HELP! My chickens are slowing/stopping egg production at less than A YEAR old

[4chickens4life]

HELP! My chickens are slowing/stopping egg production at less than A YEAR old!!
Please help! My chickens egg production was really great (I have four hens and we were getting 4 eggs a day) until a couple of weeks ago when we started getting 0-2 eggs a day. I thought it might be a calcium deficiency, so I bought oyster shells and gave them a heavy calcium diet, and they still don’t lay as many eggs as before. Do they need more protein? What do I do? I don’t think it’s a stress issue because they are free range and go wherever they please all day. They’re only 11 months old, and all of them used to lay eggs everyday, but now we only get 1-2 eggs a day. We got chickens so we wouldn’t have to buy eggs, and we don’t want to get rid of them. Please help us!!

 

[cherrynberry]

HELP! My chickens are slowing/stopping egg production at less than A YEAR old!!
Please help! My chickens egg production was really great (I have four hens and we were getting 4 eggs a day) until a couple of weeks ago when we started getting 0-2 eggs a day. I thought it might be a calcium deficiency, so I bought oyster shells and gave them a heavy calcium diet, and they still don’t lay as many eggs as before. Do they need more protein? What do I do? I don’t think it’s a stress issue because they are free range and go wherever they please all day. They’re only 11 months old, and all of them used to lay eggs everyday, but now we only get 1-2 eggs a day. We got chickens so we wouldn’t have to buy eggs, and we don’t want to get rid of them. Please help us!!

Maybe they built a nest somewhere else...what breeds do you have?

 

[AllenK RGV]

Similar thinking here have been having the same issue this year. Earlier in the week I found the nest with 35 eggs in it.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

They might be molting, sometimes they skip fall molt and molt after spring.

 

[kcan2]

Mine quit laying for nearly 4 months during her first hard molt. However, she was about a year and a half old when it happened. Besides slowing eggs down to a halt, she spent more time on the roost sleeping in, had overall low energy, and looked scraggly and moth-eaten.

 

[4chickens4life]

Maybe they built a nest somewhere else...what breeds do you have?

Buff orpingtons and a black sex link

 

[4chickens4life]

They might be molting, sometimes they skip fall molt and molt after spring.

What does molting look like/ how can I tell?

 

[4chickens4life]

Mine quit laying for nearly 4 months during her first hard molt. However, she was about a year and a half old when it happened. Besides slowing eggs down to a halt, she spent more time on the roost sleeping in, had overall low energy, and looked scraggly and moth-eaten.

Thank you!

 

[4chickens4life]

Similar thinking here have been having the same issue this year. Earlier in the week I found the nest with 35 eggs in it.

Wow! Ok, I’ll check for eggs around the yard

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's when they start to shed feathers and get new ones in. Sometimes it's a hard, fast molt and they look really ratty. Other times its a long, soft molt and you just notice more feathers than normal ans suddenly one day your birds look nice agaib