Michigan

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
Must be something going around. Mine too. Also the chickens of two of my co-workers.

 

[A2SciTeach]

Does anyone here have buff ducks?

Re. egg production, I had that problem last year, it was driving me crazy, I was down to only 1 or 2 eggs a day from 8 hens. My husband saw a very large black snake slithering around outside the coop, I saw the snake in our garage too. We plugged up the tiny cracks in the coop (our coop is built on a hill, on stilts, see attached picture). After doing this we returned to a better hen to egg production ration.

Picture of the coop before we added a 5x8 addition.

ps: Does anyone here have buff ducks?

 

[Huston's Happy Hens]

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The coop is BEAUTIFUL! Snakes are not our problem....we're out and about there all day long - our coop/run is just off the garage...glad - well not really, but reassured that others are experiencing low production too - Sam, how about you?

 

[SillyChicken]

sounds like a blue racer! Generally a good snake to have around until of course they get into your eggs! Glad you found out what the problem was!

I found 2 huge garter snakes in my compost pile yesterday... they don't eat eggs do they?

 

[A2SciTeach]

They may eat bantam eggs, but I don't think they do, they are more into the moving around food, not the sitting around food. And yes, it was a blue racer, not that big around but really, really long and really, really fast.

And, does anybody have buff ducks?

 

[Opa]

I'm pretty sure that the only snakes in Michigan that would eat eggs would be the black rat snake and possible the blue racer. Garter snakes are much too small even for bantam eggs. In most places the most common egg eaters are the rat snake and the king snake.

My egg production hasn't started to decline yet but having 3 broody hens hasn't helped it either.

 

[wyliefarms]

Quote:
Nope no buff ducks

They would be cool to have though

 

[briana1975]

No ducks at all here.

I have been trying to figure out why my egg numbers have dropped also. I do have a couple in molt and 4 broody. I was getting 14-16 a day and now down to 6-8. But the drop was sudden like in the last week. I keep going around inspecting chicken poop looking for answers there. With so many people having the same problem it's starting to sound like weather related.

 

[Opa]

With drastic changes in weather you can expect to see a reduction in egg production. Molting and broodiness also will halt laying. A chicken is born with all the eggs she is ever going to lay. As a hen ages her production lessens. They will lay 20% fewer eggs the 2nd year, 4o% less the third, and the percentage of loss is even greater for subsequent years. Eventually, they will be down to almost none. Since I have birds as much for looking at as egg production I will put up with the reduced production but I don't intend on keeping any bird beyond the third year.

 

[Mom 2em All]

*covering Carmen's eyes so she can't see Opa's post*

Carmen is my special spoiled Golden Comet. She will stay here forever even if she never lays another egg.

For some reason though, she has been trying to find really strange new places to lay her eggs- I think she acts like she is bored with her nest box. And her coop. And her yard. I think she is having a mid-life crisis..
Actually, she is a pitiful looking chicken now. Big red bare butt, pale comb, limps, pale waddles...but we love her. Sometimes I think she is egg-bound but all her eggs have good shells. *i dunno*.