Help with hens not laying

[Justine123]

I have 30 hens, mostly Rhode Islands, all over 10 months old, all getting layer ration, oyster shells and scratch; no one is molting or broody but I am only getting about 9 eggs a day. Any ideas on why they're not laying and what to do?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Possibly the scratch diminishing your protein too far. How much do you feed?

Daylight diminishing might slow production. What was your max ever egg count per day?

Egg eaters in the flock. Egg thieves. Hidden nest. Worms or external parasites. Predator visits. Bullying. All things that can effect production.

 

[Justine123]

Hi - thanks for the response. I only feed a bit of scratch at noon when I collect eggs. They used to lay about 18 a day in the summer (but the babies were too young to lay) so I was getting about 18 eggs fro 23 laying hens. I collect the eggs around 12 or 1:00 I can't see them eating the eggs and if a egg in broken in the nest they don't eat it. I've looked around the yard for hidden nest and none of the hens have any defensive marks or bleeding so I don't think there are predators in the yard. Thanks for your help anyway.

 

[Justine123]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Possibly the scratch diminishing your protein too far. How much do you feed?

Daylight diminishing might slow production. What was your max ever egg count per day?

Egg eaters in the flock. Egg thieves. Hidden nest. Worms or external parasites. Predator visits. Bullying. All things that can effect production.

What do you do about Parasites?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

To check for worms, taking a fecal sample to the vet is best. It cost me about $15. and I collect many samples from the flock and take in as one for an overall look. Then I would treat IF needed with the correct medication according to species identified and load count, because not all wormers treat all worms and I hate to treat for what I don't have and maybe not get what I do.

For external parasites, I check after dark once they have gone to roost with a flashlight, keep it dark. No chasing that way. I do one bird at a time and hold them on their back (with 2 people), The others stay on the dark roost, part the feathers near the vent and on the abdomen and look for crawlies running away. Though some are microscopic and will never be seen with the naked eye. I treat external parasites using permethrin spray. It's safe, effective, affordable, easy to use, requires no withdrawal from eggs. They make an organic version sold as Elector PSP or Spinosad. They are based on a chrysanthemum extract and much pricier. Permethrin is the synthetic version. To me poison is poison, so I use affordable. Mine was bought as horse fly spray to keep mosquitoes off my goats and dogs. The discovery of being able to use it on my chickens was a bonus. My little trigger spray (ready to use) bottle was under $10 and has lasted more than 1 year with 60+ chickens, 3 dogs, and 2 goats. They also sale it in concentrate that you mix down to the right strength under names like Gordon's.

 

[lazy gardener]

"They used to lay about 18 a day in the summer (but the babies were too young to lay) so I was getting about 18 eggs fro 23 laying hens."

Ok, more details added to the picture. Your birds are of varying ages, with the youngest ones being approximately 10 months old. How many 10 month old ones, and what are the ages of the rest of them????

I agree, cut the scratch. As birds progress from one laying cycle to the next, their egg count will diminish, while their egg size increases. It could be that you have an aging flock.