Extreme Drop in Egg Production

[PamW]

My flock of 19 hens of various breeds known to be good egg producers suddenly dropped from 12-14 eggs/day to 3-4 eggs/day. This started last fall so I attributed it to the shortening days and put a light on a timer to extend their daylight hours. That did not help, so when things still did not improve by early spring I de-wormed them 3 months in a row (just in case). That did not help either. Even if 3 or 4 hens are molting at any given time, there should still be 15 hens laying eggs which should be more than 3-4 eggs per day. A few hens are over 3 yrs old, but most of them are younger. More than 3 or 4 hens get in and out of the nest boxes during the day, but as far as I can tell there is no evidence of eggeaters. What else could it be?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Are they confined to a secure coop/run or free ranging? What breeds are the birds? How much younger than 3 are those that you say are younger? What is your feed program?

 

[PamW]

They are confined to a large run attached to their coop which is converted from one of the horse stalls in our barn. The only predators we have battled are hawks and raccoons, but we haven't had any run-ins for over a year. The younger hens are varying ages from 1 1/2 - 2 yrs (we have younger ones but they are not included in the 19). The breeds include: Buff Orpington, Araucana, Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorps, Rose Comb Brown Leghorn and Red Star. Currently I am feeding them 16% layer pellets but have also tried the 20%. The feed is always available in a hanging feeder. Any thoughts you have on this would be appreciated.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

They are confined to a large run attached to their coop which is converted from one of the horse stalls in our barn. The only predators we have battled are hawks and raccoons, but we haven't had any run-ins for over a year. The younger hens are varying ages from 1 1/2 - 2 yrs (we have younger ones but they are not included in the 19). The breeds include: Buff Orpington, Araucana, Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorps, Rose Comb Brown Leghorn and Red Star. Currently I am feeding them 16% layer pellets but have also tried the 20%. The feed is always available in a hanging feeder. Any thoughts you have on this would be appreciated.

Hmmmm - great information, but leaving me scratching my head a bit.

It sounds like rogue nesting is out of the question since they are confined.

During the battle with raccoons did you eliminate the points of entry or the raccoons? If only the latter, the former may be being used by someone to continue visiting the all-you-can-eat egg buffet without being noticed, though that would seem unlikely to account for the entire drop you have seen

Are you sure you don't have egg eaters in your flock? With the rapidity in which that habit can spread from one hen to many it would certainly be able to account for a large drop in production and they *can* clean up after themselves quite thoroughly.

 

[PamW]

I am very confident that the raccoons are not an issue. As far as eggeaters -- I don't see any evidence...the nests seem clean and there are no eggshell fragments. I guess I could borrow someone's trail-cam and set it up in the coop to see if that tells me anything.

Any other ideas?

 

[aart]

Soup?

Sorry...it's stumper...have you pulled all the bedding out of nests when you check them?

The only solution might be rollaway nests..if they are in fact laying.

 

[PamW]

Yes, I have checked underneath the bedding and it all seems clean. Also, I checked the nest boxes several times each day for the past two days to see how many eggs were there throughout the day and at the end of the day. There were three each day and I even left the first three there all night just to see if they would disappear. All six were there at the end of the second day.

I'm afraid soup may be the outcome. I just hope they next group will be okay once they are old enough to lay.

Thank you for your suggestions.

 

[aart]

1.5-2 years old? They may be heading into a molt.
Where are you located? Is it really hot, like in the 90's, that can slow production.

 

[PamW]

Yes, I live in the Houston area and it is hot now, but the low production started early last fall and has never picked up. I kept a light on a timer throughout the winter but that didn't work. And even though our winters are mild, I had hoped once spring was here things would change, but it didn't make a difference.

 

[aart]

How many hours of light did you give them?
Did you ramp it up or jump it up fast?

I think the supplemental light messes with their molting schedule....might keep them going thru winter but then they can molt in spring or summer.