Less Eggs but No Idea WHY

[rookea]

I have 18 hens and 1 Roo. I am getting only 5-8 eggs a day. They are usually free range with unlimited supply of Layer Pellets and oyster shell. Always water available. Light in coop comes on at 5 am. At 1 pm the other day I went into coop and there was only ONE egg so far that day. In 8 hours with 18 hens and only one egg??? Nobody looks sick. Nobody is acting broody. All but 4 hens are 2yo and they are 1. I was getting 12-15 eggs a day. Help!! Thoughts??

 

[ChickNanny13]

They're free ranging, have you searched the area? I now keep my girls in their enclosure, living in a residential area I have a neighbor with 8 dogs that I don't trust. I used to allow my girls out to roam/scratch in the yard but only in the afternoon after they've laid. I was not wanting to Easter Egg Hunt for eggs ...

 

[rookea]

They're free ranging, have you searched the area? I now keep my girls in their enclosure, living in a residential area I have a neighbor with 8 dogs that I don't trust. I used to allow my girls out to roam/scratch in the yard but only in the afternoon after they've laid. I was not wanting to Easter Egg Hunt for eggs ...

 

[rookea]

After finding a hidden nest about 2-3 months ago I started leaving them up until an hour or so before roost time. I’ve continued that but my egg count didn’t seem to increase, it actually decreased. I’ve tried leaving them up all day for several days in a row to try and retrain them if any were still laying outside of nest boxes. But I don’t think that is the case any more. I have noticed hens in the nest boxes and when I go back to check there are no eggs where they were nesting. I don’t have a security issue with the free range. They’ve been doing that for 2 years. I live on a large farm, plenty of space.

 

[sweetater22]

I would think most likely they have a hidden nest that possibly you haven't found or predators have found first. I believe you would have to confine them, hopefully in a large run for weeks to retrain. I had to give up free range because of predators and the egg search problem. As you might know hens don't lay the same time each day, hard to tell when to let them out.

 

[chickens really]

Stress or age can drop egg production too. Also diet.

 

[aligarysmom]

Yes I was thinking food. I was getting ready to start ff for my girls and was reading a bunch of stuff. They say there is a clinical increase in health and egg laying ? It will take a few months but that’s an easy fix. It doesn’t take anything more than what you have already.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Yes I was thinking food. I was getting ready to start ff for my girls and was reading a bunch of stuff. They say there is a clinical increase in health and egg laying ? It will take a few months but that’s an easy fix. It doesn’t take anything more than what you have already.

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