- Nov 29, 2012
- 3
- 0
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Hey everyone.
I'm still pretty new to raising chickens considering I've only had them since September. BYC helped me get started and everything went off without a hitch. I started with 8 eleven month old RIR hens, and one recently had to be culled due to her lack of upper beak from her past home. I believe she may have been at the top of the pecking order from her and the other hen's behavior. After she was gone (also coinciding with the beginning of fall) the eggs started to seriously taper off. I went from about 4-5 eggs a day to 1 a day, then 1 every other day. The eggs finally stopped, and a couple of weeks later I added a battery-based light system on a timer that lights up the coop light daylight. It pushes them to 14 hours of light a day starting at 3am. I'm about 2 weeks into the routine with the lights and I'm still not seeing any eggs. Is this normal, or do I need to let them acclimate? I've read this article and several others on BYC as well http://www.almanac.com/blog/raising-chickens/raising-chickens-101-when-chickens-stop-laying-eggs
I'm not sure what else to check. There are a decent amount of feathers collecting in their run, but I'm not sure whether they are molting or not. They seem to still take frequent dust baths so I'd hope they are mite free. I was hoping somebody else here would maybe have some ideas, or help guide me to what else I should check. Thanks
I'm still pretty new to raising chickens considering I've only had them since September. BYC helped me get started and everything went off without a hitch. I started with 8 eleven month old RIR hens, and one recently had to be culled due to her lack of upper beak from her past home. I believe she may have been at the top of the pecking order from her and the other hen's behavior. After she was gone (also coinciding with the beginning of fall) the eggs started to seriously taper off. I went from about 4-5 eggs a day to 1 a day, then 1 every other day. The eggs finally stopped, and a couple of weeks later I added a battery-based light system on a timer that lights up the coop light daylight. It pushes them to 14 hours of light a day starting at 3am. I'm about 2 weeks into the routine with the lights and I'm still not seeing any eggs. Is this normal, or do I need to let them acclimate? I've read this article and several others on BYC as well http://www.almanac.com/blog/raising-chickens/raising-chickens-101-when-chickens-stop-laying-eggs
I'm not sure what else to check. There are a decent amount of feathers collecting in their run, but I'm not sure whether they are molting or not. They seem to still take frequent dust baths so I'd hope they are mite free. I was hoping somebody else here would maybe have some ideas, or help guide me to what else I should check. Thanks
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