I've got the flock of hens listed below, they're all coming up on about a year old, and I have a light in the coop so they get about 14 +/- hours light daily. All winter they've been laying about 5 eggs daily. Now that its spring and things are warming up, egg production seems to have dropped to about 3-4 daily. I'm still using the light; the BO seems a bit broody and is spending lots of time in the nesting box sitting on a fake egg - her vent seems dry. No changes in feed other than I've quit supplementing with a little bacon grease (~1-2 cups/25 lbs feed) due to the warmer temps. We're letting them out of the coop a bit more now the weather's better.
About the only thing that's different from all winter long is that I've got another coop of 8-wk old Freedom Ranger roos out next to them but I can't imagine a bunch of stinky adolescent roos nearby would cause them to slow down laying...
Any thoughts on what may be going on to cause the hens to slack off their high productivity?
Thanks in advance,
-DB
About the only thing that's different from all winter long is that I've got another coop of 8-wk old Freedom Ranger roos out next to them but I can't imagine a bunch of stinky adolescent roos nearby would cause them to slow down laying...
Any thoughts on what may be going on to cause the hens to slack off their high productivity?
Thanks in advance,
-DB
