Cinnamon Queen hens and laying...

[hvhendrick]

I have 4 Cinnamon Queen hens and a rhode island red rooster who loves his ladies. However, when If irst got the girls, they were laying 5-7 eggs a day between them all. However, now I am lucky if I get 2. i am feeding laying mash and corn, scratch and oyster shells and of course pleanty of water and they have a yard to scratch in and catch bugs etc. what can I do to see more eggs?

 

[redsoxs]

First of all, welcome to BYC!! Glad you joined us! Certain things influence laying. How old are your birds? Years one and two are prime time for production. Maybe this time of year the biggest culprit is length of day. As the days shorten eggs production wanes. Hens need 14 hours of light per day for consistent production. They will still lay in the months of "shorter" days but they won't be as prolific. Another thing this time of year is the molt. A lot of energy that would normally go into egg production goes instead to generating new feathers. These are a couple things that could explain your egg decline. Hope it helps!