We're very lucky to get 1 egg from 5 hens! Advice?

[CinnamonQueen]

I have a Leghorn, an Australorp, a Black sexlink, and 2 RIRs. For the past few weeks, only the australorp has been laying, and even then she only does about 4-5 per week. The Leghorn and RIRs are a year older than the other two, and one of the RIR's has been molting. The leghorn looks like she's finished with her molt, but this is my first time with molts, so I can't be completely positive. They are confined for most of the day, and get about an hour of freerange time per week. Is this why they aren't laying as much?
Also, I'm in Texas, and the temperatures drop down to the 50s or 60s, so the winters aren't that bad.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

[BantamLover21]

I have a Leghorn, an Australorp, a Black sexlink, and 2 RIRs. For the past few weeks, only the australorp has been laying, and even then she only does about 4-5 per week. The Leghorn and RIRs are a year older than the other two, and one of the RIR's has been molting. The leghorn looks like she's finished with her molt, but this is my first time with molts, so I can't be completely positive. They are confined for most of the day, and get about an hour of freerange time per week. Is this why they aren't laying as much?
Also, I'm in Texas, and the temperatures drop down to the 50s or 60s, so the winters aren't that bad.
Any advice is appreciated.

Do you know how old they are? Egg production decreases significantly (or so I've heard--my hens aren't that old, yet) after 3-4 years of age, though chickens will continue to lay even to 8-10 years. Its the time of year for them to be molting, so even if all but the leghorn aren't showing signs of molting, they likely will soon--at least with my chickens, they stop laying several weeks before you actually begin to notice feather loss. Your leghorn should begin laying soon if she is done molting, or she may not. At this time of year, the daylight hours are getting fewer, which signals hens to stop laying. They'll come into full production next spring.

 

[Wyandottes7]

It takes a while for chickens to start up laying after a molt. My chickens often don't lay for another month after laying. This may be why your older birds aren't laying. How long has the Australorp been laying? It can take a while for young hens to start laying well or consistently. All over the United States, daylight hours are decreasing. To lay well, hens need at least fourteen hours of light. This may be why your birds are not laying, and why your Australorp isn't laying very well. If they freerange, its possible that they are hiding eggs. Are there any places that you think they might be laying?

 

[CinnamonQueen]

Wyandottes, they really don't get that much time to free range since I do supervised free ranging, and I am wondering if that is why they aren't producing. BantamLover, the leghorn and RIR are a year and a half, and the Australorp and black sexlink just started laying 2 months ago.

 

[aart]

Shortening of the daylight hours.