When will my chickens lay eggs?
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 661 comments
Even though I know that egg laying is unpredictable at this time of year, it’s always a bit disappointing when I lift the lid of the nesting box and there’s only one. An egg from Carol. She is firing on all cylinders now and producing one egg a day, the maximum that a domestic hen can produce.
“What’s going on with the other four chickens?” I think as I stump back through the garden in my dressing gown and wellies.
The other four chickens are elderly maidens, well into their third year. I know that after two years egg production diminishes but somehow I hoped that the organic food and beautiful adornments in the pen might make a difference. Of course they don’t. As the years roll by, the chickens will produce fewer and fewer eggs until they go to that great pecking ground in the sky.
The pretty white bantams, have never been very obliging on the egg laying front. In their prime, they probably only laid two or three eggs a week. They are not a laying strain and we knew this when we bought them. But we have discovered that they are very photogenic and are happy to model endlessly.
I’ve been checking the hen’s combs. A pink comb indicates that a chicken is going broody, and will not lay. They are all a bright vibrant red, including Mrs Boss (this chicken won The Broodiest of all Known Chickens Award 2004, 2005 and 2006).
So you can imagine my delight when I lifted the roof of the nesting box this morning and found two small eggs nestling beside Carol’s large speckled brown one. I sprang back to the kitchen to make the perfect breakfast omelette.
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What a fab site. My partner decided to surprise me with 4 chicks about 10 weeks ago, after watching an edpisode of Country File. I was a little reluctant at first because I was worried about the neighbours- we live in a built up area you see. But the experience so far has been very enjoyable and having read all the information so far, it is obvious that there is much patience needed and our knowledge has deepened from queries submitted and responses to them. I am still unsure what our 4 are. Our guess is that we have 2 roosters and 2 hens and that is only because the 2 roosters are now starting to display some squaring off with each other. Guess they are just sorting out the peking order. Today we purchased a high line cross point of lay. Our 4 didn’t take to her too kindly and tonight they have been kept separated. What do we need to do to encourage harmony amongst them and hopfully continuity of laying?
Love this site and already saved in my favourites.
Ps live in midlands, UK
Well, today my little banty Old English Game BB Red sat in the nest for a long while but did not lay anything. I cannot wait until my two pullets begin laying! My cockerel terrorizes them sometimes but I am attached to him so I will not cull him anytime soon. I am glad I have him becasue he is very protective of his hens so I can trust him to faithfully guard the coop.I am more than ready for the thrill of excitment that happens when you look in the nest box, and lo and behold, the first egg is there!
What a great site. Its really been doing my head in worrying why our four girls who weve had about 5 weeks and who were pol and between them were laying 5 eggs per week for 3 weeks have not produced a thing for the last week!! I can admit it to you fellow chicken folk its been keeping me up at night running through everything that could be wrong as were “chicken virgins” but reading your site reasures me that all is well and theyll lay when theyre good and ready (bit like hubby mowing the lawn then!) Can i pick up china eggs quite easily? X nicola
Fn- My mom has a flock of eight hens, all of them a year and a half old. One of her Rhode Island Reds has some strange symptoms: This hen has a very, very, pale comb and wattles. The scales on her toes and a little bit up her leg are gone and have been replaced with new scales.She has no feathers on her throat or along the keel bone on her underside. She does not lay, nor does she sit on the other hen’s eggs. She also makes very hoarse noises. When she eats, she eats very ravenously, as though she hadn’t eaten for days. She is somewhat unsteady on her feet. Does anyone have any clue what this could be? I would appreciate any help at all.
Hi Lee
Chickens are not attracted to separate beds.
We have a long nesting box and the hens tend to sit in a pyramid at one end!
There is no ˜normal™ with chickens.
As long as they™re happy, most anything goes.
Hello Valerie
I change the chippings on the floor every week. In fact I spring clean each week. We have a two tier chicken house and the ground floor is (four years down the line), hardened mud. Upstairs in the dormitory, we have a layer of wood shavings (changed weekly) and in the nesting box wood shavings and nests of hay (changed weekly too). I also spray monthly against mites (an aviary friendly spray) and apply dusting powder (anti mite) to the hay in the nesting box. Wood shavings are cheap compared the other materials and go a long way. A bale lasts us at least a year. Ring a horse supplier for a giant bale.
Mash is a powdered form of feed. It can be mixed with water. Our flock will eat it but prefer the pellets.
I’ve never used cider vinegar in water so can’t help you there. What is it supposed to do?
Apologies for such a belated response.
Hello C. Tidswell
If I come back as a chicken can I live with you?
Hi Jack
Need much more info to give you an answer.
How old are your chickens?
Where do you live in the world?
What breed are you chucks?
Are they free range, live in a run or kept in cages?
What do you feed them?
How long have you had them?
What was their laying pattern before they stopped laying?
Did you introduce something new before they stopped laying?
Have you had extremes of temperature?
Have any gone broody?
Chickens are sensitive creatures.
Hi Tanya
Oyster shells are available from most places that supply chicken feed and requisites.
Hi Nick
When chickens start laying it can take a bit of time for them to bed down and produce ‘normal eggs’.
Make sure that they have access to oyster shells if there are problems with shells. Also grit and a good vitamin rich diet. Kitchen scraps are fine as a supplement to well balanced chicken feed so need to be given in moderation. Change their water each day and coddle them.
Have you wormed them and treated them for lice?
can anybody help me. my chickens have started to lay eggs over the past 2 weeks but they are very small also there is water around the white of the egg is that ok. today one of them laid 2 eggs one with no shell. hope you can help
Hi Everyone,thanks to the person who replied to my question,(you didn’t leave your name),i will tell my dad,where can you get oyster shells from?.
Tanya
my hens have stoped laying completely i have not had a egg for about a week ive got 22 chickens and not one egg please could you tell me the reason for this.Jack
my 3 hens love pasta with tomato sauce– I buy cheap dented tins, and mix the contents with some cheap pasta I have already cooked– it lasts for ages, and its a great hit with them– they also like treats of half grapes, strawberries, and peanuts– in fact my hens will eat almost anything except for laying pellets– maybe they are a bit spoiled!
p.s. I love your website and forum. Brilliant!