How many

[Mother Hen]

I tend to about 40 hens which are all layers. When it first became spring I was getting a little over 2 dozen eggs per day and now I'm down to 12-18 per day. Could the weather be affecting them or could they be laying outside someplace ( they free range during the day) even though I thought I had found all of their outside laying spots and made it so they couldn't access those same areas again.

 

[Kiki]

Are they getting old?
They are pretty sneaky...meaning they will find new hiding spots. Look around more/different places.

 

[Mother Hen]

Some of the hens are 3 and some are a little over a year.

 

[farmerjan]

Besides trying to find more hiding places to lay, the 3 yr olds will be laying fewer eggs and they will tend to be bigger. The sex-links and commercial layers are bred to lay fast and furious and 2 years is about the limit of their "good years". Yes they can and will lay for more years, often 3-5 but the production will slow way down most of the time. They are also consuming alot of feed for the number of eggs laid so are better in the soup pot.