Crazy non existent egg laying.

[arringurl]

I have a beautiful flock of Buff Orpington's, 12 girls and my Bruce (rooster). They have literally quit laying eggs, on an average day, we get 3, not good! They're past molting, have a good balanced diet from Purina, lots of free range time, good clean water, etc. We cut back on the feed, thinking maybe they were getting to fat, still 3 eggs a day. Any suggestions? We live in Fl, the heat has been unbearable, but, they have great air flow and plenty of shade. Please help!

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

How many hours of light are they getting? I think 14 is what you want for max production.

Gary

 

[coach723]

How old are they? The older they get the longer it takes to come back into lay after time off, like from molting, they also tend to take more time off when the hours of daylight decrease. I have some older birds that stop laying at molt and don't start again until spring.

 

[arringurl]

How many hours of light are they getting? I think 14 is what you want for max production.

Gary

They're in the light from sun up til sundown. I don't think that's the problem.

 

[Shadrach]

Age makes a lot of difference. The eldest here at 9 years old laid 7 eggs this year. The two youngest hens, just over a year lay most days.

 

[arringurl]

How old are they? The older they get the longer it takes to come back into lay after time off, like from molting, they also tend to take more time off when the hours of daylight decrease. I have some older birds that stop laying at molt and don't start again until spring.

The whole flock is 3 y/o, we still have about 13 hours of daylight, each day. I might try putting a light in the coop, though!

 

[Chickassan]

How far past molting? It can take a few months for laying to resume it normally isn't a couple of weeks kind of thing. Ohhh and you just posted your flock is 3 years old, your egg production isn't going to be top notch it goes down every year.

 

[coach723]

Sun up til sundown gets shorter in the winter. They are much more sensitive to changes in hours of daylight than we are. Where I am in the middle of summer my coop door doesn't close until 9 PM, it's closing now at 7:45 PM, It's also opening later in the morning, days are getting shorter. The lengthening days in the spring will trigger an up tick in laying again. The older they get the more sensitive they are, the more time off their bodies need. You will usually start to see a drop off in frequency of laying starting after about 2 years old, that can vary by breed. You can increase laying by adding supplemental light, but that can also shorten their lives. Depends on what your priorities are, lots of eggs, or having them live longer lives.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

They're in the light from sun up til sundown. I don't think that's the problem.

Uhm... Yes it is. Right now Florida is getting 12 hours and 13 minutes of sunlight. Not enough, and getting less each day.

Gary

 

[WVduckchick]

I'm still getting 12 hours and 56 minutes of daylight. Of course I have a couple breeds that go inside their coops sooner than others too, so their daylight is even less. My young girls are still laying well, have some new layers that just started within the last 3 weeks. I do think my older girls have stopped.