How many eggs should I be getting?

[bgates1970]

I have 19 hens in a coop that is 12' x 8' completely insulated with windows. I have 12 nest boxes. It has a dog house heater that keeps the temp around 45 degrees.

I feed them Layena pellets and some scratch grains once a week.

I usually get between 4-8 eggs per day. That seems really low.

How many should I be getting?

My chicken breakdown is:

5 - Rhode Island Reds
4 - White Leghorns
3 - Silver Laced Wyandotte
4 - Buff Orpington
3 - Easter Eggers

Our daily egg collection usually looks like this:

1 - green egg (Easter Egger)
2 - brown eggs (probably RR)
4 - white eggs (leghorns)
1 - buff egg (Orps)


How come that's all I'm getting?

 

[devora]

How old are the girls?

 

[bgates1970]

Ages:

5 - Rhode Island Reds - all are 1.5 years old.
4 - White Leghorns - all are 9 months old
3 - Silver Laced Wyandotte - all are 9 months old
4 - Buff Orpington - 3 are 9 months old - 1 is 3 yrs old
3 - Easter Eggers - all are 9 months old

 

[Fred's Hens]

Do you provide supplemental lighting?

 

[bgates1970]

I have not provided any supplemental lighting. I have in the past by using a Timer and Brooder lamp. I'll hookup the Timer and Brooder lamp tonight.

 

[Fred's Hens]

A brooder lamp is a bit of a fire hazard and expensive to run, frankly. A simple 25-40 watt mini CFL is all you need.

 

[ChicKat]

seems to me like you should be getting more eggs too, even in winter. Not sure though. Have you wormed the chickens since summertime?

 

[kareninthesun]

I got 12, which is good, but here's what I got last week:


and this:

actually, the same eggs, but from a different view. I had more, but gave them away. Getting some super-lovely Black Copper Maran eggs now too~THIS IS SOOOOO MUCH FUN!

 

[kareninthesun]

OOps....Marans. Thought I broke myself of that habit!

 

[kareninthesun]

I'm sorry! Posted in the wrong section. Are you getting more eggs yet? They are still kind of young, so maybe they are taking a break until there's more natural sunshine. If you aren't finding any tell tale signs of them eatting their own eggs or finding them squirrelled away somewhere in hidding. Sometimes a few of mine will decide that laying eggs behide the hay block is the best spot.