sonko2010
Hatching
Hi Everyone,
New to the group. My 11 year old son and I have enjoyed raising our 15 Buff Orpingtons since they were day old chicks (Labor Day of 2015). The ladies started laying in late February, off and on as expected, and then we had a great run of 12-15 eggs per day in the spring on 2016. But lately they have really backed off of their laying duties. Now we are receiving only 7-9 eggs a day and every two weeks we might see one day with 11 or 12 eggs. They are not molting and they have all the 16% organic laying crumble they could want. They are free to roam our one acre property during the day and they have a lovely coup at night with a solar panel that extends daylight for two hours past dusk. Recently (for the last 10 days) we've added a cup of meal worms to their diet after the local feed store recommended adding more protein to improve laying. I can't say that it's helped.They behave and look normal, but still low egg counts.
I would like to see them get back to laying 12-15 a day if possible as it seems they should be in their prime. Any ideas and suggestions are appreciated.
Cheers,
Chris
New to the group. My 11 year old son and I have enjoyed raising our 15 Buff Orpingtons since they were day old chicks (Labor Day of 2015). The ladies started laying in late February, off and on as expected, and then we had a great run of 12-15 eggs per day in the spring on 2016. But lately they have really backed off of their laying duties. Now we are receiving only 7-9 eggs a day and every two weeks we might see one day with 11 or 12 eggs. They are not molting and they have all the 16% organic laying crumble they could want. They are free to roam our one acre property during the day and they have a lovely coup at night with a solar panel that extends daylight for two hours past dusk. Recently (for the last 10 days) we've added a cup of meal worms to their diet after the local feed store recommended adding more protein to improve laying. I can't say that it's helped.They behave and look normal, but still low egg counts.
I would like to see them get back to laying 12-15 a day if possible as it seems they should be in their prime. Any ideas and suggestions are appreciated.
Cheers,
Chris