I haven't got any eggs from 25 chickens in 4 weeks!!!!

[Thebossbaby]

I have also noticed my rooster does not breed the hens NEARLY as much as he used to, does they have anything to do with it?

 

[rebrascora]

When you say "A LOT" of bread, can you quantify this? Bread is low in protein compared to chicken feed, but chickens love it, so they will fill up on bread and eat less chicken food, resulting in less protein in their diet, which is what they need to produce eggs. It will also lead to them becoming obese over time which will not only impact on egg laying but also general health.
That said, your chickens didn't all stop laying overnight because they suddenly became obese or have a bad diet but there may be another environmental factor which is making the lower protein diet more of an issue. Mites are the first thing that comes to mind. If mites are sucking their blood at night and they are already low on protein, that would cause problems and mite populations can explode very quickly in summer heat. My advice would be to stop the bread, perhaps switch them to a higher protein feed and check the coop for mites. I've been battling them in two coops this summer but other adjacent coops don't seem to have a problem. It may be due to different construction or materials or how the sun hits it, but it is certainly possible to have a problem in one and not the other. Excessive heat will also knock egg production and if hens are overweight they will struggle more with the heat.
I should say that I am not saying your hens are obese, but just that it might be a possibility if you have been feeding them lots of bread over a long period of time.

Another possibility is rats or other vermin taking the eggs.... I've had a problem with both rats and jackdaws this summer.

A third possibility is that they are going into moult. I have a few that have started moulting and egg laying has dropped off. My hens are all different ages, so they moult at different times. If yours were all hatched at the same time, they will moult about the same time. I can't remember if you said how old they are. Also are the Americaunas next door the same age or younger? If they are younger they may cope better with the heat.
There are so many minor differences that can have quite a major impact, but you have to look at the details to see them.

 

[azygous]

A clue! The bread can definitely lead to a dietary deficiency which can affect hormone levels which can affect ovulation. If the hens are not ovulating, it would explain the rooster's lack of interest.

Compare the color of the combs of the non-layers to the color of the laying group. Are the former lacking in a vibrant red color by any chance? It would directly indicate ovulation has ceased.

The laying group may just be slightly different in their nutrient uptake, but could stop laying at any time due to the same reasons.

Another thing too much bread can cause is crop disorders which can affect appetite and the rest of the snowball effect. I would check all these non-layers for sour crop. You may notice they've lost a lot of weight while still appearing to have full crops. Their crops may emit a very unpleasant, rotten food odor.

I learned the hard way about feeding too much bread when I gave my flock a large helping of turkey stuffing and I ended up with several cases of sour crop.

 

[Thebossbaby]

I didn't mean I feed them a lot of breed I ment I feed them breed often, so they might get a loaf a week. How do I check for mites? I have dusted the coop in diatomaceous earth and nothing had changed, do I have to dust them? Btw they have been loosing there feather recently and are looking kinda rugged up but since the rooster isn't mating often I figured they were molting, but it's the MIDDLE OF THE SUMMER and my birds have never molted except there first year and only a few did

 

[Sara Ranch]

You had asked about mating affecting egg production. One of my egg layers got herself a boyfriend who was super serious about being a dad. She put out for him like you wouldn't believe. He took his potential dad experiences to heart and decided to move in with her. (He was in the same daytime area with her and others, but slept separately.) After several covert attempts of moving in with his gf, I let him. Her egg production was great!

Her sisters however, dropped dramatically. Sis didn't like boyfriend.

Then boyfriend decided to move out. He decided he wasn't going to sleep with her. He started spending less and less time with her. She started following him around. Her egg production dropped and her sister's went full gear.

I wouldn't let the boyfriend move out...and they have resolved their differences and egg production is back to where it should be. One sister lays a medium sized egg. One sister lays an extra large egg. So it was easy to tell who was laying and who wasn't.

With this chicken drama, the girl with the boyfriend produced regularly...but when she stopped getting some from her boyfriend, she stopped putting out eggs. Literally. They are down to mating 2x a day. It's enough. Neither do mating with anyone else. Everyone lives with it.

In my experience, a drop off in mating could affect egg production. As so many other wise posters have shared, there are so many other things that could be affecting egg production. The heat. The living conditions. The feed. The molt.

 

[Taote]

I am in summer and my hens layed through the winter. There coops and runs are the same size and they both have roost's. they all get feed the same food and are given treats like bread ALOT

I am no expert, and my girls get bread sometimes too, but I limit this so as not to mess with the protein ratios.

Too many treats (esp carbs or sweet) may be bringing down the protein ratio enough to impact laying.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I also have a batch of chickens that have a lower egg count than the group in the next pen, Mine I am sure has something to do with age as they are my older girls and I believe molting. I have increased the protein available to them and will give them a chance to work through it.

 

[rebrascora]

I still don't think you have answered the question about how old they are, but that latest information about losing feathers and looking rough, suggests they are starting to moult. Yes, the rooster will lose interest because they are no longer ovulating. He may also be starting to moult himself if they are all the same age and often they feel a bit under the weather when they are losing their feathers.
Better to moult in summer than in winter, but it depends when they hatched. Moult will usually occur at about 18 months and annually thereafter. If this is a commercial enterprise, then you may need to consider rehoming or culling and restocking with POL pullets, because they could be out of production for months.

Having birds of different ages is important if you want a continuous supply of eggs.

Checking the cracks and crevices of the coop particularly around the ends of the roost bars is where you will find mites if they are a problem. Many people check their chickens at night as this is when the mites crawl onto them to suck their blood. You can also wipe a paper towel along the underside of the roost bar at night and if it is blood smeared, you have mites. I use a dust pan and brush to flick debris from the cracks and crevices near the roost bar into the dustpan and then tip it onto a light coloured surface. Any red specks that move are squashed with a finger nail and a smear of blood indicates you have mites. Usually, if you have a major problem with them, you will feel them crawling on your skin when you have been cleaning out the coop.

 

[azygous]

A whole loaf of bread per week is quite a lot. It's pure carbs and offsets the intake of more nutritious grains. Chickens adore bread, but it doesn't mean that it's good for them.

It's not too early for chickens to begin to molt. I have several in my flock in full feather blizzard. They of course often quit laying when they molt.