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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Hi Richie
The days are short and cold. After the shortest day (December 21st) they will start to gear up to lay again.
Hello John
Often a first egg is soft shelled. Don’t worry.
1st today unfotunatly soft shell they have oyster shells plus whatever is in their mash is this normal with first eggs any advice welcome
its been 2 weeks since i last had an egg from my 2 girls ,they are getting treated like queens,is there a chance they are to cold at night,???
please help
richie
Hi All, just found out something new. we havent had any rain for almost 3 weeks and i kept adding more feed to the troughs for the chickens as they were really eating every morsel. then it rained and all of a sudden they only ate half of the feed. they are free range and go in the coop at night so i think all the bugs came up for the rain water and the chickens had a feast. now i’m watching to see if it goes like that again as winter is our dryer season here in Florida and we can go for a few weeks without rain. i’m going to water the grassy area and see if they leave food in the trough. its alot cheaper to run the well than buy laying feed since the corn has been going into gasoline (petrol i believe). think they could use sugar cane waste instead of burning it, but thats another story. let me know if anyone has noticed the chickens eating less feed when it rains. Susie
Hi Fn Ive added to more girls to our flock, Buttercup and Bluebell.
if the carrots dont cure the worms at least they will have good eye site
Hi Susie
It’s really important to get on top of the worms. Sometimes there are just not the natural remedies available.
However, years ago an old lady that I know used to give her puppies raw carrots to eat and she assured me that it was a natural remedy against worms. I have never checked this out but always feed our dogs the tips (not tops) of carrots as treats. Worms are not a problem here. It might work with chickens?
Hi all, i think worms and parasites may be a fact of region or climate. here in florida its semi-tropic and we do have a problem. i have never heard of red mites here. before i new about the problem i could not understand why my hens were dying. it does spread very quick if not taken care of. we have many remedies but i’m trying not to use the chemical cures. i am going to try the one that goes in the water as it sounds like an easy fix. some things have different names here but are basically the same. i think as long as we try to help each other we will manage. keep the suggestions coming. Susie
like a lot of people on this site they have just a few hens and everybody seems to panic to much.i keep between 130 and 180 hens and in 10 years have never had a problem with worms or any other deseases.the main things you should be looking for in hens is red mite vertually everyone with hens gets red mite and scaley leg.i disinfect twice a year ive found a five litre spray can put a litre of vinegar in and 500ml of cheep dettol then top up with water.for scaley leg put some cooking oil in a dish hold your hen under your arms stretch the legs out and with a small paint brush smother them all over in oil then buy a jar of caster and zinc what they use for nappy rashes and smother the legs straight after the oil and watch within 48 hours it starts dropping off in lumps.a jar of caster and zinc lasts me a year and its less than a pound. dont panic about worms and other things because most people will never encounter these things ……..by for now
Hi Celia, Will try your suggestion. I heard from an old farmer that woodash ( the ashes from a wood fire) left out, under the coop if its raised,and that will rid them of worms. sounds too easy but my friend has 4 hens and a rooster and she said she is going to do it as they have cookouts at her place often. Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving here so Happy Happy to all on this side of the pond. Have a nice day to everyone else. Susie