Pinless Peepers Issue - Decreased Egglaying??

[KidDynamite]

I put pinless peepers on my flock of 7 about 3 weeks ago because I was having serious issues with pecking. The pecking seems to have decreased significantly, however a few days after installing the peepers, I experienced a substantial decrease in egglaying. I've gone from a consistent ~6 eggs/day to 0-2 eggs/day. The chickens also seem to be eating a lot less.

At first I thought the chickens might be having trouble finding/seeing the food, so I tried increasing and decreasing the height of the feeder. I also tried temporarily putting their food in a elevated tray to give them better access. They are definitely all eating some food, but much less than they previously had been.

My chickens are just over a year old. Has anyone else had a similar issue? I want to keep the peepers on for a few more weeks until the feathers come back, but I'm not sure if I'm shooting myself in the foot on the egglaying front.

 

[TwoCrows]

I use pinless peepers on my girls also as I have feather and comb ripping issues.

I have found they eat much better if you serve up the food in a large tub, like those little black ones that you get in the horse section of the feed store. I wet my layer feed down for them to get them interested in using the tubs. Since using peepers on my girls, I have completely switched over to these tubs as I have no feed waste now and the girls with peepers eat well.

I also do this for water. I still use the regular water fonts around the chicken yard for the ones with out the peepers, but fill a few of those black tubs with water for the ones with the "eye wear". All the birds drink from the tubs as well.

My girls that wear peepers have not decreased in laying. So I would imagine if your peeper wearing girls are not getting enough to eat, they will slow down on laying. Get yourself a bunch of these little black tubs and this should help solve the problem.

Good luck with the peeper girls!