How Many Eggs Did You Get Today?

[Kadu]

2/3 today =D

 

[AKchicken1]

27 for 43, some moulting now I believe.

 

[AKchicken1]

I am going to have to up the protein.  Out of 50+ hens, we got Zero eggs yesterday!  Everyone who buys eggs from me is waiting on the girls to pop out a dozen.  I am waiting for them to pop out a dozen.  I had to BUY eggs at the grocery yesterday:/ .  I am feeding all these chickens, and they are not feeding me.  Last year it slowed down significantly.  We put a light in the coop & boarded up the coop to make it warmer, but it didn't seem to help much.  So, we let them go thru the molt, and the winter & in the spring, we were getting so many eggs that we donated a great deal to the food pantry.  But it's just started winter here & I don't want to wait 6 more months for eggs!

You could try multiple changes if production is what youvare looking for.

Up the protein by supplementing with fermented layer pellets, it's easy to do, the birds love it, and the protein will be around 13% higher than the pellets unfermented.

Feed some scratch And oats, we only feed scratch and oats during winter because the carbs and fat can help keep the birds warm and leave protein available for egg production.

Give them 12 to 14 hours of a full spectrum light a day. You could also use a dull red fluorescent at night.

Or, just let them do their thing. We keep a mixed age flock so when the older are moulting the young birds are laying. Our moults usually last about a month.

 

[Outpost JWB]

I was doing the fermented feed (layer pellets & water with a handful of scratch grain thrown in). It was going well, but it is now too cold to do that outside. The feed freezes. Also, maybe ironically, that is when their egg production stopped. About 2 months ago. Some are molting now. It was probably bad timing, but I just stopped giving them FF last week because it was freezing.

 

[BriardChickens]

1 out of 1 hen yesterday, as always waiting for all 7 pullets to start laying! Everyone either has or is getting quite red faces, that includes the black Orpington and Ameraucana! Yesterday was the first time were I looked at the black Orpington and thought "wow she looks like a big bird now"

 

[AKchicken1]

I was doing the fermented feed (layer pellets & water with a handful of scratch grain thrown in). t was going well, but it is now too cold to do that outside.  The feed freezes.  Also, maybe ironically, that is when their egg production stopped.  About 2 months ago.  Some are molting now.  It was probably bad timing, but I just stopped giving them FF last week because it was freezing.

Freezing is a problem. We feed only fermented in the summer and fall. We had to move the fermenting into the garage in early October when our temps gotvdown below 20band stayed there. We cut back the fermented feed to just a supplement, maybe 4 gallons a day. But anything with a bumped up protein should help. We used to supplement with meat builder rations during the molt, or dry cat food would work. We don't try for eggs during the molt so don't really change much. But we've never had chickens molt then not resume laying for months with our light and winter feed regime. Of course, we also keep than loaded up veggies and different stuff to keep then entertained as well. How old are your birds?

 

[Outpost JWB]

Age and breeds....hmmmm.

We have some golden comets, rhode island reds, 2 barred rocks, astralorps, and one white hen. They are all 2+ years old. Have all been laying great until about a month ago when the weather turned,
We have some rhode island reds, 2 jersey giants & another white hen that are 1 year old.
We have some rhode island reds, rhode island red/speckle sussex mix, easter eggers, black cooper French marans, blue cooper french marans, olive eggers, australorp, buff orphington born end of March 2014.
We have 1 rhode island red, 1 australorp, 1 Dixie rainbow, 1 white born end of April 2014.
Last but not least, we have 1 australorp born early July 2014. To my knowledge, none of the new pullets from this year have laid any eggs. So, the youngest is just 16weeks old, but the other new ones are all 24+weeks old. We were getting 2+dozen each day from our 2year girls in spring and early summer. Now nothing from anyone.

The above post was in response to ChickenCanoe's question of types and ages, but it answers your question too. We have somewhere between 50-60 hens. We have several issues here. I know. Right now they are out there free ranging, dodging hawks and feral cats, in the freezing rain and snow. We have had no sunlight in DAYS. Poor chickens.

We do still have some green grass surprisingly. So they still enjoy free ranging. I am at Zero eggs again today.

 

[WVDoug]

10/15

Looks like things are pretty much back to "normal" in the coop. Two Cuckoo Marans Mammas no longer brooding the 7 chicks, and tonight they were all up on the roosts with the rest of the flock, not in the nesting box!

Still expecting a hatch this coming Friday!

 

[Blooie]

Ooh, good luck with them, WVDoug! I got 7/9 today. Almost stepped on one of the Easter Egger's eggs. Agatha and Scout are in the nest she usually uses and I think she's letting me know she's NOT happy with that arrangement!

 

[WVDoug]

Thanks Blooie!

There were 10 eggs, but one was kicked out and candling showed nothing. That leaves eight, right?
Wait.....what? It should be nine!
I have no idea what happened to the other egg!