Both of these situations will cause poor egg production and persistency of lay. We all have experienced these types of problems, and I won't spend a lot of time on these situations. Normally, these birds have experienced several small situations that individually would not have caused poor egg production or fertility results, but in combination can cause the flock to perform at less than their potential. Most of these management problems lead to flocks that are uneven in body weight and the rate that they sexually mature. By the time the feed makes a full loop around the house, the most aggressive birds have consumed much of the feed as it comes out of the feed hopper.
Uniformity appears to get worse each week.
Looking at the birds there is a tremendous difference in beak trimming. Some birds are trimmed close and others have long beaks. The smaller birds will be 1-2 weeks behind in their start of lay and peak egg production. The long-term result for the lightweight hens is a reduced egg production rate. In some cases, managers get so caught up trying to get good egg production from a mediocre flock that they feed excess amounts of feed.