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- #11
The drop off almost started immediately. The Alpha Hen that disappeared a week later really made it worse. And ever since if we get one or two eggs a day from four birds we felt lucky. We are now down to one egg a day from the flock. The four girls left over seem kind of lost. Three of them stick together and one seems to get lost a lot. And I dont mean I cant find her, I mean she will be sitting in the coop (with the door open) or somewhere in the open in the yard screaming like something is after her. I run out of the house and it appears she is upset because she cant find the other three. When she sees me she literally flies to me and I guide her over to the other three hens. We free range them on the weekends when we are home and this happens at least once per weekend with the poor thing. That was the other reason we were considering the new rooster. Our other one was excellent at keeping the girls together and not letting any stray. He was an incredible defender. If he hadn't almost taken my daughter's eye out and hurt all of us repeatedly we would have kept him. But I dont want to upset my hens more than they are.The cock/erel was removed in June...so 3-4 months ago.
When did the free ranging/lost bird/egg slow down happen?
Adding new birds causes stress which can affect laying habits....plus....18 month old hens will be slowing/stopping production about now prior to molting,
most mine haven't laid in a couple weeks.