Last year we had a roo who was horrible to us and the hens and went to freezer camp. As soon as he was gone our egg production went up significantly. This year I have 2-20 week old roos and 30 hens who are 1 1/2 years to 20 weeks old. Two of the older hens went broody two weeks ago but up until about a week ago I was still getting 6-8 eggs per day from the older hens and the pullets are laying an egg or two every few days. Since the roos have started mating (regularly) my egg count is down to 2-4 eggs a day! I've looked for hidden nests and even locked them in for a day to make sure I had all the eggs. No evidence of egg eating. No molting yet either. Could this be because of the roos again? They aren't being as rough on the hens as the last roo. The hens either squat for them or they walk away and the roos give up and walk away. No chasing and biting stressing them out like last year. I really, really want a roo in the flock. The two I have will be replaced in the Fall (hopefully) with a good quality roo for a breeding program I want to start but until then I was hoping to keep these roos to be with the girls when they free range. Any ideas? I can't completely separate them so it's either freezer camp or stay with the flock until they are replaced.
Could the lower production be due to heat stress, as many have described? Also, I haven't seen molting so don't understand if the eggs cease only after feathers start to fall. But your older hens seem due for a molt.
Maybe it is the heat. It's cooling off this weekend so if my production goes back up then that would explain it! I figure they are going to molt in September or October. For my ducks it was REALLY obvious when they molted - the yard looked like someone broke open a feather pillow! I would be interested to hear from some more experienced chicken owners - maybe the eggs do cease prior to the molt?
If the roosters don't seem to be stressing the girls, then I doubt it's their fault. I agree with allpeeped...molting, or heat, or some other stress is most likely the culprit. Try boosting protein - mixing in game bird feed, BOSS as treats rather than scratch or other goodies, etc. It's sure frustrating when you can't really figure out why things happen with chickens
In my experience dual purpose breeds start slacking off at this time of year, while commercial breeds continue to go strong. Looks like you have some of both.
