Going on 2 weeks with low egg production

[Batface]

We have 12 adult hens, a bit over a year old, all of who were laying regularly 2 weeks ago.

1 has hatched out chicks, 2 maybe going broody, but that still leaves 9 who should be laying and for the past 2 weeks we've only gotten 3ish eggs a day. They all look and act healthy, we can find no signs of predators, and don't know how to spot an egg eater. We've gotten to the point of checking the coop many times a day, no drama spotted, and at night we never hear any commotion.

The one thing that did change is we culled our rooster, about 3 weeks ago. He was very rough on the hens, and very aggressive to humans.

They have a large coop that is 8' x 12' and the run is about 3 times the size of the coop. They are fed layer pellets, scratch once every few days, and kitchen scraps most days. When we mow we give them the grass, and randomly my dad will let them out to free range, but we do have a lot of predators, so we are usually outside with them and put them back after a couple hours.

We live in south Louisiana so we didn't really have any slow down in the winter and it doesn't look like any are molting. We've been trying to watch, but other than a little competition for the favorite nest box, we haven't noticed anything.

Oh, before this we got anywhere from 5 to 10 eggs a day, usually 8 or 9 was most common.

 

[DobieLover]

We have 12 adult hens, a bit over a year old, all of who were laying regularly 2 weeks ago.

1 has hatched out chicks, 2 maybe going broody, but that still leaves 9 who should be laying and for the past 2 weeks we've only gotten 3ish eggs a day. They all look and act healthy, we can find no signs of predators, and don't know how to spot an egg eater. We've gotten to the point of checking the coop many times a day, no drama spotted, and at night we never hear any commotion.

The one thing that did change is we culled our rooster, about 3 weeks ago. He was very rough on the hens, and very aggressive to humans.

They have a large coop that is 8' x 12' and the run is about 3 times the size of the coop. They are fed layer pellets, scratch once every few days, and kitchen scraps most days. When we mow we give them the grass, and randomly my dad will let them out to free range, but we do have a lot of predators, so we are usually outside with them and put them back after a couple hours.

We live in south Louisiana so we didn't really have any slow down in the winter and it doesn't look like any are molting. We've been trying to watch, but other than a little competition for the favorite nest box, we haven't noticed anything.

Oh, before this we got anywhere from 5 to 10 eggs a day, usually 8 or 9 was most common.

You didn't have a drop in production over the winter because they were
pullets and they will continue to lay throughout their first winter.
What are the temperatures like down there? Has it been very hot?
Any stress will cause a drop in egg production. Even the broodies can stress out the other hens if they are setting in the regular nesting boxes. Where is the broody setting?

 

[Batface]

Temps are pretty mild so far, hasn't been in the 90s most days yet. We had a very mild winter and so far this is a cool summer. We aren't 100% they are broody, no bald breast yet, and they don't sit all day. This morning one started clucking that sound they use to tell babies there is food here, but she didn't get into the next box until nearly lunch time. We're watching them to see.