Got new hens Saturday and egg production dropped in half!! Whats up??

[asippaiaraetc]

We had about 30 hens... half of them lay in boxes and the other half on the floor (never could figure out how to break them of it).
Anyhow, we got 30 more hens on Saturday (17 week) and suddenly we no longer have any floor eggs. There are still about 15 in
the boxes but NOTHING on the floor!! I can't find any broken shells or matted straw that would indicate that the new girls are eating
more than the feed they're supposed to but am wondering what is going on. Any thoughts?

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
Sometime when you add new birds, and the pecking order is being rearranged, they will quit laying for a while (or even just the stress of having new birds). Also, did you quarantine these new birds before putting them in with your existing flock?

 

[asippaiaraetc]

Uhhh, no, we didn't. Just got them from a hatchery, clipped their wings, banded their legs so we knew who the new girls were, and put them in the yard with the others. Bad idea?

 

[geebs]

Check for mites... that would be why they would lay on the floor... also mite and vermin... rats... Treat accordingly That will drop egg production over night and makes sense of the floor thing.

 

[asippaiaraetc]

Okay, sorry, I'm obviously a newbie. They lay eggs on the floor because they have mites? We raised that first batch of 30 from chicks and half of them just never bothered to lay in the boxes, so they've had mites for 6 months?! Rats are certainly not an issue, and I don't thing we even have mice out there because none of the feed bags ever get
torn open. I suppose I could be wrong, but that doesn't seem to fit my situation....

 

[Teresaann24]

I think the new additions have just changed things in your flock and has caused some to stop laying.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
Whenever you introduce new birds into your flock you should always quarantine for at least 30 days, to watch for any signs of disease. And then it's probably a good idea to put just a couple of your birds with some of the new birds, and watch to see if they get sick. Chickens are carriers of disease, and if they've been exposed to something without getting sick, they may still be a carrier, but are themselves resistant to the disease. Just watch your girls closely and carefully, and at the first sign of someone being "off" or sneezing, or fluffed, or really anything, remove them from general population and put them into quarantine. Honestly, I don't ALWAYS quarantine EVERYTHING either

but it is with the knowledge that a new bird can wipe out my entire flock (it's a space issue for me) and I only do that with certain birds from certain sources.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
No, I would guess that some of your "underlings" are the ones laying on the floor, which would be why they quit, if they are worried about the new birds. I have a few birds that after a year still lay places other than the nest boxes, because they aren't allowed in them by the bosses...

 

[asippaiaraetc]

Makes sense. I got these 30 from a different local place than before, but it seemed to be a clean operation.
I did have one from the old flock that was acting weird the last couple weeks and just laying around acting like she couldn't breathe
so we removed her from the flock 'cause each day seemed to be her last.

 

[Penturner]

asippaiaraetc, Yes just adding new stock of any kind is not a good idea. First of all you have no idea what the new birds are bringing in. Even if the new birds are not sick, you are adding them to a flock that has not bee exposed to anything but what you have in your coop and run. things that the new birds are immune to can make your birds sick. Quarantine does two things. It give time for any disease int eh new birds to actually show up f it is going to. it also allows time for anything they are carrying to die off if it is going to. For example some mites that might come from a hatchery may not be able to survive at my high altitude for very long. I still want to give them time to die because they can carry other diseases that could get spread to my flock. Anyway it is not a given that there is a problem and it is already done. My first guess is that the laying thing is just a disruption in the coop. It could be egg eating by the new birds but not as likely as the effect of just the effect of adding new birds. You doubled the size of your population. Which for me is also a no no. I don't like adding a bunch of new animals ever. Just a suggestion for the future. Keep the new birds in a separate temporary for a couple of weeks. then add them 5 maybe 10 at a time to your flock. that way nobody notices as much of a population increase. you are able to track any trouble makers due to changes that way as well. For example if you have a couple of egg eaters. it is going to be harder to find them among 60 birds than it would among say 35 or 40. But like I said i think your hens just are not happy with all the new company.