor is growing okra and stuff which they try to get into

There's nothing wrong with feeding table scraps. It is a great use of that bounty. But if feeding very many, one should find a way to increase protein. While feeding vegetable scraps, which are very low in protein, don't avoid also feeding meat and fish scraps.
Purina Layena is 16% crude protein. If you don't have meat or fish, just switch to a higher protein feed.
If only 10% of the diet is vegetable scraps, coupled with layer feed, you could be dropping the total protein to 14% which is too low for productively producing eggs. Add to that the fact that crude protein is only part of the picture. Vegetables are very low in some of the essential amino acids chickens need like lysine, and methionine, cystine and tryptophan.