Drop in egg numbers

[DonaldG]

We have 7 chickens that are now 2 years old. My number of eggs each day has dropped from 3-4 to 1 egg per day. Any ideas why? They seem to be happy, well fed, lots of water, clean coop!

 

[Kiki]

I am sorry your girls are having trouble.
What is your weather like and have you ever wormed them?

 

[DonaldG]

Lot of rain this past month. Nice the last couple of days. No and how do you worm them?

 

[ronott1]

We are moving into the time of year(less daylight hours) when 2 year old hens will begin to molt. Watch for extra feathers and some funny looking hens!

Hopefully you will not have too many of the molting at the same time though.

Also, after two years many breeds drop of on egg laying.

This site has egg production information: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps029

Noninfectious Causes
Aging Hens
Chickens can live for many years and continue to lay eggs for many of these years. However, after two or three years many hens significantly decline in productivity (see Figure 2). This varies greatly from bird to bird. Good layers will lay for about 50 to 60 weeks and then have a rest period called a molt. Poorer layers and older hens will molt more often and lay less consistently. SeeTable 1.



Figure 2.

 

[snow5164]

We have 7 chickens that are now 2 years old. My number of eggs each day has dropped from 3-4 to 1 egg per day. Any ideas why? They seem to be happy, well fed, lots of water, clean coop!

What kind of chickens are they? If they are hybrids they will be done laying by 18-24 months . My 20 month hybrids are laying every 2-3 days and beginning to shut down ... I won't buy them again.