How come I'm not getting eggs?!?

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Hi everyone, ok so I will start at the last dramatic change to the flock. We had... oh idk, a dozen or so laying hens and all was lovely. We got enough eggs for our family. Then the dogs killed off all but 5 hens. They were scared and traumatized and stopped laying for a month or two. Then I took in 2 red sex link and 2 bantem hens from a friend's daughter who was going off to school and needed a good home for them. I added them to the flock, everyone got along and the laying of the new birds seemed to get the old ones laying, too. We had 7 large hens and 2 bantems and were getting a half dozen a day. Meanwhile I had 6 delaware pullets in the chick pen and 6 black australorp pullets and 6 black australorp cockerals in another chick pen. The roosters are all crowing and the delaware hens and the BA hens are all looking mature. BUT, for some unknown reason I am only getting 1-3 eggs a day. Record for this flock is 7. I know some pullets are laying because I see pullet eggs. They are all together now, the original birds, the delawares and the black australorps. (btw if you need a BA rooster and are in my area...)

I am feeding them purena layer pellets 16% protein.
Is there something I can give them to increase the eggs?

I was thinking maybe the summer heat has been hard on them but I never seen a dip like this. So little eggs for so many birds. The pullets are at least 6 months old now. There may be a couple that haven't started laying yet but by the looks of them they are all big with red combs so I would think they should be laying. They never run out of water or food but I do feed them less in summer to encourage them to forage for food.

 

[Mahonri]

May be going through a molt?

or, perhaps you have an egg eater?

 

[Dixiedoodle]

1. A couple of questions? Do they free range? Could they be hiding eggs from you, is there one that might be setting somewhere and the others are adding to her nest.
2. Could you have a snake problem? My nephew had 10 sex-links was getting 10 eggs every day! It started out great, and dwindled to 2eggs a day.. I mentioned snake,,, they said no!! A week later they saw two black snakes in the coop w/ two 'humps' each.. they got rid of them and three more w/ in another week.. Guess what they are now getting 9 eggs everyday..
3. How many/much treats are you feeding them? They need an AVERAGE of 16% protein- too many treats might be 'diluting' their protein %! Corn has a very low %..
4. Do they get good fresh water every day, or several times a day? It takes a lot of water to produce eggs..
5. Is something else bothering them? Dogs near by, barking at them? TOO many roosters per hen???
6. Heat does effect laying.. I added a window fan to my coop and the egg production seems to be holding..
7. What age are your older girls?
8. Are they Molthing? do you see bald spots, lots of missing feathers???

These are just a few things that could effect egg production and could possibly help others dx your problem...

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Quote:
Yes they free range in a large run that used to be the garden. I have been walking all through the run usually every other day. Every once in awhile I find a stray egg but not often. I don't think any of them go broody but I will keep my eye out for possible hidden nests.

We have garter snakes here but thats about it. They could only eat a bantem egg. They couldn't eat a large brown egg. maybe a pullet egg though? I never saw any around the coop but see them around.

I throw a handful of corn over the fence once a day when I feed the geese but other than that I don't give many treats. I occasionally make them a large block of suet but I maintain a protein % of around 20 in their suet by adding cat food and measuring everything carefully.

They get fresh water everyday and never run out.

HOW MANY is too many roosters per hen. I have 6 roosters in there now and 21 hens including the 2 small bantems. Thats 3-4 hens for every one rooster.

The oldest girls are about 8 years old. They are the MOST reliable now for eggs. I actually see them lay. I never see the pullets lay (12 pullets in there) but I see pullet eggs so I am not sure who is laying them.

I don't think anything else is bothering them. I did open the windows in the coop and they have a shaded area outside also. It could still be too hot with temps that go up to 90s

As for molting. None have any bald spots but I do see plenty of feathers in there. I thought it was more so from the struggle of the roosters mating the hens.