Kalmbach food leading to poor laying?

[CedarRanch]

I have 19 mature laying hens ranging from 6ish months old to just over 2 years old. I am only getting 1-3 eggs a day. I was talking to a friend who has 30 hens and is still getting 2 dozen eggs a day. It is not super cold, multiple hens did go through a tough molt. However, I have consistently gotten fewer eggs from others near by, no matter what weather and consistently they are feeding a cheaper feed. I'm currently feeding Kalmbach nonGMO laying feed. I have a mix of breeds including rhode island reds, wyandottes, easter eggers, ameruacanas, marans, orpingtons, olive eggers. In the summer the most eggs we got was around 12. They are fully free range, they are not laying anywhere else. I just have a very very poor laying rate. Any ideas?

 

[Bsmac]

We have 15 hens and 8 laying pullets with numerous birds molting. We get between 6 to 10 eggs every day. Oldest birds are 2.5 + years old (11) birds, other hens (4) are 1 to 1.5 years old. We feed Kalmbach flock maker with oyster shell on the side. Basically, most of our hens are molting so the pullets are doing most if not all of the laying. I`m pretty happy with egg output all things considered. I have noticed a big improvement in their appearance since switching to Kalmbach about 6 months ago. I doubt its the feed but if it was me I would switch to a flock maker feed with oyster shell free choice available at all times as non laying birds should not have as much calcium. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

We have five pullets, three laying. We averaged 18 a week through the summer into the fall. It has dropped to 12-15 with the lessened light.

Easter Egger: daily layer, 7 a week, now 6
Buff Orpington: 6 a week, now 5
Barred Rock: 5 a week, now 4-5

We got three today.

They've been on Kalmbach since I got them at ~7 weeks old.

 

[McChooky]

My chickens are eating 20% Kalmbach All Flock and are laying good. It helps to give them more protein after the molt.I normally give mine 16% layer crumbles (KALMBACH)

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I changed to 20% Kalmbach All Flock and mine started laying like crazy

I wish my original three liked it better. The younger two love it, available 24/7 in a hanging feeder, but the olders still like their Chickhouse/Henhouse Reserve grain blends moistened/fermented.

(But I have seen them eating it when they think they're on the verge of death from starvation, so at least we can go out of town...)

 

[McChooky]

My

I wish my original three liked it better. The younger two love it, available 24/7 in a hanging feeder, but the olders still like their Chickhouse/Henhouse Reserve grain blends moistened/fermented.

(But I have seen them eating it when they think they're on the verge of death from starvation, so at least we can go out of town...)

My chickens love it but it costs a bit more.I don't ferment their feed .
I make a fresh batch of mash everytime I give it to them

 

[Ridgerunner]

I seriously doubt it is the feed. Yours free range so you have lost the ability to micromanage their feed intake. They are managing that. They usually do a pretty good job of that when free ranging. There can be different reasons you are not getting as many eggs as you expect.

One obvious one is the molt, which you are going through. That does not explain your year around issues.

I know you said they are not laying anywhere else. Many people on this forum that don't free range were shocked to find that they actually were. You are looking at them, I'm not but I would not totally discount the possibility. More on that later.

Sometimes critters are getting some of the eggs. I don't know where you are located so I can't know which critters it might be. Some critters leave signs behind, broken eggshells or wet spots. Some don't.

Not every hen lays every day. You can get a lot of variety in that even with hens from the same breeds. It is possible several of your hens just don't lay that often. That will bring your flock average down.

So what can you do? Can you lock them in the coop only or the coop/run for a few days to see if you start getting more eggs? That may mean you are keeping them away from hidden nests or you have locked out an egg eater.

Discretely mark a few eggs and leave them down there. If they disappear something is getting your eggs.

I can't come up with anything else. I understand how frustrating this can be. Good luck!

 

[McChooky]

I have 19 mature laying hens ranging from 6ish months old to just over 2 years old. I am only getting 1-3 eggs a day. I was talking to a friend who has 30 hens and is still getting 2 dozen eggs a day. It is not super cold, multiple hens did go through a tough molt. However, I have consistently gotten fewer eggs from others near by, no matter what weather and consistently they are feeding a cheaper feed. I'm currently feeding Kalmbach nonGMO laying feed. I have a mix of breeds including rhode island reds, wyandottes, easter eggers, ameruacanas, marans, orpingtons, olive eggers. In the summer the most eggs we got was around 12. They are fully free range, they are not laying anywhere else. I just have a very very poor laying rate. Any ideas?

Your hens were averaging an egg every other day or better this summer which is normal. It can take a couple months for your flock to start laying again after a molt. Less sunlight makes chickens lay less this time of year too.Between late December and January mine quit every year for about 5-6 weeks

 

[Bsmac]

My chickens are eating 20% Kalmbach All Flock and are laying good. It helps to give them more protein after the molt.I normally give mine 16% layer crumbles (KALMBACH)

I really like Kalmbach flock maker, our birds even look healthier and get over molting quicker! We have 5 ISA brown hens that have been ragged looking since we got them going on three years ago. I can`t believe how much healthier they look! I too doubt it`s the feed!

 

[FrostRanger]

Your chickens just aren't laying much because the days are shorter. They'll pick back up again in a few months when the days are longer, around spring