Few eggs for 2 months

[MNvoyageur]

Hi all,

I've been battling with low production since the beginning of May. We have 4x RIR and 4x Silver laced Wyandottes. They are all 15 months old. They all free range during the day, but I periodically leave them in the run for 2-3 days to make sure that they aren't laying somewhere else. We added some pullets to the flock, but the low laying started prior to adding the pullets. We have been getting 1-2 eggs per day. The eggs we have been getting have good shells and are not deformed or otherwise unusual.

I saw the sticky, and wanted to address these points:
Decreasing day length - We have 16hrs of natural daylight right now
Molt - Chickens are not losing feathers
Broodiness - We do have chickens that 'hang out' in the nesting boxes, but never 2+ hours at a time and they never try to spend the night in the boxes. I have been removing the egg(s) several times per day.
Flock health - All look healthy, treated for coccidiosis with Amprolium about a month ago due to low production but I never saw bloody stools.
Age - All 15 months old
Poor nutrition - Access to commercial feed and a dish of oyster shell. Most nutrition seems to come from free ranging though. This would be primarily bugs and blueberries.
Stress - I don't think so? They don't cower from me or spend lots of time hiding. We live out in the country and there may be hawks around. We have never lost a hen to a predator.

Any thoughts? On top of this, the chickens have been eating the few eggs we do get if I don't remove them promptly. I know this because it leaves a wet mark in the nesting box. I don't think they are eating all the eggs I'm expecting because I only see the marks occasionally.

Thanks!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks for the excellent rundown.
Stress: Adding new birds can cause stress but you noted that the reduced production happened prior to that.
Nutrition: Make sure you verify the mill date on feed bags before you buy them. Try not to buy feed more than a month or 2 at most. Age will diminish fat soluble vitamins and amino acids.
What is the protein % and calcium % of the feed you have?
Egg eaters will definitely dip into the total eggs procured. I've dealt with that a few times. Keeping several ceramic or wooden eggs in each nest usually corrects the problem. Roll out nests also work well.

 

[MNvoyageur]

Thanks for the excellent rundown.
Stress: Adding new birds can cause stress but you noted that the reduced production happened prior to that.
Nutrition: Make sure you verify the mill date on feed bags before you buy them. Try not to buy feed more than a month or 2 at most. Age will diminish fat soluble vitamins and amino acids.
What is the protein % and calcium % of the feed you have?
Egg eaters will definitely dip into the total eggs procured. I've dealt with that a few times. Keeping several ceramic or wooden eggs in each nest usually corrects the problem. Roll out nests also work well.

Thanks for the reply!

I had been buying layer mash from our local elevator that they blend themselves. It is 18% protein. He wasn't sure what % calcium, but they do add calcium carbonate to the mix per some tagged blend. They laid well on this blend through the winter, I had a light on a timer in there.

Now that the pullets are in with them, everyone is on starter crumbles. But they do have access to a dish of oyster shell in their run.

I've had golf balls in the nesting boxes which seems to have helped but not eliminated egg eating.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You are taking the right approach. Perhaps add more golf balls.
You can get ceramic eggs on E-bay pretty reasonably. The more they eat eggs, the more I add fake eggs. When they fail to break eggs, they will eventually quit trying.
My uncle was a groundskeeper at a golf course up the road from us and we kept golf balls in all our nests.

 

[aart]

They laid well on this blend through the winter, I had a light on a timer in there.

What was the light duration over the winter?

Oh, and... Welcome to BYC! @MNvoyageur
Where in this world are you located? Guessing Minnesota...but...
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[MNvoyageur]

What was the light duration over the winter?

Oh, and... Welcome to BYC! @MNvoyageur
Where in this world are you located? Guessing Minnesota...but...
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 2245250

Thanks, I added my location. The light was on 14hrs per day in the winter.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They will probably need a laying break. Adding light is a good idea the pullets first autumn/winter but they will still need to shut down in subsequent years. They can't be egg machines 12 months every year.

 

[MNvoyageur]

I emailed our extension office. The extension agent said that the most likely cause was that I am free ranging the birds all day and they are not getting proper nutrition. He said that the chickens can only provide 5-20% of their nutrition from free ranging. He recommended leaving the chickens in the run until noon or so to make sure that they are eating enough commercial feed before I let them out.

We live in the woods and they spend lots of time in the brush eating what I thought were the ample bugs we have around. Has anyone else seen egg production drop off to 25% of expected due to 8am to 8pm free ranging? They have access to their coop and food all day.