Egg Production Down...Is this my food?

[burkehd]

We should be done molting, but our egg production is down by 65%. We feed and mix of a five grain scratch and 18% crumble. We have noticed that lately they act hungry all the time, but they are leaving more and more of the crumble daily. Any suggestions? We have been thinking about mixing our own ratio using soy bean meal, anyone have a good formula?

 

[lavacaw]

You don't say where you are...when mine have molted in late summer or early fall, egg production generally does not pick up real well until spring. When they molt in the early summer, it goes back up to normal. I think it has as much to do with day length as with molting.

 

[wendy]

Quote:
That has been my experience too, but I am also in the south (La)

 

[kipper]

Here in the NW, ours are currently in various stages of molt. Egg production is starting to pick up. We use lights to make our days longer. The 3 cochins seem to be unphased by the shorter days, lay well, and have yet to molt.

 

[burkehd]

Thanks for the responses. We live in Ohio, so weather has been all over the board. Last week 60's was the high, today was 79. We have been implmenting with a light in the evenings. We normally turn it on around 6 and turn it off around 10. Is this ok? It is inside the coop...

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
If you are going to use lights I suggest turning them on in the mornings and turning them off once the sun is up.
If you turn the lights off at night and it is dark in the pen they most likely aren't going to find the roost and are going to stay on the ground.

As for adding Soy bean to there feed to boost the protein, I wouldn't suggest it. Soy isn't the best thing for them in large amounts. You could try Fish Meal or even a little bit of Dry Low Salt Cat Food.

How much scratch are you giving them?

Chris

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Agree to feed a bit less scratch and make sure the feed is fresh and clean. Mine are molting something fierce and egg production is off because of that.

We add some supplements to our feed and the birds have produced better, feathered back in after molting quicker and generally seem more healthy. We add equal parts of Calf Manna, Manna Pro show conditioner, BOSS and shelled nut mixture (bird section at TSC). What a huge difference it has made in them!

 

[Judy]

Cat food can be dangerous or even lethal to chickens because of the methionine in it. You can cause organ damage even in smaller quantities. DLHunicorn recommends against feeding it.

 

[Kittymomma]

How old are your hens? I haven't found production to drop off massively until mine are going into their third year. I do agree with the others though that it can take awhile after the molt is done for them to get back on schedule.

 

[wendy]

I regret using light to keep my chickens laying during winter

, will not do it again whenever I get new girls.