- Aug 27, 2015
- 31
- 21
- 99
I have a problem that has me stumped and I’m reaching out to see if there are any ideas. I’ve been doing backyard chickens for about five years now. I started out with a dozen girls and over time am now nearing 90. Yep, chicken math. That, and the fact a lot of folks were wanting to buy eggs from us and we were trying to keep up with demand. We never considered this a business, our chickens are pets – but if they lay eggs and selling a few can offset feed costs…
This is going to run long but I’m trying to give as much information as I see as relevant because I’m stumped and perhaps someone has encountered this problem or knows something I’ve missed.
Over the last summer (2019) I’ve been having problems with my egg count. We had about fifty girls laying in May and were averaging 24 -28 eggs a day. I figured that was pretty good as we had some older girls (about 8 from Feb and Jun 2015) and I knew they’d be slacking off. The rest of our girls averaged from about three years old to about twenty I brought in last year to replace a gang I caught eating eggs in the Summer of 2017. Everything was going fine.
At the end of February I hatched out some Easter Egger chicks from some roosters I’d gotten the previous Summer and bred with my hens. I ended up with about five hens from that hatch. I’ve since given the roosters to folks who wanted them (that was back in May).
The change came when my wife and I left for about two weeks on a road trip to Arizona, leaving my girls in the care of our neighbor’s daughter, who also raise chickens. She’s about as good with our chicks as we are. While we were gone we had two chickens come down ill – one we’d had problems with being egg-bound. We had nursed her back to health and it looked like she was back in action – but she still had problems with soft egg shells.
The second go-around she didn’t make it. But we were philosophical about it. We had done our best and I know our neighbor (who helped her daughter with our sick girls) did her best.
The other girl had some sort of sniffles. She was treated with anti-biotics (which – yes I WILL use to save the life of one of my girls) and came back. She’s doing well, no problems breathing and looks to be in the peak of health.
So I came back to a healthy flock. The problem was my egg count had dropped from the 28 + a day down to about a dozen and some days as few as eight or nine. I was stunned.
At first I thought it was the heat. We live in lower Alabama and the temperatures and heat indexes have been in triple digits. I put fans in my coops to help cool things down; of course always ensuring there is clean fresh water available. I have floating pumps in my troughs so the girls never run out and I clean out the troughs regularly.
Now the heat wave has broken; days are getting shorter, but I keep lights in the coop and yard for an hour or two not only for the girls, but to help me when I go do my night time chores in the yard and coops. It helps to have lights when I go lock up.
Today, I gathered eleven eggs.
So I go over the factors that might cause eggs to decrease.
AGE: It’s true I have eight hens that are over four years old. I have another twenty-plus birds I got as pullets last summer who should be in their prime of laying. In addition I have about thirty-five girls between one and three years old who are in their prime. These are laying hens of various breeds, Easter Eggers, ISAs, Gold and Red Comets, Speckled Sussex, Wellsummers, Orpingtons, Austrolorps, et al. They get along well. We put in a new brood of fifteen this summer and there was barely any issue with the “new kids” blending in.
Here’s a rough breakdown of my flock
Feb 2015 – 2 Barred Rocks, 1 Buff Orpington (I pretty much know they’re retired)
Jun 2015 – 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 2 Gold Laced Wyandottes, 1 Easter Egger (Maybe one or two a week?)
Jun 2016 – 2 Blue Cochins (never great layers in the first place); 2 Blue Americaunas; 1 Black Austrolorp; 2 Olive Eggers
Jun 2017 – 3 Red ISAs; 2 Caliifornia Whites 2 Marans
Apr 2018 – 3 Rhode Island Reds; 3 Princess Calicos; 2 Sienna Stars; 1 Speckled Sussex; 1 White Rock; 2 New Hampshires; 2 Brahmas; 2 Red Comets
Aug 2018 (Pullets) 3 Gold Comets; 5 Easter Eggers; 1 Buff Orpington
Feb 28, 2019 – 3 Easter Eggers hatched.
Apr 6, 2019 – 3 Wellsummers; 3 Brown ISAs; 3 Americauna
There are fifteen pullets that I received in July after returning from our trip but I’m not counting on them until late Winter or early Spring. I am already getting eggs from some of our Spring babies but am wondering what is going on with my 2017-18 broods who should be in their prime. We ought to be getting at least a couple eggs a week from some of our 2016 girls and maybe one every so often from our first girls.
CROWDING: I was worried about that when our population grew by about twenty-five earlier this summer, but we have expanded our yard (run) and coops and adding a third coop. Again, the new kids seemed to be welcomed (as much as any new girls on the block are welcomed). Right now, most of my girls want to nest in “Coop 1” my original – they have more than enough space on the roosts in that coop and that is where most of them want to stay. I do have some who want to sleep in the nesting boxes and I’m not crazy about that – right now trying to figure a way to close them off at night while opening them up in the mornings so they can lay (if they decide to start again).
Coup #2 has room for at least another fifteen to twenty girls but currently only four want to use it. Coop #3 houses fifteen younger girls hatched this summer – they have their own yard separate from the big girls until and if I decide to mingle them with the larger flock. I don’t think crowding in general is a problem.
NESTING – I have tried several times to provide enough nesting boxes for my girls but they still want to use about four or five favorite places. I currently have eleven boxes – they prefer to use about three boxes and lay in a couple corners in the main coop (Coop #1); I figure what’s the point? You can lead a hen to the nest but you can’t make them lay… Right? Kind of like horses. It has not been a problem except when some of my girls get broody – one of the reasons I decided to hatch my own to let them be the mothers they always wanted to be. It worked out pretty good except the majority turned out to be cockerels for which I had to find homes. The new bunch of boxes I put in have been used – but again, not enough girls are using them.
DIET – I used a very high protein feed that is locally produced and highly recommended by most local chicken keepers. It runs about 21% protein and I know they use quality ingredients for I buy from where it’s milled and watched it being mixed. I add about a half cup full of oyster shell when I put the food together for calcium in addition to the bowl of shell I place separately – other than the one girl who had problems from the start there have been no problems. I also add ground garlic and chilis to the food every day. Wive’s tale or not (my brother’s a vet and he’s skeptical), all I know is since I started doing that I’ve had no problem with mites or fleas and I do inspect. I have several girls who love to be held and that gives me an easy opportunity – and there are others I grab up occasionally. I also put together about a half a pound coffee container of mixed meal worms with sunflower seeds to toss the girls. I don’t think it’s too much considering the number of girls I’m dealing with, but that would be one area I might experiment with to see if it makes a difference.
I do know I’ve been using my feed for four years and doing the treats for about three; it hasn’t seemed to have any ill effect before.
EGG EATING – I’ve dealt with this problem before. It was like a cancer about two years ago and I had to get rid of about a dozen hens before I solved it. Yeah, I “replaced” them with twenty – chicken math LOL. But I solved it. Our chickens are banded with colored zip ties so they can be identified. I set up some wildlife cameras and a video camera in the coop to catch the guilty parties. It always seems to be your favorite hens and the most lovable. But I got rid of the cancer.
I’ve been looking for any sign of egg eating. I have found some broken shells, but can’t pinpoint who or what is causing it. I’ve found no residue and the cameras have been unable to spot anyone in the act… which brings us to
PREDATORS – A distinct possibility. Just last week my wife and I live caught and hauled off two possums who were making a habit of fishing out of our goldfish pond in the front yard. Again, though, there is no sign of them in either the yard or coops. A few years ago I caught and shot one in my main coop. When I looked around the next day I could see where he’d burrowed under our fence. That got closed with quikcrete ASAP. I’ve been looking for some sort of sign – again none. Now, possums are nocturnal creatures and I gather eggs in late afternoon or early evening before the girls go to bed for the night. Which might leave another alternative
Our son did say he spotted a rat in the shed where we store our feed. That is separate from the main coop, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for one to go over to the coop and pig out on eggs. But if that was the case one would think it would trigger my cameras and I would see. In any event I’ve laid out traps in the shed.
HEALTH of FLOCK – I’ve examined my girls (I’m sure all of us do as a matter of habit) – combs are rosy red or healthy pink (depending on breed); no problems with hind-ends; all seem active; no raspy breath or wheezing; no nasal drip (since that one girl last summer); stool looks healthy with no sign of worms or other parasites.
All summer long I thought it might be the heat – but the heat wave and drought have broken so that’s not a reason. In conclusion, I’m stumped and out of ideas. I cannot find an explanation as to why egg production should have dropped by two-thirds even with the girls I had laying before we left. But the new girls production is barely keeping us at a dozen a day. Any ideas?
Sorry so long, but trying to get all the facts I can think of to get at least an explanation if not a solution.
This is going to run long but I’m trying to give as much information as I see as relevant because I’m stumped and perhaps someone has encountered this problem or knows something I’ve missed.
Over the last summer (2019) I’ve been having problems with my egg count. We had about fifty girls laying in May and were averaging 24 -28 eggs a day. I figured that was pretty good as we had some older girls (about 8 from Feb and Jun 2015) and I knew they’d be slacking off. The rest of our girls averaged from about three years old to about twenty I brought in last year to replace a gang I caught eating eggs in the Summer of 2017. Everything was going fine.
At the end of February I hatched out some Easter Egger chicks from some roosters I’d gotten the previous Summer and bred with my hens. I ended up with about five hens from that hatch. I’ve since given the roosters to folks who wanted them (that was back in May).
The change came when my wife and I left for about two weeks on a road trip to Arizona, leaving my girls in the care of our neighbor’s daughter, who also raise chickens. She’s about as good with our chicks as we are. While we were gone we had two chickens come down ill – one we’d had problems with being egg-bound. We had nursed her back to health and it looked like she was back in action – but she still had problems with soft egg shells.
The second go-around she didn’t make it. But we were philosophical about it. We had done our best and I know our neighbor (who helped her daughter with our sick girls) did her best.
The other girl had some sort of sniffles. She was treated with anti-biotics (which – yes I WILL use to save the life of one of my girls) and came back. She’s doing well, no problems breathing and looks to be in the peak of health.
So I came back to a healthy flock. The problem was my egg count had dropped from the 28 + a day down to about a dozen and some days as few as eight or nine. I was stunned.
At first I thought it was the heat. We live in lower Alabama and the temperatures and heat indexes have been in triple digits. I put fans in my coops to help cool things down; of course always ensuring there is clean fresh water available. I have floating pumps in my troughs so the girls never run out and I clean out the troughs regularly.
Now the heat wave has broken; days are getting shorter, but I keep lights in the coop and yard for an hour or two not only for the girls, but to help me when I go do my night time chores in the yard and coops. It helps to have lights when I go lock up.
Today, I gathered eleven eggs.
So I go over the factors that might cause eggs to decrease.
AGE: It’s true I have eight hens that are over four years old. I have another twenty-plus birds I got as pullets last summer who should be in their prime of laying. In addition I have about thirty-five girls between one and three years old who are in their prime. These are laying hens of various breeds, Easter Eggers, ISAs, Gold and Red Comets, Speckled Sussex, Wellsummers, Orpingtons, Austrolorps, et al. They get along well. We put in a new brood of fifteen this summer and there was barely any issue with the “new kids” blending in.
Here’s a rough breakdown of my flock
Feb 2015 – 2 Barred Rocks, 1 Buff Orpington (I pretty much know they’re retired)
Jun 2015 – 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 2 Gold Laced Wyandottes, 1 Easter Egger (Maybe one or two a week?)
Jun 2016 – 2 Blue Cochins (never great layers in the first place); 2 Blue Americaunas; 1 Black Austrolorp; 2 Olive Eggers
Jun 2017 – 3 Red ISAs; 2 Caliifornia Whites 2 Marans
Apr 2018 – 3 Rhode Island Reds; 3 Princess Calicos; 2 Sienna Stars; 1 Speckled Sussex; 1 White Rock; 2 New Hampshires; 2 Brahmas; 2 Red Comets
Aug 2018 (Pullets) 3 Gold Comets; 5 Easter Eggers; 1 Buff Orpington
Feb 28, 2019 – 3 Easter Eggers hatched.
Apr 6, 2019 – 3 Wellsummers; 3 Brown ISAs; 3 Americauna
There are fifteen pullets that I received in July after returning from our trip but I’m not counting on them until late Winter or early Spring. I am already getting eggs from some of our Spring babies but am wondering what is going on with my 2017-18 broods who should be in their prime. We ought to be getting at least a couple eggs a week from some of our 2016 girls and maybe one every so often from our first girls.
CROWDING: I was worried about that when our population grew by about twenty-five earlier this summer, but we have expanded our yard (run) and coops and adding a third coop. Again, the new kids seemed to be welcomed (as much as any new girls on the block are welcomed). Right now, most of my girls want to nest in “Coop 1” my original – they have more than enough space on the roosts in that coop and that is where most of them want to stay. I do have some who want to sleep in the nesting boxes and I’m not crazy about that – right now trying to figure a way to close them off at night while opening them up in the mornings so they can lay (if they decide to start again).
Coup #2 has room for at least another fifteen to twenty girls but currently only four want to use it. Coop #3 houses fifteen younger girls hatched this summer – they have their own yard separate from the big girls until and if I decide to mingle them with the larger flock. I don’t think crowding in general is a problem.
NESTING – I have tried several times to provide enough nesting boxes for my girls but they still want to use about four or five favorite places. I currently have eleven boxes – they prefer to use about three boxes and lay in a couple corners in the main coop (Coop #1); I figure what’s the point? You can lead a hen to the nest but you can’t make them lay… Right? Kind of like horses. It has not been a problem except when some of my girls get broody – one of the reasons I decided to hatch my own to let them be the mothers they always wanted to be. It worked out pretty good except the majority turned out to be cockerels for which I had to find homes. The new bunch of boxes I put in have been used – but again, not enough girls are using them.
DIET – I used a very high protein feed that is locally produced and highly recommended by most local chicken keepers. It runs about 21% protein and I know they use quality ingredients for I buy from where it’s milled and watched it being mixed. I add about a half cup full of oyster shell when I put the food together for calcium in addition to the bowl of shell I place separately – other than the one girl who had problems from the start there have been no problems. I also add ground garlic and chilis to the food every day. Wive’s tale or not (my brother’s a vet and he’s skeptical), all I know is since I started doing that I’ve had no problem with mites or fleas and I do inspect. I have several girls who love to be held and that gives me an easy opportunity – and there are others I grab up occasionally. I also put together about a half a pound coffee container of mixed meal worms with sunflower seeds to toss the girls. I don’t think it’s too much considering the number of girls I’m dealing with, but that would be one area I might experiment with to see if it makes a difference.
I do know I’ve been using my feed for four years and doing the treats for about three; it hasn’t seemed to have any ill effect before.
EGG EATING – I’ve dealt with this problem before. It was like a cancer about two years ago and I had to get rid of about a dozen hens before I solved it. Yeah, I “replaced” them with twenty – chicken math LOL. But I solved it. Our chickens are banded with colored zip ties so they can be identified. I set up some wildlife cameras and a video camera in the coop to catch the guilty parties. It always seems to be your favorite hens and the most lovable. But I got rid of the cancer.
I’ve been looking for any sign of egg eating. I have found some broken shells, but can’t pinpoint who or what is causing it. I’ve found no residue and the cameras have been unable to spot anyone in the act… which brings us to
PREDATORS – A distinct possibility. Just last week my wife and I live caught and hauled off two possums who were making a habit of fishing out of our goldfish pond in the front yard. Again, though, there is no sign of them in either the yard or coops. A few years ago I caught and shot one in my main coop. When I looked around the next day I could see where he’d burrowed under our fence. That got closed with quikcrete ASAP. I’ve been looking for some sort of sign – again none. Now, possums are nocturnal creatures and I gather eggs in late afternoon or early evening before the girls go to bed for the night. Which might leave another alternative
Our son did say he spotted a rat in the shed where we store our feed. That is separate from the main coop, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for one to go over to the coop and pig out on eggs. But if that was the case one would think it would trigger my cameras and I would see. In any event I’ve laid out traps in the shed.
HEALTH of FLOCK – I’ve examined my girls (I’m sure all of us do as a matter of habit) – combs are rosy red or healthy pink (depending on breed); no problems with hind-ends; all seem active; no raspy breath or wheezing; no nasal drip (since that one girl last summer); stool looks healthy with no sign of worms or other parasites.
All summer long I thought it might be the heat – but the heat wave and drought have broken so that’s not a reason. In conclusion, I’m stumped and out of ideas. I cannot find an explanation as to why egg production should have dropped by two-thirds even with the girls I had laying before we left. But the new girls production is barely keeping us at a dozen a day. Any ideas?
Sorry so long, but trying to get all the facts I can think of to get at least an explanation if not a solution.
Sorry I don't have any ideas.Sounds all good but....
.
