Hello New Member

[papagale]

Wow I have realy learned alot from backyardchickens amazing amount of information and knowledge. I am new to chickens first flock in March we now have 38 hens 2 roosters 3 Peking ducks 4 runner ducks (15 of the chickens are young 8 weeks.
We are only geting 3 or 4 chicken eggs each day we also get 3 or 4 duck eggs.
Why are we geting so few chicken eggs.
I have a 4 foot trough feeder and 2
2 gallon hanging feeders all the scratch grain and egg layer crumbles they will eat. I free range the birds for 6 or 8 hours every evening.
Any suggestions.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Glad you joined us!

I enlarged the picture of your flock, and it appears that most of the chickens in the picture are cockerels, (I counted at least 12). Are you aware of that?

Other than that, daylight can also have an effect on egg laying, especially as we start to enter Autumn

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! X2, there are a lot of cockerels in your picture... if you are unsure of what you have, you might want to take individual pictures of the birds and post them in the What Breed/Gender forum for help with figuring out who is what https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this

 

[drumstick diva]

Also your run is too small for so many birds. I notice a few very small chickens(maybe bantams) or young chicks, they are likely to be pushed away from the waterer and feeder by the others who are much bigger than them. Ducks like to splash and make a wet mess of everything - chickens prefer to be dry.

 

[SweetChixs]

Hi All! I'm new to byc as well. I just started raising chicks this year. I have a bantam roo and one small bantam hen that are about 17 wks old. I also have 2 buff orpington chicks that are 6 wks. My roo has just become agressive in the last couple old days and has started mating with my small bantam hen. She's not laying yet. The roo just attacked ME today! I was so surprised! I'm wondering if it might be a temporary lack in judgment on his part. Will it pass? I don't want to keep him if he turns into a mean chicken because I have small kids running around the yard too! Any thoughts? Also I keep my smaller chucks away from him so he can't try to mate with them. Do I need to keep my roo locked up?

 

[Mutt Farm]

Hi All! I'm new to byc as well. I just started raising chicks this year. I have a bantam roo and one small bantam hen that are about 17 wks old. I also have 2 buff orpington chicks that are 6 wks. My roo has just become agressive in the last couple old days and has started mating with my small bantam hen. She's not laying yet. The roo just attacked ME today! I was so surprised! I'm wondering if it might be a temporary lack in judgment on his part. Will it pass? I don't want to keep him if he turns into a mean chicken because I have small kids running around the yard too! Any thoughts? Also I keep my smaller chucks away from him so he can't try to mate with them. Do I need to keep my roo locked up?

Hello!

Welcome! Wish I could answer your questions, but I am clueless about roos. There's a great thread for answering behavior questions.Don't want your question to get missed here. Can you repost in https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/18/chicken-behaviors-and-egglaying
Also, if you're not too shy, give a shout out on https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=new+member+introductions so folks can give you a proper welcome!
If you'll visit the learning center tab, it'll kinda show you around to get the most enjoyment from this great site. Glad you joined us!

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. The other members have pointed out the two major problems with the lack of egg production by your chickens. First, you have a lot of cockerels. Not only will the cockerels not lay, but the recommended ratio of roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. Too many roosters will stress your hens by over-breeding them which will in turn reduce their egg production. In addition your birds are way over-crowded which adds lots of stress to the flock. You need at least 4 sq. ft. of floor area in the coop for each bird, and at least10 sq. ft. of ground area in the run for each bird. And these are bare minimums; more is definitely better. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in removing a number of those cockerels and expanding the space for your birds.

 

[papagale]

[/IMG]
Sorry on my first post I clicked on a picture from a couple of months ago. My mistake I am old guy not very techy.
I added a couple of pic from this morning. To day we have 2 roosters 40 hens. 2 drakes 5 female ducks. I have 192 square ft chicken run 64 square ft chicken coop. But I move the chicken run-coop every 7 days. We free range the chickens for 6 to 8 hours each day on 10 acres they have not made a dent in the grass and bugs. Will what I am doing work or should I give half of the birds a freezer nap.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Are your hens young, say hatched this spring? If so, than I would give them some more time, some pullets won't start laying until mid to late winter. If you have older hens than they are probably molting. Hopefully you will start getting more eggs soon.