Would too many roosters cause an egg drought?

[affacat]

We've been getting a low egg count for months now. We thought they were hiding them around the yard but we really found any when we looked. We ended up keeping them in their run for a week to see if we could find a baseline, but our count was still low.

We have 45 chickens total. Different ages, but we only get 4-6 eggs most days during this summer, and we used to get that with 10 chickens.

 

[nuthatched]

What do you feed? And how many rosters to hens? Have they been molting or excessive heat?

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Hello! I have some questions for you to answer so I can better assist.

What is the average age of your current chickens? I see you said mixed ages, but if you have more older birds than younger birds that would cause lower egg amounts.

How hot has it been in your area?

How many roosters vs laying age hens/pullets do you have?

Any possibility of worms or mites?

Any molting birds?

Did it start around the time the days began to shorten (are you in the northern hemisphere?l

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Oh and what breed(s) do you keep? Some are better layers than others.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I haven't experienced the issue you're having, & I keep multiple roosters to multiple hens.

 

[3KillerBs]

What is the breakdown of your flock?

Different breeds, ages, sexes, etc?

Any females of ~18months or older are likely to be molting at this time of year.

Any senior hens who have been through several molts already are likely to reduce laying to only a few eggs a week or even to stop laying completely.

A high male-to-female ratios *can* stress the hens and that can reduce or even stop laying.

What other sources of stress might there be in their ranging area?

Also, what feed do they get and how often?

 

[gimmie birdies]

I currently have a few molting hens, and young hens (5-6 months old and younger.) Once my young hens start to lay, my molting hens will restart to lay, and I will get a crazy amount of eggs.

 

[affacat]

What do you feed? And how many rosters to hens? Have they been molting or excessive heat?

We feed them layer pellets from a local Mill. I believe we have 45 chickens total and seven of them are roosters.

They get two full scoops (those big red scoops, I think they are 2qt scoops?) A day plus free-range all day.

We had strange weather this year but it wasn't particularly hot. We had a large batch of broody chickens this year, maybe 7 at a time which caused havoc in our nest boxes.

We have plenty of room in the coop but some of the newest batch sleep on the floor instead of the roosts anyway.

They spread out across the yard over the day and the roosters don't seem to fight very often at all. It's all very relaxed, really.

 

[affacat]

What is the breakdown of your flock?

Different breeds, ages, sexes, etc?

Any females of ~18months or older are likely to be molting at this time of year.

Any senior hens who have been through several molts already are likely to reduce laying to only a few eggs a week or even to stop laying completely.

A high male-to-female ratios *can* stress the hens and that can reduce or even stop laying.

What other sources of stress might there be in their ranging area?

Also, what feed do they get and how often?

28 chickens across maybe 12 different breeds. 17 barnyard mix fowls born this year.

We've had chickens for a long time and never had this kind of issue, though we've never had this many. We were getting a 12 a day early summer and then count started dropping. We had seven or eight broodies for an extended period which led to our 17 new chickens this year.

There aren't really any stressors in our yard, the only new issue is we have a large pup but she's quite good around the chickens and rarely romps at them. Our egg issue started well before she joined our household.

We had two roosters before the 17 new chickens. We got quite lucky with our 17 and only have five new roosters, for a total of seven roosters.

We are averaging maybe 4 eggs a day.

They have 6 nest boxes in the coop, and the 4 outside nearby, and then 4 more in an old coop they sometimes lay eggs in but don't sleep in. We basically get an egg in each area.

I'll cull a bunch of roosters if I have to but we honestly have a nice batch of non-aggressive roosters so it's a shame, none of them get out of line. I occasionally see them having at it (not major fights, more like one chasing another for a couple seconds) but very rarely.

 

[3KillerBs]

They get two full scoops (those big red scoops, I think they are 2qt scoops?) A day plus free-range all day.

Is there a reason that you don't free-feed them?

Is there room at the feeders for all of them to eat at the same time? Any chance of dominant birds hogging the feed so that potential layers might not be getting sufficient nutrition?