08562njpaul
Hatching
Hey - New to this site - love it so far but i have a problem...
Started this past summer. 15 birds, all egg layers. Before this summer i would get 6 to 8 eggs a day. All of a sudden production dropped to one egg a day. Same food same water same coop.
I started to disinfect my water font, I got a probotic for chickens, I thought the water source was bas as there was some slime in the font and it was funky smelling.
Summer turned to fall, still super low production. I have always had a few aggressive hens, tail feathers missing off some of the more submissive birds etc. So i built another coop, put the submissive birds in it separate from the main flock. Egg production remained low. Then i noticed more birds in the main flock were starting to loose feathers. So i culled the three most aggressive hens. Put everyone back together. No more feather distress, everyone seems happy.
Still low production.
A house burned down a few towns over, i inherited five adult egg layers. Was told they were good producers. Got them the day after christmas (the house burned christmas eve, sad). They have layer five eggs to date.
Im obviously doing something wrong....The main flock has a nice sized coop with a 8ft x 16 foot run. I notice sparrows inside eating their food so i know I'm feeding them, i saw a rat out there so i got rid of it, I'm trying here bit I'm tired of feeding 16 birds and getting ONE egg a day! I can but ORGANIC eggs cheaper!
Help or I'm going to just give up...
I fed them organic feed until november, at $30 a bag i was going broke. Switched to all natural Nutrena? from tractor supply at significantly less. I give a scoop of Grit and a scoop or calcium once a week or so scattered.
Help PLEASE!
Started this past summer. 15 birds, all egg layers. Before this summer i would get 6 to 8 eggs a day. All of a sudden production dropped to one egg a day. Same food same water same coop.
I started to disinfect my water font, I got a probotic for chickens, I thought the water source was bas as there was some slime in the font and it was funky smelling.
Summer turned to fall, still super low production. I have always had a few aggressive hens, tail feathers missing off some of the more submissive birds etc. So i built another coop, put the submissive birds in it separate from the main flock. Egg production remained low. Then i noticed more birds in the main flock were starting to loose feathers. So i culled the three most aggressive hens. Put everyone back together. No more feather distress, everyone seems happy.
Still low production.
A house burned down a few towns over, i inherited five adult egg layers. Was told they were good producers. Got them the day after christmas (the house burned christmas eve, sad). They have layer five eggs to date.
Im obviously doing something wrong....The main flock has a nice sized coop with a 8ft x 16 foot run. I notice sparrows inside eating their food so i know I'm feeding them, i saw a rat out there so i got rid of it, I'm trying here bit I'm tired of feeding 16 birds and getting ONE egg a day! I can but ORGANIC eggs cheaper!
Help or I'm going to just give up...
I fed them organic feed until november, at $30 a bag i was going broke. Switched to all natural Nutrena? from tractor supply at significantly less. I give a scoop of Grit and a scoop or calcium once a week or so scattered.
Help PLEASE!