Egg production declining?!

[DatCrazyChickenLady]

Hi! Lately our egg production has been going down- a lot.
We used to normally get 10-15 eggs a day, but now we are getting 5-8 a day. We have only lost one chicken recently....


I’m guessing it may be because of the heat? (We live down south) Several of our chickens are cold weather breeds, so that might make sense...

Please help!

 

[Kiki]

Sorry for your loss.
What do you feed your flock?
What breeds and ages are they?
Have you ever dewormed your flock?

 

[aart]

Do you free range?
Heat can definitely reduce laying.

 

[DatCrazyChickenLady]

Sorry for your loss.
What do you feed your flock?
What breeds and ages are they?
Have you ever dewormed your flock?

We feed them 16% layer feed but they free range most of their food. We have a large mix of breeds and ages, we got most of our chickens from the previous owners of our home. We have not dewormed our flock...

 

[DatCrazyChickenLady]

Do you free range?
Heat can definitely reduce laying.

Yes, we free range all of our chickens.

 

[aart]

Yes, we free range all of our chickens.

They may be laying out in range area,might want to confine them to coop and run.

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[DatCrazyChickenLady]

They may be laying out in range area,might want to confine them to coop and run.

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

Hm maybe. The thing is our chickens are pretty old and well trained... it seems weird that so many of them would start doing that at the same time?

 

[aart]

Hm maybe. The thing is our chickens are pretty old and well trained... it seems weird that so many of them would start doing that at the same time?

How old?
Even if well 'trained', changes can make the change their habits.
How and when was the one bird 'lost'?
If it's gotten really hot in the coop and nests they may seek a cooler place to lay.
Or the heat could have put them off laying.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hi! Lately our egg production has been going down... We used to normally get 10-15 eggs a day, but now we are getting 5-8 a day... I’m guessing it may be because of the heat?... please help!

A chicken produces eggs in response to nature. The biggest thing that you can do to increase your egg production is to change your chicken breed or breeds to something like a White Leghorn. These hens have had the desire to sit or hatch eggs bred out of them, this should result in a 100 or more eggs in each of the first two years of a hens' life.

Next, the 20th of June was the Summer solstice and every day between the 20th of June and the 20th of December 2018 there will be less and less daylight. Hens (and roosters too) are hard wired into their environment and they produce eggs and increased amounts of semen because of the need to have baby chickens to make up the loses that predators produce. The optimum time of year for a chicken to hatch chicks is in the Spring when predation is lower and when food is more plentiful. Chickens have evolved to lay more eggs in the spring time then shed their old feathers in the Summer or Fall months and grow a new set of duds in time for winter.

Hens NATURALLY lay better when they have 14 hours or more of daylight and they NATURALLY lay less when the daylight hours are waning. This is why you are getting fewer eggs now. The temperature is far far down the scale of reasons for reduced egg production. I hope this helps.

 

[aart]

Next, the 20th of June was the Summer solstice and every day between the 20th of June and the 20th of December 2018 there will be less and less daylight.

Hens NATURALLY lay better when they have 14 hours or more of daylight and they NATURALLY lay less when the daylight hours are waning. This is why you are getting fewer eggs now.

Yeah...but...the daylight is decreasing by only seconds a day for now, and this started before solstice. August is when the days really start shortening, that's when I see my birds start to molt...tho some keep laying and don't molt until until later.