Why did my hens stop laying?

[daystardoberman]

I think I did a boo boo. My hens were all spring chickens, hatched in March. I was getting about 10 eggs a day from 16 hens. I'm down to 3-5 eggs now.
I ordered some chicks and brooded them in my bathroom for 3 weeks then put them in the coop, which is a converted feedroom. The chicks are in an X pen by themselves so the big girls don't kill them. I figured these chicks will be able to run with the flock in 2 more months, and I should get eggs in January. my hens are a mix of Golden sex links, Buffs, Silver Wyandottes and production reds. There is a production red rooster. The new chicks are Plymouth Barrs and all are doing well in their little pen. The hens cannot get to them.
The rooster has a new hobby, about once a week or so, he flings himself on me. Ouch. He did it yesterday and I whacked him with a broom.
So my questions:
Are the new chicks causing this? the big hens don't even pay attention to them anymore. The nest boxes are in a little room connected to the main coop, so they have privacy to lay. Did my correction with the rooster maybe upset them? and what do I do with this rooster? I really don't enjoy being attacked. If I give him away will my hens be affected? I handled him a few times a week to keep him tame. He is tame, but does this kamikaze attack about once a week when I'm busy. I have to carry a stick in there now. He's kind of sneaky.
My dogs and I are really enjoying these fresh eggs, and 5 a day isn't enough. I live in Texas, so it's warm, and the chicks have a heat lamp on them at night. It's in the lower 90"s so they don't need it during the day.
HELP!

 

[cackleberrycam]

If you get rid of the rooster, it will not affect the hens, and they will still lay.
Also, do you let your chickens roam? Because somtimes chickens go and lay thier eggs in thier own spot in the yard.
They might also be moulting.
Good luck!

 

[daystardoberman]

No they have the feed room 10X10, the box room 5X10 and a yard about 25 X 15. Aren't they kind of young for a molt?

 

[effie]

My egg production has gone drastically in the last two weeks--temp differences and daylight differences. I am worming at this time starting today to see if this will help--my hens are older than yours. I had a rooster like yours that some days wouldn't let me get back to the house. He and I and the broom went around --several times and he was relentless-just kept coming He finally fell ill and died and I am not sure it wasn't from injuries he sustained from being broomed away. The rooster I have now is a gentleman. No problems and he takes care of his girls. Plenty of people on here will tell you not to keep a bad rooster--you can get a good one. It will make no difference to your hens if you don't have one at all. Do you have a light in your coop to make sure they have enough light as the days grow shorter-it makes a difference. I think it is 14 hours of light they need.

 

[daystardoberman]

Good on the rooster. I have a friend at work that will take him. Maybe one of these chickees is a rooster I can try again.
Yes I have a 25 watt FLORESCENT light that comes on at 5 am and goes off at 8. It is brighter than a 25 watt incandescent bulb. I did get 6 eggs today. Thank you for your answer. I won't feel guilty to give the rooster away, she won't "process" him, she wants him to run with her hens, she doesn't care if he's sneaky.

 

[lairdhillfarm07]

I desperatly need help!!! My husband and I bought 250 chickens 3 months ago. We have been selling all the eggs to the local food coop. We were up to almost 9 dozen eggs a day up until a few weeks ago..now I am only getting b/w 15 and 24 eggs a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea what we are doing wrong!!!!! We did both see a skunk but it doesn't seem to have gotten any of them...we are still counting the right amount. We did start sprouting their pea screens and we added sprouted red wheat into their diet but we did it gradually. If the feed change is the problem how long until they get back on track??? I make sure to keep the light on 14-16 hours a day, and the only other thing I can think of is the cold. We dropped a good 30 degrees overnight recently! We went from summer to really cool temps and rain very quickly....could that affect their laying that drastically????? It is so expensive to feed them...we just can't afford for them to stop laying like this. I don't know what to do...I feel like I have failed! Help me please!

 

[Chick Phil A]

I could use some advice, also.

Back at the end of June I lost 2 birds to a raccoon (caught him in the coop one evening). At that point the remaining flock of 13 stopped laying eggs and I went from 9-12 eggs a day to a big fat ZERO. I figured the hens were scared and would start laying again in a week or two - wrong! August came and I divided the flock in half with a second coop/pen on the property I am moving to (I brought the nicer looking and friendlier birds). It is now October and the relocated birds have still not laid a single egg while the half dozen birds I kept in the original coop lay 1-3 eggs a day. Coops are of identical size & construction

Should I transplant a laying hen from coop #1 into coop #2 ?

Add fake eggs to nesting boxes?

Birds are mixed RIR and mutts.

 

[daystardoberman]

Phil, run a hot wire around your coop to zap predators away. you can do this for under $100. That's how I keep the Dobies out of the coop, but once in while, a hen will find a weak spot in the netting, get out from the hot wire and POOF! Suicide by Doberman.
The dogs love FRESH really fresh chicken.

 

[Crazy shitz]

That is mean! You should make sure your hens are well protected. They rely on you to keep them safe. I can (MAYBE) understand a wild animal breaking in but a domestic pet is owner negligent to even let that happen!

 

[effie]

temp change makes a huge difference in egg laying-mine did the same thing last fall and again this fall--last fall I did the pumpkin thing thinking maybe it was worms at the same time adding light to the coop--eggs picked up--this past month my eggs went from 18 or more to 5 a day--I wormed with wazine Monday and got 11 today-still have to worm with valbezan in a few days so I am anxious to see if the eggs pick up and the girls pink up like people on here say they do when wormed....eggs just seem to come and go with weather and temps and worms...