Current Internet Theory

[affacat]

Total or average per day?

Average. We were down to 2-4 a day at our worst, that was resolved. 9 isn't the end of the world but it still feels like a low-ball average, like bottom rung of acceptable.

 

[miss heny]

Lowkey wonder if some of the people with missing eggs are getting Punked by their birds said hens off hiding eggs somewhere to attempt to hatch fifty chicks.

 

[saysfaa]

Lowkey wonder if some of the people with missing eggs are getting Punked by their birds said hens off hiding eggs somewhere to attempt to hatch fifty chicks.

Some, maybe. Most people (that I've seen say they are affected) say that is the first thing they thought of and that they looked thoroughly for eggs in unusual places.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Lowkey wonder if some of the people with missing eggs are getting Punked by their birds said hens off hiding eggs somewhere to attempt to hatch fifty chicks.

Had a bantam hen about 50 years ago that brought in 18 chicks one afternoon... she could barely cover them after a week but all survived to maturity.

 

[miss heny]

Had a bantam hen about 50 years ago that brought in 18 chicks one afternoon... she could barely cover them after a week but all survived to maturity.

My front flock, I got two hens who will 95% always go broody together and raise a horde of fluffy nuggets. Most make it to maturity

 

[miss heny]

Some, maybe. Most people (that I've seen say they are affected) say that is the first thing they thought of and that they looked thoroughly for eggs in unusual places.

Yeah, I have had some stupidly creative birds on where they hide and hatch (little nock up in the roof of a barn).

 

[Sally PB]

wonder if some of the people with missing eggs are getting Punked by their birds said hens off hiding eggs somewhere to attempt to hatch fifty chicks.

Not in my case, as they don't free range. I have looked around the coop and run thoroughly. I got 2 yesterday, and none so far today.

 

[affacat]

If the mills are running a little behind on production, they may be cleaning out all the back corners of the warehouses and selling all the old feed that was sitting there forgotten. That could make a sudden jump in how many stores were selling old feed, for a few weeks or months until the old stock was all moved out.

That would not account for everyone who is having trouble, but it might explain some of them.

I strongly suspect that the flocks with laying issues will turn out to have several different causes, not all the same. Some may be old feed, some may be defective feed, some may be daylength, some may bad weather, some may be older hens, some may be molting, etc.

I absolutely understand your hesitance to fear the worst. And you're absolutely correct there are enough variables that there is potential for whatever is going on to just be a congruence of ill coincidences. I know I significantly upped production by upgrading our chickens routines and situation. But at the same time, that doesn't mean something isn't going on with the feed, either.

Unrelated to that thought:

As mentioned I keep most of my feedbags to use for trash, cat litter, things destroyed by the dogs, etc. I went through them all and I'd say all are dated the month of purchase. (That is I have a bunch of Januaries, then a grouping of Decembers, then a grouping of Novembers, etc. The only odd one out was a payback bag dated 1/6/22 but surrounded by December 22s and 1/12/23s and bought together with the January's so I'm wondering if they just forgot to switch the year on that.

Anyway, point is it's unlikely that its old feed causing any of my issues. While I'd have to check receipts to be sure, I'd estimate all feed I buy is less than 2 weeks old (as mentioned I live around a livestock friendly area).

Also potentially unrelated, i also had this issue with a bag of feed last week in a January bag:

I assume this means moisture got into the bag and I'm not going to feed the rest to the chickens for fear of mold contamination.

 

[miss heny]

Not in my case, as they don't free range. I have looked around the coop and run thoroughly. I got 2 yesterday, and none so far today.

That why I said some.

Though, I do wonder if folks worm their birds often? Within the goat world high worm count can effect milk production. I'm guilty of not worming my hens (They free range however I will be radically changing our set up this year including worming routine.)

 

[ChickNanny13]

That looks like these labels from 2021 - note that they are held side by side in the original post, and have DIFFERENT ingredients, but the same nutritional formulation. There are numbers on the bag which I ssupect identify the plant and recipe - but they differ from Kiki's spreadsheet (Met came UP 0.05%)

61HM-RIV-A 14 and 61HM-RIV E 15

I had an "issue" with FR a few years ago ... Long story short, I ended up dealing with Purina which is owned by Land O'Lakes in MN. Learned that ingredients are "changed" depending on availability, however the nutritional value remains the same. Also learned to READ your labels ... FR feed is Manufactured By or Manufactured For ... I've noticed it's the Crumbles that many times is Manufactured For, I can smell & see the difference although the nutritional value remains the same.

End of December went to get feed, TSC here has not been able to get crumbles but have been sent pellets. So I purchased a bag, shocked when I opened it. I've never seen it so "yellow". Unfortunately I had cleaned out my files to make room, shredded years of labels collected over the years, so no way I could check ingredients.

Haven't had any laying stoppage with my girls (3; WTG, WTB/Maran, EE) ... Not sure what's causing the laying issues I've been hearing about. Friend of mine has a flock the same age as mine, mine have been laying since last June, hers just started (she switched to organic layer in Dec).

Seriously thinking its a combination of things ... What is being fed, living conditions, weather, age & dynamics of the flock and breed. Many have hybrids for the colorful eggs, wonder if that's a factor? I'm thinking of going back to "heritage" breeds, but those colored eggs are so