What is going on???

smk2010

In the Brooder
9 Years
Jan 25, 2010
79
0
39
I have 19 hens aging from 1-3 years old. Last summer and the winter before they averaged 10-15 eggs a day. For some reason for the last 5 months the egg numbers keep going down. Yesterday I was so disappointed to find only 3 eggs!!! 19 chicken and only 3 eggs.... what is going on??! I have 2-3 who are molting and the rest seem to be in good health. I do on occasion find a gooey nest (once every 1-2 weeks) indicating an egg was broken and eaten. We have had a very mild winter so I don't see the weather being a problem. It is now staying light longer so I would think the egg number should be going up and not down. I am not seeing any indication of nest robbers - not since I killed the huge rat that invaded my coop all last year.

I have....

1 Rooster
4 Sex Link cross (3 year old hens)
5 Rhode Island Red Hens (2 years old in May)
3 Delawares (1 year)
2 Wyandottes (1 year)
5 Ameraucana Chickens (1 year)


Any suggestions or thoughts will be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!
 
Lack of daylight - need 14 hrs a day for more eggs but, sounds like you may have a problem with egg eaters? I would put fake eggs in nest boxes and see if they can be broke of the habit? Just a thought - Good Luck
 
Thank you for the reply. I would agree on the lack of daylight except that they layed all last winter without skipping a beat and we have solar lights set up in the coop that keep it light in there an additional 3-4 hours a day. I figured the lack of sunlight would slow them down a little but not this much. As for an egg eater...yes, someone is eating them but I think my biggest issue in that area is that I have two hens who are laying low quality thin shelled eggs. The eggs from these two hens often break just picking them up when collecting them - so I'm guessing that they are breaking while the hens are coming and going and they are eating them to clean up the nest. I'm not sure which hens are laying the bad eggs but I hope to find out as soon as everyone starts laying again. I plan to separate them 1-3 at a time until I figure it out. I do use a fake egg just incase...which has worked in the past.
 

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