Hens in their prime not laying much?

[h2olilee]

I have 3 gold-laced wyandotte bantam hens that are one year old (hatched 4-2-09). They started laying last September and continued through the winter, though decreased. Well, spring is well on the way and they still haven't picked up their laying. Most days I get zero or one egg. Occationally two. Never three (since last fall). I figure this should be their prime laying age and time of year. I don't supplement their light, I fill their oyster shell dish regulary, they are eating/drinking/acting normally. They also get an hour or more every evening of free range time out in the yard. They are not molting or broody. Any ideas what the problem might be?

 

[bigtooks]

They may have been scared by a coon or coyote recently..have you seen any varmints around your coop or had any recent construction near the coop? Hope this helps.

 

[h2olilee]

I don't think so....They haven't seemed stressed at all. They are acting perfectly normal--foraging, scratching, enjoying treats of mealworms, sunflower seeds, greens, corn, apples, etc. What time of year do they normally start picking up egg production after the winter slow down? I thought it would be back up by now...? Zero eggs again today. :-(

 

[teach1rusl]

They eat layer crumbles or pellets??? I might cut back on the scraps and extras for about two weeks so that they're only eating their formulated feed and whatever they catch while ranging each day. Not sure whether that will help or not, but it'll help you eliminate that the possibility of them not getting enough of the "right" nutrients. Since misery loves company, if it makes you feel any better, I've read a LOT of posts about this very problem over the past few weeks. So maybe the season change has a bit to do with it too???

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Are they laying out in the yard somewhere? Try not letting them free range for a couple of days and see how many eggs you get. Sometimes it's hard to find outdoor nests, even when you look.

 

[h2olilee]

They get organic layer crumbles everyday and I fill it regularly, so they get plenty of that. As for treats, I alternate what they get each day, so they don't get it all at once. When they get out to free range in they evenings they are closely supervised-I haven't seen them lay in the yard. And they only get to be in the lawn which is only a very small patch of maybe 150 square feet (they're suburban chickens), so I would notice any eggs. I have kept track of how many eggs I get everyday since they started laying last fall and I think I'm getting less now than I did during the winter. I just don't get it.

 

[ranchhand]

Any chance you have a snake stealing the eggs? I thought mine weren't laying and then found out 2 rat snakes were feasting daily! Hardware cloth around the bottom of the run took care of that.

 

[bobbi-j]

One winter when my egg production went down, I discovered that it was rats stealing the eggs.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

There have even been posts about squirrels rolling eggs out of coops.