not getting many eggs

[Farmerette6]

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I have 20 chickens. One of them is a rooster, 14 of them are 10 months old and the remainder are about 2 years old. We have lights (and had a heat lamp in there for the winter) and we are only getting about 5-6 eggs a day. Is there anything that I can do? I don't know why we are not getting more eggs. It seems as if we should be getting 10 consistently by now. I feed them complete laying feed, free range them from about 2pm on thru the day and feed the scraps when we have them. I purchased oyster shells at the recommendation of a friend and still haven't had any luck with increasing the quantity.

I do have a banty that likes to sit in one of the nesting boxes however there are 4 total in each house (I have two). The houses have plenty of room as well as the run for them when they are in the pen.

It doesn't seem like any of them are mean to each other for the most part. At times there is an ornery one who chases a bit but it seems more like playing. There isn't anyone who is loosing feathers or anything.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[Farmer Viola]

Have you tried keeping them penned for a day or two or three and see if any eggs appear in the run? Just thinking they might have a secret nest visited while free ranging.

Is the light on 24hrs a day? it should go off a nighttime to give them a rest.

I like to give probiotics regularly for general health. You can buy it in the store, I like to make my own. a good base of positive gut bacteria is going to help them absorb more nutrients from their feed, possibly requiring less feed overall. I also give organic apple cider vinegar in the water in intervals for general health. not saying these are cure alls, but just what I could think of.

 

[Farmer Viola]

have you checked for mites? look near the butt fluff and under the wing. they are very tiny. I inspected 5 times before I saw one.

also can you inspect the poop for worms? do you worm them on a schedule? its best to worm every 4 months. I use diatomaceous earth mixed in the feed as a preventative wormer. if there is an actual outbreak, more strong medication is needed.

 

[Farmerette6]

We do not have the light on them now since it is like a good portion of the day. There are some days when we are not home in the afternoon so they don't get let out and those days there are no eggs in the run. I will try the apple cider vinegar and the probiotics. How much of the vinegar do you put in?
Thanks!

 

[Farmer Viola]

make sure it is the organic kind, it has the living mother in it (protein enzyme) and this is the one you want. not the distilled kind
I use 1 tsp per 1 gallon, I think it's the right ratio!