Coop Behaviour & Egg Laying

[smkirch84]

Hi, this is my first post. I have been reading posts for about a year now. So my issue is that when I introduced my chickens to their coop last summer (hatched april 2018) they did not go into to the coop house on thier own. They would perch in the run. I got in the habit of transfering them to the house everynight. Mostly because I was concerned about predator protection. I finally decided to stop doing this about a month ago when the temps started staying about freezing at night. And I was honestly tired of doing so. Since then a couple other things happened, we got a new chicken, one got clipped by a motorcycle and another broke her toe. Needless to say the egg production has dropped dramatically. last year I was getting 8 for 8 almost daily. Now we are down to 3 to 5 eggs per day. My question is do you think I should start putting them back in the house each night? Is there some other way to get them into the house on their own? Or is it just the stress of what has gone on over the last month? Mainly should I make sure they are in the coop house, enclosed every night? the other stress factors will work out thru time, but the housing I can change.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photo of your set up (both coop and run) would help with troubleshooting why they're not going in. Possible issues are overcrowding, lack of ventilation, lack of light, or just something about the layout that the chickens don't like.

 

[aart]

Yes, please post dimensions and pics of your coop and run.

we adopted a mostly white ( a few black feathers) w/ red comb girl ( unknown breed). She is half the size of my other 7 girls so incorporating her into the flock was a painful month of a chicken in the house most of the time.

When was this new bird added.....and was that when the egg production dropped??


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[smkirch84]

The new bird arrived in februrary & was slowly introduced will finally fully in the coop by the end of March. Production slowed in last 1 1/2 weeks. Coop house is 3 x 5, large run 6 x 10, smaller part of manufactured run 5 x 5. I am in western NY

 

[smkirch84]

 

[aart]

Coop is pretty darn too small for 8 birds.
Do you put up weather proofing on runs during winter?
I would guess that crowding stress may be why the lack of eggs.

 

[smkirch84]

Aart, maybe you misunderstood my question. The hens laid pretty much 1 egg per day when they were put into the house by me daily. Now that they are roosting in the run they are laying less. They have 1.5 sf per bird in the coop, which can be considered too small but they have never shown stress, pecking, illness in the 9 months they were in the coop each night. They have enough roost space in there totaling 10 linear feet. Thanks

 

[rosemarythyme]

. They have 1.5 sf per bird in the coop, which can be considered too small but they have never shown stress, pecking, illness in the 9 months they were in the coop each night. They have enough roost space in there totaling 10 linear feet. Thanks

Sorry I have to agree with aart, the coop is too small, lacking ventilation and light, and that's why they're choosing to sleep in the run when there's a nice, high roost and plenty of fresh air.

Also if there's 10 linear feet of roost inside the coop when the coop measures 3x5, then those roosts aren't ideal as they'd have to be too close together to be practical.

As far as eggs, they're a year older now. Production is highest in the first year, though it doesn't usually drop off so dramatically. The run looks pretty well secured so I doubt something is getting in to eat the eggs...

 

[smkirch84]

Ok thank you everyone, I appreciate the feedback. Guess we will make sure run is secure and protected im the winter and not worry about it