Egg Production: How to Ensure Regular Egg Production.
When it comes to egg production. Picking, collection, and packaging of eggs comes with a feeling of great accomplishment to the farmer.
It’s a payback period for all the care and labor you’ve accorded your laying hens overtime.
As a result, any slight drop in egg production could result in frustration to the farmer. Seeing your birds lay is a very rewarding and exciting experience for the farmer. Who had been laboring and feeding his birds up to (18 to 22 weeks).
Every farmer would always want his layers. To keep up with the good work of producing eggs constantly and continuously.
Nothing is as frustrating and disappointing as enjoying constant egg production from your farm. And all of a sudden you experience a nose dive or sudden sharp decrease in egg production from your birds.
A lot of farmers are often left in shock or confusion. Trying to understand what must have gone wrong or what is responsible. For the sudden drop in egg production.
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Drop-in egg production is not uncommon with egg production. Something somehow must have prompted this sudden drop in egg production which are discussed as follows:
1. Ensure Adequate Nutrients in the Feed during Egg Production
Farm fresh eggs
The egg cycle for an average laying hen is 26hours. For this reason, every egg-laying hen. Needs a constant supply of all the nutrients needed for it to produce high quality, nutritious eggs daily.
Feeding them just whole grains, scratch grains and treats. Would not provide enough nutrition they need to produce an egg.
Your laying hens need all the nutrients needed to produce an egg each day. And continuously over a long period.
These nutrients are needed in the right amount and proportion. Insufficient amounts of protein, energy, and calcium can affect egg production adversely. And can cause a sharp and sudden drop in egg production.
Ensuring a balanced diet always will maintain constant egg production. And save you a lot of trouble that may emanate from improper or lack of balanced diets.
Condition such as oviductal prolapsed can result from imbalance. And improper nutrients in their diets.
When your laying hens are too fat or are laying too big eggs. These can result in prolapse. Avoid feeding them just grains or too many grains it should just be a well-balanced diet.
If it is just grains (maize) most times, it causes them to be fast and results in the condition mentioned above.
2. Avoid Sudden Change of Feed during Egg Production
Except recommended by your veterinary doctor or poultry consultant. Avoid unnecessary change of feed. Always stick to standard feed from a reputable feed mill.
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3. During Egg Production Avoid Indiscriminate Use of Antibiotics
Avoid administering antibiotics without proper diagnoses and examination in a veterinary hospital. By a qualified veterinary doctor, or a well-trained extension worker to your sick birds.
Allow them to build natural immunity themselves, ensure and enforce strict bio-security rules. So that you don’t have to be given your laying hens antibiotics repeatedly.
You only use antibiotics when it is necessary. To save your birds from suffering and dying.
Be careful when given antibiotics, once your chicken starts laying eggs. Try as much as possible to avoid all sulfur drugs. Because it affects egg production, it reduces egg quality and shell life.
Instead, you use drugs such as oxytetracycline including multivitamins it will improve egg production and egg quality.
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4. Feed Shortages
An average laying hen needs about 118 to 125g of feed to lay an egg a day. If they have anything short of this quantity it will affect their egg production.
If you also overfed them with too much feed, so that they become overweight they may not lay as well.
It can even result in the condition mentioned above (prolapsed). It can lead to the death of your hen. If care is not taken in correcting the condition.
Give them the right kind of feed in the right amount and quantity. These will always guaranty constant production throughout the laying period.
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5. During Egg Production Don’t Joke With Water Shortages
Birds are not only stressed from extreme weather conditions, inadequate or shortages of water can result in a sharp drop in egg production.
If your birds are starved of water for some hours it can adversely affect their egg production for the next two weeks.
That’s the more reason why you have to ensure. Constant adequate supply of clean, clear and fresh drinking water at all times throughout the day.
6. Always Provide Additional Shade
Provide additional shade. Particularly to reduce the intensity of sunlight entering the chicken coop. To avoid stressful conditions.
If the sun rays are directly hitting the chicken coop it can easily cause stress. From extreme heat. And subsequently, generate high temperatures especially when you live in a hot tropical climate. Where the temperatures are usually hot and hash.
7. Feeding Your Layers in Hot Tropical Climate
Laying hens generally, do well between the temperatures of 24 to 260C. Anything more than that, they begin to experience stress. And once they are stress up, and are not comfortable their egg production begins to suffer as well.
As earlier stated laying hens require 118 to 125g of high quality feeds to lay eggs constantly to maintain their peak production status.
The feed intake of birds would drop considerably. If the temperature becomes too high, these may also affect their egg production.
In situations where the feed intake of your laying hens drop. It is expected to increase the essential nutrients in there feed. To meet up with any reduction in nutritional intake.
For instance, if on a normal weather condition they consume say 125g of feed per bird. And now as a result of the extreme heat or hot weather, they consume say 80g.
It is expected to increase the density or quantity of nutrients that each chicken needs to produce an egg per day. i.e. increase the quantity of crude protein and energy.
And other essential minerals in the 80g of feed they now consume to meet up and maintain constants egg production.
In situations where the temperatures now drop considerably, you are expected to increase the feed especially the energy content.
They will need a lot of feed more than they would require when their temperature was hotter. This is to enable them to keep their body warm and also maintain constant egg production.
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8. Provide Fresh Feed
Chickens always love and relish their feed when it is fresh, dry and smells good. Avoid storing too many bags of feed in the store over a long period. Always buy them in a bit so that you can always have fresh and palatable feed at all times.
Ensure that your feeds are free from dampness, rancidity, and molds store in an airtight container. If the bags are open, place the bags in a dry place away from rodents and water.
When your feed is damp and wet it forms molds and molds are a good breeding ground for fungus and bacteria related diseases that can cause enormous harm to your chicken.
Once your chicken is sick, definitely their egg production drops.
9. Broodiness Should Be Discourage
Especially if you practice a deep litter system. It’s a system where your hens are raised on the floor. And they lay eggs inside the nest constructed and placed in the chicken coop.
Try as much as possible to always pick your eggs at regular interval, to discourage broodiness.
If you are in the habit of leaving your laying hens most times on their eggs without picking your eggs at regular intervals. Very soon you will experience a drop in egg production.
Broody hens stop laying eggs, and very soon they will teach others to brood. These may not augur well for you as a farmer and your enterprise.
The best thing to do is to pick your eggs at regular intervals. It will keep them clean and discourage other chickens from brooding.
Broodiness should be discourage
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10. Check Your Daylights or Lightening System
Laying hens needs at least 14 to 16hours of light to lay constant eggs. As a farmer, you must be observant and calculative.
Depending on the regions or type of climatic condition you live in for those of you who live in tropical regions.
The number of hours varies and changes with seasons for instances during the harmattan or dry season. You have shorter days longer nights, while during the raining season you usually experience longer day shorter nights.
So in a situation whereby you have a shorter day longer night’s provision should be made for the additional artificial lighting system.
To provide at least 14hours of light to the birds for optimum egg production irrespective of the seasons.
11. During Egg Production Avoid Frightening and Stressful Condition.
Chickens particularly laying hens are very sensitive to frightening and stressful conditions.
It is very important to put into consideration the location of your poultry farm. During construction, the building should be located away from the high ways, factories.
Also away from communities, were noises from children and human activities are emanating from.
Standard poultry houses should be built in the hinterland or peaceful rural settlements. With good access roads, electricity supply, and nearness to market.
With good cross-ventilation, proper air circulation, again depending on the part of the world you live.
The housing pattern will depend on whether you live in a hot climate or cold region.
Keep them away and secured from predators like stray dogs, wild cats, foxes, coyotes, wolfs, snakes, cats, and dogs.
If you must have a dog around for protection. The dog must be a well-trained guide dog that your birds are well familiar with.
As earlier mentioned stressful conditions will always result in a drop in egg production. Do anything possible to avoid it.
12. Adding Minerals and Multivitamins in Water
During extreme weather conditions. It is usually advisable to add multivitamins, minerals, and electrolytes to their water. Especially in a hot weather condition.
The addition of vitamin C and electrolytes in their water will help considerably in improving their egg production during stressful conditions.
13. Age
As your laying hens begin to age, after two years of laying the number of eggs they produce will naturally decline.
There is nothing you can do about this. Though your birds might continue to lay eggs the quantity will reduce.
Conclusion
In the absence of any disease, if you observe any decline in egg production. A thorough investigation is required to understand the underlining cause of a drop in egg production. To ameliorate the situation.
