posted 11 years ago
Alder brings up all the main points. While "happy hens lay happy eggs", I find that feed, water, light, breed, and age are the main factors. Gee, even crammed together battery hens lay plenty of eggs.
Length of light.....most hens stop laying in the winter until the length of daylight increases. Commercially they control the amount of light so that hens stay at top production.
Age.....the older the hen, the less eggs they produce. After three laying seasons, you don't get many eggs from most hens.
Breed of the hen....some breeds are longer layers than others. And often mongrel hens are poor layers, in my experience.
Diet.....super important. Protein in, protein out. They can't produce eggs if they are deficient in their diet. Unless they have a large, well supplied area to forage in, you need to bring the food to them. And never let them run out of food. Letting the bowls go empty really cuts into egg production. And so does dramatically changing their diet, say going from a daily supply of meat and greens to a diet of pellets, or vice versa. They need more than just a spattering of this and that.
Water....they need a constant supply of water especially if fed dry feed. During the winter water can freeze, so that's a problem that needs to be addresses. Never let them run out of water because producing an egg uses up a lot of water.
Stress...things that upset them will stop egg production. I've had egg laying drop dramatically when a neighbor's dog began visiting the pen daily. A friend told me her egg production dropped dramatically when the land next to her got bulldozed for 7 days in a row.
All that being said, my own flock is at the ebb of production this time of year. Very short days here right now. What surprises me is that there are some who haven't quit yet. But most of the hens have molted by now so that after the first of the year I should start seeing the number of eggs gradually increase.
It's never too late to start! I retired to homestead on the slopes of Mauna Loa, an active volcano. I relate snippets of my endeavor on my blog : www.kaufarmer.blogspot.com