Hello all 
After a hawk killed one of my chickens, I now have 10 pullets. They started laying around Valentine’s Day. And gradually it went up from there. We had more eggs than we could eat. I was getting, it seemed like, 5 to 6 eggs a day. They often free range on our farm but seemed to have found the nesting boxes very easily and liked using them. However, in the past two weeks I have noticed production seemingly drop off. I have searched the entire grounds, barn, creek, under our camper. I did manage to find one clutch of eggs, but there were only five in there. I have started keeping them in their run until late in the afternoon. But I am still only getting 3 to 4 eggs a day max, sometimes two. And also, my olive Egger which has given me several eggs in the past, I have not seen anything from her in about five or six days. She did manage to escape the run one day. (She’s by far my smartest chicken) But even if she laid while on the loose, surely she would be laying more than one every few days? No one appears egg bound or sick in anyway. Could it be because we are only getting 12 hours of light right now? Is it possible to start off strong and then go backwards for a bit when they are first laying? Thanks!
Edited to add, they are all different breeds. I’m new to chickens so I wanted to have a chance to see all different kinds, their personalities, their egg production, etc. So I know I have some strong layers and some medium layers.
After a hawk killed one of my chickens, I now have 10 pullets. They started laying around Valentine’s Day. And gradually it went up from there. We had more eggs than we could eat. I was getting, it seemed like, 5 to 6 eggs a day. They often free range on our farm but seemed to have found the nesting boxes very easily and liked using them. However, in the past two weeks I have noticed production seemingly drop off. I have searched the entire grounds, barn, creek, under our camper. I did manage to find one clutch of eggs, but there were only five in there. I have started keeping them in their run until late in the afternoon. But I am still only getting 3 to 4 eggs a day max, sometimes two. And also, my olive Egger which has given me several eggs in the past, I have not seen anything from her in about five or six days. She did manage to escape the run one day. (She’s by far my smartest chicken) But even if she laid while on the loose, surely she would be laying more than one every few days? No one appears egg bound or sick in anyway. Could it be because we are only getting 12 hours of light right now? Is it possible to start off strong and then go backwards for a bit when they are first laying? Thanks!
Edited to add, they are all different breeds. I’m new to chickens so I wanted to have a chance to see all different kinds, their personalities, their egg production, etc. So I know I have some strong layers and some medium layers.
