Would too many roosters cause an egg drought?

Haha yeah sheep are pretty insane....

Do your neighbors that only free range get more eggs than you? And if so, what else is different over there? (Breed, age, stocking rate.....)

Chickens can survive on only/mostly free ranging, but they're more likely to stay at a less nourished state where they're less productive than the "300 eggs a year" or whatever their breed average is supposed to be. Which depending on your goals might be totally fine. (Do you have them for cheap/free eggs? Nutrient cycling/scratching your sheep poop into the earth? Companionship? Showing off? Selling eggs/chicks?)

I also have been wondering if chickens laying at a slower rate increases their laying lifespan. I've heard that breeds that a heavy layers lay the most in their first year or two, then it drops off sharply after that, and the more infrequent layers lay infrequently but consistently for more years than the massive egg producing breeds. So, do both types of breeds have a similar egg reserve they just deplete at a different rate? Are chickens like human females, in that they're born with all the egg cells they will ever have, or are their ovaries more like human testes (as in, can keep making new egg cells throughout their lifetimes)?
 
I need to find the various threads i posted in about this, but we have at least somewhat solved our problem. We used to feed them in the morning and sometimes at lunch, plus freerange and kitchen leftoverd. We have now invested in a set of all day feeders so they can go back to their run and get food whenever they want. We went from averaging 2 to 3 eggs a day to 6-8 a day after a week, so i think this was the issue.

We also think at least one is laying in the alpaca shed and that the dogs are eating it before we find it. No evidence except a bowl shape in the hay.

This, plus our weather, plus molting season could explain everything. I'm very curious to see what I production in the spring is like.

I'll probably just going to cut and paste this response into the various threads I asked for advice in since I dont want to retype but want to pass along success and advice for anyone else struggling with low egg production.
 
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?

This was the post that solved the problem. As much as I liked my previous set up (reused old gutters for a great feeding area), I purchased several large feeders (full feed bag each) and gave them all day access.

Eggs production went up noticably after a week or so. We're still lower than Id like (we get 6 to 8 a day) but now weather, molting, and a few errant eggs lost to dogs finding them is a bit more feasible whereas before it was clear something was wrong.

Thanks! Again!
 
This was the post that solved the problem. As much as I liked my previous set up (reused old gutters for a great feeding area), I purchased several large feeders (full feed bag each) and gave them all day access.

Eggs production went up noticably after a week or so. We're still lower than Id like (we get 6 to 8 a day) but now weather, molting, and a few errant eggs lost to dogs finding them is a bit more feasible whereas before it was clear something was wrong.

Thanks! Again!

I'm so glad that was helpful.

I forget where, many years ago, I read that if you feed wet feed at intervals rather than free feed you need to have room for everyone at once. Maybe some old article in a magazine or some old book from a library. :D
 
I'm so glad that was helpful.

I forget where, many years ago, I read that if you feed wet feed at intervals rather than free feed you need to have room for everyone at once. Maybe some old article in a magazine or some old book from a library. :D

My old set up was great (minus egg production). Two 10ft old plastic gutters staked down provided a lot of feeding area. Chickens could fit on both sides of the gutter.

That said, my new feeding setup is 1000x better because I don't need to feed them every day.

Egg production continues to increase. We are at 9-11 a day. I'm hoping to start breaking a dozen during winter and then more like 30 in the spring
 

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