egg production

[mamabird]

Don't know if this question should go here or not, but...

I have a flock of 45 chickens that are a variety of ages. All the birds we have either raised, hatched, or bought from a hatchery. The oldest hens (25 total) are 17 months old and I think that most of them have already gone through a molt. We have been feeding laying mash and have been letting them free-range almost every day. Egg production has went from approx. 20 per day to 12-16. I have DE dust baths for them and have added DE to the feed as a wormer. They have fresh water every day, plenty of coop/roost space at night, but still egg production is dwindling. Is this normal or should I be doing something else? The only thing that has changed is that we gave away our roosters (not good with the kids), and started hatching some chicks. Plus we are in the middle of a drought! Our next oldest batch of chickens should be starting to lay within the next few weeks. The 5 "teenagers" are 3 months, and the 7 "peeps" are 2 months. Does anyone have advice on raising egg production?

 

[Colonel Sanders]

Egg production usually drops after molting. It will continually dwindle until they only lay a few per year. That is why the commerical layers are done after about 8 to 10 months of laying. They are not economical for the companies to keep feeding them. It is sad, but unfortunately they have a business to run. If codes, zoning, and neighbors would lighten up we could all have chickens in our backyards. There are so many wonderful breeds of chickens that are not around anymore because of the commerical outfits supplying the demand of chickens and eggs. I have a mix of 23 gals and roos right now and plan on keeping about 8 to 10 eventually.