I think my issues have been largely due to weather. Our winter was unusually cold & wet, our spring & summer unusually hot & dry, and there was absolutely no transition period in between - it went from freezing to hot in about 3 weeks. My birds started laying mid January, about 6 weeks earlier than normal, and went into molt early, too. Since the first week of June I\'ve had one hen laying.
Not only have I been getting fewer eggs, but I\'m having fewer hatch - more clear eggs than last year, and a lot of incubation problems, particularly in balancing humidity. What worked last year didn\'t cut it this year for some reason, even though it was the same incubator in the same location.
I don\'t think feed is a factor for me, since I\'ve been using the same feed for the last couple of seasons and this is the first year I\'ve seen these problems. I use a feed milled locally, not a brand name, and I\'m pretty sure they haven\'t made any changes to it, although I\'m sure growing conditions from one season to the next could impact the the grains that go into it.
I also noticed that the free-ranging EEs last year were healthier, laid better, and had better hatch rates than my Ameraucanas that were confined to breeder runs. Plus I lost fewer birds. Since I\'m not hatching anything right now, I\'ve turned them all out. Can\'t do that during breeding season, but need to rethink my pen design for next year...
