We are puzzled, concerned and maybe a little (ok, a lot) annoyed at the chickens in the last couple weeks.
We bought 22 spring hatch laying hens a month ago or so. They came laying about 18-20 eggs a day. 🎉 So exciting since our older hens have definitely slowed down over the years!
We then bought another 20 hens about few weeks younger, so they haven’t started to lay yet.
About 2 weeks ago, egg production tanked.
Like, now we get 2-3 eggs a day. 🙄🙄🙄
There are several reasons this could happen, so we’ve been making changes:
- We added more protein to their food.
- We added a variety of different types of food. (Alfalfa pellets in one feeder, a barley/protein mix in another, barley/soybean meal mix in a third, straight protein in a 4th.).
- Added a light. (Chicken brains tell them to stop laying as the days grow shorter, but adding a light can trick them into continuing to lay.)
- They stay in the coop until 3pm. (Letting them out during their laying time earlier in the day could result in them hiding eggs in various parts of the yard.)
- Starting today, checking for eggs multiple times a day (We’ve found a few broken ones so removing any regularly helps take away the temptation. Eating them is usually a result of poor feed – likely not an issue – or boredom – which is more likely. 😣 But at this point, we’re doing #4 first to make sure they aren’t hiding them…)
- Yesterday I added straw to the nesting boxes instead of just grass clippings. (Bizarre, but I’ve actually seen chickens STOP laying because they didn’t approve of the material or there wasn’t enough in the nesting boxes. 🙄)
- If we can find one or build one, we may add a different style nesting box as well.
The results so far?
Nothing.
Yesterday was 1 egg.
My hope is that these are good moves and the egg production is ramping up inside their little egg makers. We really only started the changes a week ago. Sometimes making those kinds of changes don’t result in instantly 20+ eggs in 2 days.
So stay tuned. Hopefully things turned around.
Eggs are delicious and we miss them! 😋
- Thanks for reading! Naomi and the gang at Piggery Run Farm
While you wait, try some of our favorite egg recipes.
