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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Hello,
I am new at this chicken buisness, and I have a question for you. I have a white leghorn who about 2 weeks ago laid one egg a day, one evening I went to the coop to shut up the chickens and I saw a egg in the nesting box with no shell, all the eggs before had very hard shells, I looked around the coop and found an egg shell that was paper thin, so I have since then given her more oyster shell. Since that night she has not laid any more eggs could you tell me what might be wrong?
sandra i am no expert but i have 10 constant years of experience with at least 100 hens at any one time.all im doing is passing on my experience .right lets start.first of all it dosent meen more food you give them more eggs they lay thats rubbish 2oz per bird is plenty then let them forage in the grass this is much healthier for your hen.i work in a pizza shop my hens get scraps what people leave bits of chicken pepperoni ham onion chips honestly everything and anything.i throw pasta in what my kids leave uncooked patato peelings they will eat absoloutly anything and its never harmed my hens.i dont feed layers meal they seem to waste a lot so i give layers pellets 20 percent and 80 percent wheat.see every year at harvest time i buy 2 ton of wheat from the farm roughly 200pound that lasts me a year then a bucket of pellets between them each day just to give them that extra goodness and they lay well enough for me i always make a couple of thousand a year profit.tell you what open a tin of dog food or cat food put a bit down on the grass watch it go in a few seconds thats great protein. dont worry it wont make your eggs taste of dog food.they will eat anything and nothing will harm them i assure you.dont over feed them let them search the grass that gives them good exercise.but same as ive said before plenty of fresh water once again bye for now
Thank you again for all your help. The chickens are now reasonably happy together and we are getting used to the routine and enjoying having them especially letting them out for a bit each day and watching them wander they are even happy with our rabbit. I just have one question and its prob almost unanswerable as its this: I keep reaing opposing views on what to feed the chickens apart from bought feed. I.e. I have heard they love pasta from one source, another says dont give it, they love potatoes, dont give uncooked potatoes. They love scraps, dont give any meat product. Basically is there anything they really shouldn’t have which could cause them harm? Thanks again, I really appreciate your help.
sandra black rock are usually the same as light sussex very placid hens.its because shes just started laying thats all.i bought 15 ex battery hens a pound each 6 week ago .i let them roam straight away with the other 80 or 90 hens but they kept together away from the other hens and couldnt get near the shed were i feed them all 3 or 4 days they ate what they could pick up.on the 5th day they were brave enough to fight to eat now theres no problem still the odd scuffle nothing bad.belive me honestly they will eat when there hungry even if it means standing up to the black rock once theyve been for food once thats it .but dont forget this water to a hen is much much more importent than food.i can 100 percent assure you they wont starve and die thats a guarantee….bye for now
Thanks for all the advice. We now have 4 hens a black rock, a very young welsummer and 2 buff sussex. In 2 days we have had 2 eggs both from the black rock, which isnt surprising as she wont allow the other hens out of the house to eat and drink. I am aware of the pecking order but this is surely not good for the 3 of them to be at the mercy of the top hen for food and drink we cant let them out to roam freely yet so they only have the run. The only time they come out is when she is inside laying. We have put her into a rabbit run for a while to give the others a chance. Do you think we should continue with this or will we need to get her a place of her own permanenty for the daytime? They are all happy together at night
sandra i have one hut with 20 pullets and a 50 foot by 80 foot grassed area for them.they all perch on a ladder at night in the hut.i also have 100 old hens they sleep inbetween 2 sheds with very very little to roost on they will roost on the floor without any problem.they have a grassed area of about 100 foot by 100 foot. i feed them about 12oclock in the afternoon then they go into t here sheds whenever they want as i have to go to work they are free to go in when they want.depending how many hens you have a bucket of fresh water they will jump on top and drink whenever they want.food i hang inside a shed 2 foot off the ground just enough to get there heads inside this way your not feeding vermin it also makes your hens work hard to get there food.just give a little food first if they eat it all give them a bit more dont leave 2 much food down this will only encourage vermin and birds to eat the food which youve paid for also if you dont over feed them it encourages them to look in the grass for worms and other bugs which will give them good protein also give them good excercise. the main thing is plenty of fresh water as an egg is 70 percent water….. by for now
Well we have everything ready and have had to do some alterations to the coop and run as the design wasn’t too good. But there is no perch inside the coop, it is about 24″ high on the samelevel as the nesting box. Should we buy something and try to fix it in above the floor also I have read that the food and waterers should be suspended from above in the run – is that necessary?
if you buy your pullets from a good source they will already be vacinated
Thanks Stuart and fn? we will obviously ask a lot of questions when we buy our chickens from the seller, will let you know when we get them and how it goes. Best site on web!!Can you tell me though what the vaccination is for and when it should be done Thanks again.
Hi Stuart
I appreciate that you answer comments!
I work six days a week and often til late so just don’t have time to answer comments every day. Your efforts are much appreciated.
Just one point. POL hens are not vacinated in the UK.