was getting a dozen eggs a day now only 5or 6 eggs a day, why.....

[blueseal]

there not molting and there all healthy. they get plenty of layer mash and water. they range from 6 months old to 1.5 yrs old. noticed in the last week eggs have dropped could be the shorter daylight here inthe northeast. so i put a light in the coop it comes on at 4am and off at 7am 3 more hrs of light i,ll try that for a week and see what happens.

 

[missfitch]

I will be following your post to see if you have success and then I might be looking for an electrician!!!!
Good luck

 

[big greg barker]

I keep a light on morning and evening to simulate 14 hrs of light. Some folks promote light earlier in the morning and letting the natural light fade in the evening, but I light in the evening so I can tend them after supper.

 

[blueseal]

i just ran a cord down to the coop and plugged it in to a brooder lamp reg 60 watt bulb on a timer .

 

[blueseal]

Quote:
have you noticed a pickup in egg production.

 

[Capone]

a hen after its first year of lay can go down to 60% in productivity. and of course the shorter days play in. so just put a red heat lamp in the coop to give them more light.

 

[RAREROO]

Are you sure they're not molting? It is the time of year for molting and I think most everybody's chickens are molting. My 10 Barred Rock hens where averageing about 8 eggs a day and now they probably average 5 - 6 a day, they are at the end of their molt.

 

[dacdeihl]

Quote:

My husband and I spent the weekend running electrial line (under ground) to our coop. We ran it from our existing pool line. We are not electricians but my father is and I've learned alot from him. Electricians are very expensive. I would say go to Home Depot or Lowes and but a book first. It's not hard once you understand the concept. Now my coop has two 4way outlets and a main light that is run by a switch. We are planning to put in tonight two flod lights on timers into the outlets to create day light. I was planning on having them come on at 5am - 9am have them go back on at 5pm - 7pm. That will give them 14 daylight hours in the coop. My husband also sugested a night light to come on 15 before the AM timer to allow a brief dawn time and do the same after they turn off at 7pm to mimmic dusk time. I laughted at first but who likes to wake up with the lights flipped on suddenly. BAMMM!!!! WAKE UP!!!!

 

[chicken ridl]

My numbers started to go down also. I blamed it on the days starting to get short and the temp starting to go down. But we found they are laying in the grass out in the pen. You might look for somthing like that.

 

[MIKE555444]

I have notice more consistant eggs since I added the light and timer. It was a cheap timer from our local hardware store.
My timer comes on in the morning around 5:00am and stays on till 8:00am. Heck I seen them slipping out to run door into the edge of the grass at 5:15am this morning(I have a large opening to the run).