Diagnosing low production in "big flock"?

[tjcib]

We have 29 hens who have a 1/4-acre pasture that they have full access to every day. Multiple shelters, a couple water stations, and surrounded by trees so there is shade except in the peak of the day. They also have a covered run with food and water.

We were gettinga bout 26 eggs per day, with the occasional full 29. Production is slowly dropping over the past 3 weeks. Only got 21 a couple times.

When you start getting into bigger flocks, how do you inspect them for problems. A few have some icky butt that I need to clean off (most of them take care of that with the dust bath area).

Looking for some starting places to figure out why production has dropped. It has gotten hot in VA. I have also checked brush and such for hidden stashes, but found none. Inspecting the girls is a bit of a challenge with our huge Orpington Roo "keeping them safe".

 

[NatJ]

If you need to catch the hens to inspect them, it is probably easiest to grab them off the roost at night. (That is if they are sleeping in some kind of a pen. Taking them off the tree branches is harder.)

Or, if they sleep inside a pen, you can shut them in at night and catch them in the morning. Just grab the rooster first and put him somewhere he cannot bother you, either outside the pen or in a crate or cage or dog kennel.

If you are inside the pen catching birds, you can put each one out as you finish, so you don't grab the same ones again. Or you can put them into some kind of cage, or mark them somehow (food coloring, leg bands, etc). Or you can just keep a list, if you are able to tell them apart (easiest if there are only a few of each breed.)

To try to increase production, you might get some of their normal food wet with cool water. Sometimes they do not eat enough in hot weather, and sometimes they do not drink enough, and either of those can cause them to lay less eggs. Cool wet food can help in either case, and even if it does not help it will not hurt them.

 

[aart]

A dose of Sav-A-Chick brand electrolytes/vitamins once a week will help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[Celeste Villegas]

I hope this is not the cause for you but maybe something to consider. I have quite a few egg eater all of a sudden. I have been wanting to video the nesting boxes to see who the offenders are, but I think my whole flock is now doing it. The heat makes it worse I’ve noticed

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Heat will lower production

 

[tjcib]

I hope this is not the cause for you but maybe something to consider. I have quite a few egg eater all of a sudden. I have been wanting to video the nesting boxes to see who the offenders are, but I think my whole flock is now doing it. The heat makes it worse I’ve noticed

Well I did find two huge snakes in their pasture today... Could be egg eater of that variety

 

[tjcib]

If you need to catch the hens to inspect them, it is probably easiest to grab them off the roost at night. (That is if they are sleeping in some kind of a pen. Taking them off the tree branches is harder.)

Or, if they sleep inside a pen, you can shut them in at night and catch them in the morning. Just grab the rooster first and put him somewhere he cannot bother you, either outside the pen or in a crate or cage or dog kennel.

If you are inside the pen catching birds, you can put each one out as you finish, so you don't grab the same ones again. Or you can put them into some kind of cage, or mark them somehow (food coloring, leg bands, etc). Or you can just keep a list, if you are able to tell them apart (easiest if there are only a few of each breed.)

To try to increase production, you might get some of their normal food wet with cool water. Sometimes they do not eat enough in hot weather, and sometimes they do not drink enough, and either of those can cause them to lay less eggs. Cool wet food can help in either case, and even if it does not help it will not hurt them.

Thanks. Getting to them at night if the roost will probably be easiest. It will get dicey as we get closer to the Roo and his harem, but we can probably manage.

He's pretty territorial, but that's what I got him for. Haven't lost a hen to predator in 3 years...

 

[Ascholten]

Where do you live? I know in many parts of the USA it's been friggin HOT out. They don't do as well when they are hot and panting than when the weather is nicer.

IF you DO give them snacks, get used to making a clicking sound or something when you snack them, bend down and feed them out of your hand, let them peck it out of your hand. It should only take a few weeks tops to get them this hand trained. This way, they know you, and trust you, so when you ever need to get them, just reach out and pick them right up, or if some are still skittish, you sprinkle the snack in the carrier cage, or their pen or wherever you need them to go and ... there they are!

Aaron

Edit: A rooster may need his face shoved in the dirt and a stern talking to, in order for you to work with your hens. They can be a real pain sometimes, literally. Depends on your roo, but that is something to be wary of if you are handling your hens.

 

[Ascholten]

You said you found two huge snakes. Might want to kill those. Also, if the hens seen them, that could very well have them skittish, not laying eggs either. The egg song sounds pretty much the same as a warning call, just a little more 'urgency' in the warning call. Might want to listen next time they go off, see if it's yeh an egg, or OH $^#$ a snake!!

If the snakes are eating the eggs, you should have seen the lumps in them, but either way, that's not something you want around anyways.

Aaron

Edit: Water Moccasins have tougher skin than Rattlesnakes, so a garden hoe can just bounce off them and piss them off. .44 with bird shot works wonders on snakes. Just be wary if it's a biggun, you might need something more brutal than a dull hoe to dispatch it. A spade to the head works unless it's poisonous, then you really don't want to be that close to it to strike at it, as it's striking back at you.

 

[tjcib]

Where do you live? I know in many parts of the USA it's been friggin HOT out. They don't do as well when they are hot and panting than when the weather is nicer.

IF you DO give them snacks, get used to making a clicking sound or something when you snack them, bend down and feed them out of your hand, let them peck it out of your hand. It should only take a few weeks tops to get them this hand trained. This way, they know you, and trust you, so when you ever need to get them, just reach out and pick them right up, or if some are still skittish, you sprinkle the snack in the carrier cage, or their pen or wherever you need them to go and ... there they are!

Aaron

Edit: A rooster may need his face shoved in the dirt and a stern talking to, in order for you to work with your hens. They can be a real pain sometimes, literally. Depends on your roo, but that is something to be wary of if you are handling your hens.

We live in central Virginia, so it's hot and muggy AND it's been rainy as heck lately. Recipe for disaster...

Ive kicked the rooster in the face a couple times. We have a pretty good arrangement going inside the coop, it's just in the yard he's grumpy. I was able to get in and do a pretty good inspection tonight. I'll keep it up over the next week just to be thorough.

Regarding the snakes, I knock one was a black rat snake. The other was under a good bit of brush while I was blackberry picking, so I couldn't ID it, but it was thick.

I saw my girls fighting over a snake the other day... It wasn't 4 feet long though