Had Buffs, Easter eggers, Rhodes, Barred, and some other rare breeds all running together. Think up to 300. Most consistent and best at hatching babies were Buffs and the little English Games and Mille Fluer d’Uccles. Most others laid eggs everywhere and just wandered around and begged for food. Those three specific breeds did amazing things! Killed all rodents and ate them. Trapped squirrels in trees and ate them. Foraged everywhere. Dug through fresh horse and cow poop. Ate everything they could get a beak on. IF we did it again I would stick to those guys!
Read an article today that had a theory making the rounds that chicken feed had something put in it to cause the hens to stop laying. Someone else said in the article, "when I stopped giving my chickens the feed and substituted table scraps to my chickens, they started laying eggs the next day."
I think that the entire theory is nothing more than...a theory.
No kidding. They went down in spring, but now they're back up to $5/18 cnt in Lawton. England's best XL was cheaper than great value last time I ordered.