More hens less eggs?

[rikd1983]

I have had a flock of 9 brown hens that have been laying between 7 & 8 eggs a day all spring. I answered a craigslist ad and brought home 9 more laying hens of different breeds last week. I still get the same amount of eggs, and it appears that most of them are from the new hens and not my original flock....is this as odd as I think it is, and is there anything I can do? Thanks in advance!

 

[mexicanchickens]

Maybe your new hens are not in their regular routine since there's more chickens to get used and that's why they're not laying. I've heard that hens in transition will stop laying for a little while. How long has this been going on?

 

[rikd1983]

I brought the new ladies hens home Saturday evening...they laid no eggs til Monday, which I'm pretty sure was the same day that my original flock quit laying as many. I still get a few from them, but not like it was, and it seems to be the same eggs missing everyday.

 

[aart]

Adding new birds is very stressful to the existing birds.
Stress can cause cessation of lay.

Did you have any integration problems.....or concerns with bringing in disease/pests?

 

[rikd1983]

No, no problems putting them together, they all kinda stayed to their original groups, but are now starting to mingle amongst each other. The new hens are beautiful and healthy.

 

[clkirk]

I am having the same problem. We just started raising chickens and have been lurking on the forum for a couple of month and it has been a tremendous help. We started in June with 8 hens and a rooster from a friend. We were consistently getting 6-7 xl/jumbo eggs a day. We added 9 more hens about 3 weeks ago. 6 were just starting to lay and the other three had not started yet. We put them all in the same coop and they free range most of the day. After adding the new chickens we were getting 10-11 eggs for the first few days. Now were are back to 6-7 eggs a day and it is a mix from the old and new hens. We have 17 hens and at least 14 should be laying but we only get 6-7 eggs. They seem to have adjusted to each other and all get along. How do I increase there production? I am feeding twice as many chicken to get the same number of eggs and now that includes smaller eggs. Any advice appreciated.

 

[aart]

I am having the same problem. We just started raising chickens and have been lurking on the forum for a couple of month and it has been a tremendous help. We started in June with 8 hens and a rooster from a friend. We were consistently getting 6-7 xl/jumbo eggs a day. We added 9 more hens about 3 weeks ago. 6 were just starting to lay and the other three had not started yet. We put them all in the same coop and they free range most of the day. After adding the new chickens we were getting 10-11 eggs for the first few days. Now were are back to 6-7 eggs a day and it is a mix from the old and new hens. We have 17 hens and at least 14 should be laying but we only get 6-7 eggs. They seem to have adjusted to each other and all get along. How do I increase there production? I am feeding twice as many chicken to get the same number of eggs and now that includes smaller eggs. Any advice appreciated.

Welcome to BYC!

You're free ranging all the time?
Did you 'home' the new hens to the coop, and especially the nests there, before starting to free range them?
I suspect that they are laying out in the range area....keeping them all confined to the coop/run for a few days to a week might change your numbers.

Not sure what climate you live in (putting your location in your profile can help folks give better suggestions) but the hot weather can slow down laying also.

 

[clkirk]

We did keep them confined for a few days and we have checked the pasture area and no eggs. We are in Ohio and it has been Hot. My husband talked to a coworker and they are also experiencing a slow down on eggs. Maybe it is the heat - never thought of that.

 

[aart]

Just realized that you've only had the new ones for 3 weeks.....
......sometimes it takes them a while to get acclimated to a new place, the stress can stall laying until they are comfortable.

How did you integrate them?
Is there plenty of room in the coop for all the birds?
Crowding can cause stress too.

You still might want to consider keeping them confined for a week or so until they are laying in the coop nests......
.......'checking the pasture' is often futile, they are sneaky little cluckers!

 

[clkirk]

Our coop is about 8x7 with 4 nest boxes. When we got the first group we kept them in the coop the first week and they learned within a few days to lay the eggs in the boxes and to sleep in the roost. At first they wanted to sleep in the nest. After a week we started letting them out in pasture for a few hours in the evening. We added the new hens and left all of them in the coop for a couple of days and then resumed letting them out to the pasture in the evening. We now let them out most of daylight hours in case the problem was over crowding or not enough access to daylight, it is dim in the coop because it is inside a barn. Also increased their feed to about 3-4 quarts per day, basically they now have access to feed and pasture most of the time.

Is 8x7 big enough to keep 18 chickens confined for a week? We have tried more feed, and more daylight without any change. During the heat of the day they usually stay in their coop or in the barn in a stall area.