ok so what in the world am i doing wrong? no eggs in a long time!

[shadowpaints]

ok, i have GSL hens some about 2 years old and some about a year. last fall they were all laying great! 15- 18 eggs a day... the days started getting shorter.... so i added a heat lamp. but they still slowly tapered off on laying! so i have tried the red bulb in the heat lamp and the normal bulb. i had it on a timer also.. they get freechoice layer feed and have a huge container with oyster shells... their nests are clean... every one seems healthy.. i dont get it?? i also have bantys that are a year old to 8 months old and they have never laid!! ACCKKKK!! they arent hiding them i know that!! ive wormed them and everything. the roo even stopped his romantic attempts! wil they pick back up as it gets warmer?? the last egg i got was in december , a tiny tiny egg dark brown. before that, it was the first week of november!! help!

 

[happyhensny]

What we do:

Add a CFL light bulb - do not need the heat of an incandescent - to morning. On at 4 am off at 8 am. To get total "daylight" hours of 12 -14 hours per day total.

Make sure they cannot hide the eggs. Started letting our girls out to free range. Eggs went from 12-16/day to 8! Back in the coop till after school!

Feed good quality layer. Reduce nonessential "treats" may be throwing off the nutrition balance.

Good luck.

 

[shadowpaints]

their feed hasnt changed since i switched them to layer feed.... they havent had many treats all winter cuz i thought i was feeding em too many! of course that wasnt what was wrong GAH
they are getting about 13 -14 hours of light ( from the light in the coop) plus their day light hours

 

[gritsar]

Go on another easter egg hunt, if they are free ranging. I free range and whenever the egg production goes down I lock them up until the afternoon for a few days. The egg production goes back up, although I've never found the hidden nests. Sneaky little boogers.

 

[happyhensny]

I'm on my way outside to look for little hidey holes too. 8 eggs Saturday and Sunday, 16 every day they are locked in the coop and run. Someones hiding the goods. Good luck to you!

 

[chicmom]

This has got to be frustrating for you! Looks like you are handling things quite well. How do their feathers look? See any signs of mites or lice at all? (I am grabbing at straws here...)

Have you made any major changes like putting them in a different coop? Things should really be picking up for you right now if your're in an area where winter is over and spring is beginning......

I put a couple of heat lamps in my covered chicken runs and the gals started laying again with no problems! It had gotten down to like, one egg a day from 14 hens.......

How about their water? Do they have good quality, fresh water to drink? Not nasty sulfury water like from an old well? I just can't think of a thing that you're not doing right.......

Good luck to you......

Sharon

 

[shadowpaints]

they only free range with my supervision only due to wild cats.. dogs and who know what else ( a hawk got one of my bantys last year!) they cannot hide eggs in my doop or run ( believe me i looked! lol) and i just cleaned up all the old straw and put in new straw last week ( i clean the coop every 2-3 weeks) so i dont know. lol silly birds!