Few eggs lots of "Poo"

[Celticwarmaster]

Hi
As I'm relatively new to keeping chickens I wondered if anyone had some suggestions. My little flock of 6 hens over the last week and a half have begun to do rather large amounts of Poo and coupled with this their laying habits have dropped off badly, like down from a regular 5 a day average to 2 day before yesterday and 1 yesterday.
I have been treating the oldest hen (about 13monts) and another younger one for scaley legs, but other than that tey are fine.

The weather has gone colder as the seasons ends but I would welcome any advice.

Tom

 

[Red Barn Farms]

Hello, Welcome to BYC! I'm not really sure but have to ask how much are you feeding them on a daily bases? Sometimes overfeeding can lead to a drop in egg production. You might want to try posting this question in the Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying forum.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/18/chicken-behaviors-and-egglaying

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, Celticwarmaster, and

! Happy you joined us. I can't really think what it would be - the annual molt will slow down or even halt egg production...but chickens don't usually molt until their second fall (if what I understand is correct). Have you introduced any new birds recently? Anything that stresses them might cause a drop off in egg production. Good luck to you.

 

[sumi]

Hello and welcome to BYC

This is a new one for me... Have you checked their poo for worms?

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

Sometimes temperature changes can alter egg-laying behavior. If your birds are a year old they may be molting - are you seeing feathers laying around?

 

[aaabirdman]

Welcome to BYC

 

[jbirds2012]

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Hi and from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard.

 

[weimarmama]

& from Alabama. Glad you joined us.

 

[liz9910]

from California!