Need help with egg layers

[snicker1]

Looking for suggestions~ I have 6 Rhode Island Red girls who are now 13 months old. They live in a nice size coop with lots of room. The are getting about 14-15 hours of light a day. and are being fed the layer feed 16% crumbles by Nutrena. The problem is that the girls are not wanting to lay many eggs. We are getting between 1-2 eggs every other day. I would appreciate any insight as to what I can do to increase the amount of eggs produced. Thanks!!

 

[helloroe]

First of all welcome with your first posting. Could they be hiding the eggs anyplace? Are you sure of their age? I ask this because I have seen people sell chicks and age them much older then they are to get higher prices. Could they be eating them? Do you see any damp spots around? If they eat them the entire egg will be gone. Hope this gives you starting points.

 

[snicker1]

Thank you so much for replying!! I do not think that they are eating them (but I can't be 100% positive). We look in the coop in the morning and in the evening checking on water and food and remove the ones we find. Is there a different type of feed that is recommended? Also, we do put oyster shells in a seperate container for them. Or should we mix the two together? When we bought them we were told they were about 2 weeks old (last February) This is a silly question but do you think that we have the dog pen not right next to them but near them and I don't think they can see each other, could the dogs barking be stressing them out? (It seems like the little dog is never quiet). Sorry if it sounds like I am grasping at straws but I want to make sure I am doing what I am supposed to since they are my first set of girls.

 

[helloroe]

You are not grasping at all. Actually stress can have quite the effect on laying patterns. By now they should be accustomed to the dog though. My 70 will shut down for a couple days after a predator attack, they slow after a moving of furniture in their coop or addition of new feathered friends. You can try a different feed but that one should be fine. Personally I use Purina Layena just from what I found works for my ladies. Keep the oyster seperate.

Maybe someone will have better ideas then me.