New Chicken farmer

[charlie809]

Hello everyone. I am like totally new to this whole chicken raising thing, however my wife and kids are having a blast with it. We live in South Texas (Rockport) and have 25 hens and a couple roosters. When we got the chickens about 6 months ago we were getting between 8 and 13 eggs a day. Now we are lucky if we get 4 eggs a day and sometimes only 1 or none. What happened to their egg laying abilities? Does anyone have an idea? I have heard it could be anything regarding food or South Texas heat. They are fed a variety of high protein grans and laying pellets. Appreciate any wisdom. Also I am in search of Sex Link hens for sale if anyone knows of any around the Coastal Bend area

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

Any chance they are starting to lose feathers? This time of year birds tend to start molting (use the search bar to look up "molting" to get more information). When birds molt, they generally stop laying as all of their efforts go into regrowing their feathers in preparation for winter.

Other possibilities are:
external or internal parasites
stress/change
heat
feed - your hens should be eating about 90% layer pellets and 10% other foods (grains, table scraps, treats, etc.). If their diet is not at least 90% layer pellets, it could impact rate of lay, as could getting too much sugar, salt, starch, etc.

As far as looking for other birds, you may want to try your state's thread (put your state's name in the search bar). Or, once you have 20 posts you can participate in the "Buy/sell/trade" forum.

Good luck!

 

[drumstick diva]

If your birds free range, they may have a secret nest somewhere or predators may be stealing their eggs. Heat and molting could definitely throw them off their laying game.

Welcome to Backyard chickens, hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!