How old are they? My hybrids are entering their second year and show no signs of slowing down, min. of 4 eggs per day and often a full house of 5. Quite hard to find enough people to give them away to. Shell quality is becoming a little thinner and paler, so have started Nettex mineral supplement in their afternoon mash, plus I'm hard boiling a spare couple of eggs every day or so and bashing them up, shells and all, into their mash, using the end of the rolling pin. Every scrap is fought for and eaten clean.
In that recent spell of freak warm weather I reinstated the high long perch in the run which they'd been roosting on all summer, before I took it down in November once the weather got really cold, wet and windy. All winter they had roosted in the coop, pooing in the nest boxes to make their point, so I was pleased to see all 5 lined up on the high perch, pooing in a neat line underneath, and laying lovely clean eggs in an unsullied coop. After a week, when it got cold and windy again, the two more sensible ones retired to the coop, leaving the 2 leghorns and the columbine to brave the elements. I'm surprised they weren't blown away last night in the gales, but they did have the choice.
