Serious shut down in eggs

[Trux]

I quit Dumor feed 6 months back, went to local mill feeds that are a buck or two more per bag. My egg production was 4-6 eggs a day from 16 hens, and I supplement light in the winter. In Jan it was up to 6 to 9 and in Feb it went from a low of 7 and as high as 12, but for the most part it was 7 to 10 a day. My better half had read an article about people quitting Dumor because of egg and bird issues so I decided to give it a shot...glad I did. And my girls are looking better as well

 

[game chicken 1234]

Hi everyone. I have a an issue with my hens. I have 17 and the majority of them are Buff Orpingtons with a few easter eggers and they are about 2.5 years old so not that old to have shut down so much. My issue is I get an average of 2 eggs per day. I haven't changed their diet recently the coop is clean, there is no stress and all the chickens are acting their normal selves. I feed them Dumor layer pellets with a small scoop of scratch grains in the morning. I cant think of anything else except; is it possible that the quality of the Dumor food has gone down (hope I dont sound like a conspiracy theorist)? We have all seen the recent trend with our own human food; getting less for more money. Do you think the food is more filler and less egg laying ingredients? Has anyone else noticed a decline in egg production using Dumor pellets? Thanks for your time.

Hi everyone. I have a an issue with my hens. I have 17 and the majority of them are Buff Orpingtons with a few easter eggers and they are about 2.5 years old so not that old to have shut down so much. My issue is I get an average of 2 eggs per day. I haven't changed their diet recently the coop is clean, there is no stress and all the chickens are acting their normal selves. I feed them Dumor layer pellets with a small scoop of scratch grains in the morning. I cant think of anything else except; is it possible that the quality of the Dumor food has gone down (hope I dont sound like a conspiracy theorist)? We have all seen the recent trend with our own human food; getting less for more money. Do you think the food is more filler and less egg laying ingredients? Has anyone else noticed a decline in egg production using Dumor pellets? Thanks for your time.

Is there a strange animal around pen(ie cat, dog or predator hawk etc. etc,) Had same problem changed laying crumbles to higher protein and, problem solved.

 

[jaxpax]

Wow, Thank you for all the replies and ideas, you guys are awesome. I'll try to answer all the questions in one reply. I live in Central PA and the weather is nice. I have been using Dumor since i had them and used it on the ones I had previously. I used to do the fermented food thing but my summer here last year was very wet and the food kept going rancid so I stopped that and this summer seems to shaping up for more of the same. Never had a problem before. Last Spring/Summer egg production was great. Unfortunately I cannot free range as much as I like as I have a neighbor with a large pit bull mix that let the dog roam, If I do its while I am doing stuff in the yard so I can keep an eye on them. (They had another dog that recently had to be put down that killed one of the hens from a previous flock a few years ago). I think there is one or two hens in there that are eating an egg here and there but I always did and still had good production. I did have a rat problem last summer but took care of that quick but they were not getting into the chickens. I have several large black snakes that are in various parts of my yard that keep my rodents to a minimum, but I dont think that is an issue. But to be on the safe side I will put up a trail cam to see if there is any action at night. They were molting, pretty much, all at the same time this past winter and eggs started to pick up in early fall but totally dropped off here the past few weeks. I have a solar light string that I put inside the coop last winter so it turns on when the dark enough and then uses the battery power for 4-5 hours until the battery dies. So they were getting light for a good portion of the day. I have not taken that down yest and current sundown is around 2000. Is there such a thing as too much light? Thanks for all your replies. I will give the higher protein food a shot and keep you posted.

 

[Fairview01]

At 2.5 years they have already passed prime production and are now on the downhill side of it. It's time to be thinking of replacements around now so they will start laying in early fall and through winter.

 

[BY Bob]

Do your chickens free range every day? Just about every time i`ve noticed an unusual drop in egg production a hidden nest was discovered.

That was my thought too, secret nest somewhere.

 

[BY Bob]

Wow, Thank you for all the replies and ideas, you guys are awesome. I'll try to answer all the questions in one reply. I live in Central PA and the weather is nice. I have been using Dumor since i had them and used it on the ones I had previously. I used to do the fermented food thing but my summer here last year was very wet and the food kept going rancid so I stopped that and this summer seems to shaping up for more of the same. Never had a problem before. Last Spring/Summer egg production was great. Unfortunately I cannot free range as much as I like as I have a neighbor with a large pit bull mix that let the dog roam, If I do its while I am doing stuff in the yard so I can keep an eye on them. (They had another dog that recently had to be put down that killed one of the hens from a previous flock a few years ago). I think there is one or two hens in there that are eating an egg here and there but I always did and still had good production. I did have a rat problem last summer but took care of that quick but they were not getting into the chickens. I have several large black snakes that are in various parts of my yard that keep my rodents to a minimum, but I dont think that is an issue. But to be on the safe side I will put up a trail cam to see if there is any action at night. They were molting, pretty much, all at the same time this past winter and eggs started to pick up in early fall but totally dropped off here the past few weeks. I have a solar light string that I put inside the coop last winter so it turns on when the dark enough and then uses the battery power for 4-5 hours until the battery dies. So they were getting light for a good portion of the day. I have not taken that down yest and current sundown is around 2000. Is there such a thing as too much light? Thanks for all your replies. I will give the higher protein food a shot and keep you posted.

I'm in central PA as well. Switched from Dumor to Purina back in January. I have 2 layers left, a Lavender Orpington coming up on her first year and an Australorp that is at least 4 and I am getting 12 eggs a week. The weather is just rainy so rainy this spring here, maybe they are depressed, I know I am.


I think the best bet is really either something is eating them or they have a new favorite spot to lay and you just haven't noticed it yet. I will say that my Australorp's production is up significantly on the Purina feed for whatever that's worth.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Did this production drop happen at a stroke or was it a gradual decrease over a few weeks?

The standard reason for a serious drop in egg production is the molt. You saw the typical molt in the fall caused by the days getting shorter (well technically the nights getting longer). You have extended the lights to keep them laying but has something happened with that to make them think the nights are getting longer? You said they were not stressed but it may be something you didn't see. Stress can cause a molt or mini-molt. Basically are you seeing excess feathers flying around to suggest a molt even though it is out of season?

There is such a thing as too much light. Light is pretty important in egg laying. It's not just length of day related to molt. Light helps trigger when a hen releases a yolk to start the egg going through her internal egg-making factory. That's to prevent her needing to lay an egg at night when she is on the roost. And just like people they need downtime at night to regroup. Also just like people, some need more downtime than others. Since my chickens lay pretty well in winter when the daylight is only 10 hours or so (I do not supplement lights) I'm not going to tell you a minimum or maximum amount of light or dark they need.

Yours molted last fall so that eliminated another possible issue. If hens are kept laying constantly for a long time without a break (13 to 18 months usually) production drops significantly and you can get egg quality problems. That's why commercial operations have to either molt their flock or replace them on a regular basis. With yours that is not an issue since they molted.

As others mentioned a common reason for a drop in production is them hiding eggs. When I have a hen stop laying in the nest and hide a nest, it's almost always one hen, on occasion two. It's not 80% of the flock. Usually I would not expect this to account for the kind of drop you are getting unless something really scared them from laying in the nests. From what you described this does not sound like a real problem. They can be pretty creative in hiding a nest but at most this is a minor contributor.

You said you had an egg eater. When I had one it was only one hen. She'd open one or two eggs a day and a couple of the other hens would help her eat them. Luckily they never learned to open an egg themselves before I figured out which one was opening them and I ate her. They may eat the egg shell but usually a few pieces were left behind. And I found some soggy damp spots in the nests. It's quite possible others have learned to open an egg and this situation has exploded. To me this is a prime suspect.

Mos critters that eat eggs leave traces, usually egg shells but maybe damp spots. The hens can clean up the egg shells but often they don't. Raccoons, skunks, and possum generally leave traces. While any of these critters can come anytime day or night, they are generally more active at night. I'm guessing this would happen during the day? These critters are way down on my list.

The critters that typically take eggs without leaving any evidence are snakes, canines, and humans. I've had experience with snakes. A snake will eat a certain number of eggs, depending on its size, then disappear for two or three days to digest them before it comes back for more. I had a 5' rat snake eat 4 at a time. So if this is an everyday thing I seriously doubt it is a snake. Or even several snakes. They are not that regular.

A fox or coyote would probably be more interested in your chickens than the eggs so I doubt it is one of them. A dog however (yours or another one) may eat eggs and not bother the chickens. Growing up we called these dogs biscuit eaters. So does a dog have access?

I'll let you think about whether it could be a human.

A broody hen does not lay eggs but I'd guess you'd know if that was what was going on.

A normal laying cycle is that the pullets often lay through their first winter and keep laying until the next fall when they have their first adult molt. So they are typically a year and a half old when they have their first adult molt. The they come back and lay really well after that first adult molt until the second adult molt, which would have been last fall for you. After that second adult molt production normally drops a little, say 15% to 20% flock wide. Each individual is different, some drop more than 20%, some hardly drop at all. You have to have enough for averages to mean much, which you kind of don't, but from how many you do have I really would not expect production to drop that much because of age. You may be unlucky and have more than your fair share of nonproductive hens but that kind if drop would be excessive.

Usually I'd suggest for you to lock them in the coop or coop/run for a couple of days if you can to see what happens to egg production. If egg production goes up then either they are hiding a nest or you are locking out something that eats the eggs. Sounds like you are doing this because of that dog. You can always mark a few eggs and leave them down there to see if they disappear. That would tell you something. That game cam might be really interesting.

 

[jaxpax]

Hi Hershey, I live in Dillsburg.
I do find some damp spots with no shell fragments. So maybe I have more egg eaters than I thought I did. So This all gives me quite a few things to try. I think I will start with turning off my supplemental light and changing to a higher protein feed. My main door to the hen house does have a crack on the bottom that is large enough for a snake so maybe I will make a new door as well. Thanks again for all the info.

 

[BY Bob]

Hi Hershey, I live in Dillsburg.
I do find some damp spots with no shell fragments. So maybe I have more egg eaters than I thought I did. So This all gives me quite a few things to try. I think I will start with turning off my supplemental light and changing to a higher protein feed. My main door to the hen house does have a crack on the bottom that is large enough for a snake so maybe I will make a new door as well. Thanks again for all the info.

I think your ideas are good. Let me suggest one other. I also have ceramic eggs in the boxes so as to confuse an egg eater. You might want to try that as well. They are not expensive. Let us know how it goes.

 

[aart]

I have not taken that down yest and current sundown is around 2000. Is there such a thing as too much light?

So that light is now on until midnight?
They do need a dark period of ~8 hours.
Turning those lights off now may trigger a molt or stoppage.
A timer is better than the solar setup, more control over duration of lighting.