Decreased egg production

[LoriCx3sons]

I have five barred rock hens, four who have been laying regularly since the beginning, and one who has gaps in laying an egg. I recently introduced six pullets into the coop who had been in a separate run/coop for the past several weeks facing the big coop so that they could become familiar with each other. Because of this I switched out the layer pellets for grower feed with oyster shell supplementation for my layers to protect the young girls. I’ve noticed over the past couple of days that I have gone from four or five eggs daily down to only two today. They eat a good quality feed and we supplement with occasional treats, such as greens, fruit, and scratch grains. The temperature has been fine here and they all are active and seem to be eating and drinking normally. Any suggestions on what could be causing this and how to resolve it?

 

[rosemarythyme]

The addition of the new birds could be enough of a stressor to affect laying. It should hopefully pick back up in a couple of weeks if that's the main thing that's changed for them.

 

[WhiteCollarWeezy]

Have u had any bad weather lately. Or extremely hot?

 

[Mrs. K]

I am just going to throw this out there, if I get a sudden drop, I always assume it is a hidden nest. But 2 weeks ago, I had a sudden drop, no hidden nest, it was a bull snake that thought he was king of the coop! I can't believe he ate that many eggs, but I am telling you my production dropped.

Snake removed, and egg production rose...just saying.
Mrs K

 

[Morrigan]

I also think it might be the stress of the new pullets and change in feed. If it doesn't resolves itself in a couple of weeks, you might want to revisit possible causes -- parasites, hidden nests, etc.