I have 26 chickens and 2 ducks, my chickens are a mixture of breeds and the ducks... well they are white and sadly both male. My chickens are standard and bantam’s, and ornamental‘s. I have a couple of issues that I need help with. 1. Every time one of my three roosters (did not plan on three but is what I ended up with) try to mate one of the chickens, my ducks run up and pin the hen down. One will pin her while the other starts trying to rip her feathers out. Then when the rooster gets off, they chase and peck at her. I have tried to stop this by swatting at them, they stop for a while but then start back up. How can I stop them from doing this and why are they doing this? 2. Out of all my chickens, I have three roosters, so that means I have 23 females so why am I still only getting nine eggs a day. I understand that heat affects their laying, but I have several fans in the coop ( we just spent another 100.00 on fans after hearing about a lady down the road who lost her whole flock to the heat) and I have added even more oyster shell to their feed. I also will feed them a mush I make up. The mush contains the cracked eggs from day before crushed up, their feed, oyster shells , I also add in stuff from garden sometimes like tomatoes ( they love tomatoes) and corn . So why still so few eggs? And why are they getting smaller and smaller? I am still rather new at raising chickens; this is only my second year. My chickens are free range; I let them out at 6 am and lock them back up when the sun is going down. I go outside several times a day to check on them (I know a little over protective but a coyote got one of my babies last year and I cried for a week). If anyone can help me with some words of wisdom, I would appreciate it... Thank you.
How old are your hens, did you buy them as chicks or as hens? If by chance you bought hens, they may be getting too old, age decreases production, that is why many here add new chicks each year. Look very carefully around your run, and coop many times if I have a sudden egg loss, they have a hidden nest. I have gone down in the morning taking my coffee and sat and watched, and waited to find where they are laying. A few days locked in the run/coop will cure that. Feed is important. Use good layer feed. The duck problem, I have not idea. MrsK
I bought all as peeps... the older ones ( 8 of them) are a little over a year now, the rest are less than a year. i have searched high and low for eggs .. under bushes, trailers.. in the tall grass.. nothing Today I got 12 ( it was a bit cooler than it has been.. we are in Oklahoma) so I know they know where they are supposed to lay ..
