- Sep 29, 2015
- 17
- 21
- 94
Since last October, when they molted, our flock have laid very few eggs. At first we thought it was because of the molting, and then we thought it was because of it being winter (we live in the Eastern Panhandle of WV). Our existing flock size had about 10 hens and 1 bantam Roo. In the spring we got 8 more chicks, 4 Cream Legbars and 4 Black Copper Marans. Later on it turned out that one of the Cream Legbars was a Roo. The other hens in our flock, (a mix of Barred Rocks, Cream Legbars a couple Black Copper Marans and some others) were between 5 and 2 years old. Once the chicks were old enough we moved them out into main coop. Unfortunately a couple of them, including the Roo got killed by our dogs. In the summer we noticed that they had mites, and we deep cleaned the coop and applied DE. We also dusted the flock with DE as well as Ivermectin Cattle pour. We have not seen any since. We did have some egg production begin again in the summer, but nothing like it was before last October. The flock molted again this year in October and egg production has completely stopped. We ensure they have fresh water, and access to plenty of feed (Wholesome Harvest Non-GMO Layer blend). And the coop is cleaned out every couple of months. They also get "treats" on a regular basis, such as mealworms, black fly larva and Mac N Cheese (they love that stuff). They have a pretty good sized run, 30 by 50, with netting over top to keep them in and hawks and such out.
We are at a complete loss as to why we have been getting so few eggs over the past year.
We are at a complete loss as to why we have been getting so few eggs over the past year.