When will my chickens lay eggs?
Comments(645)
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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why are they not laying? tell meeeeee
Hi Charlie,
I wrote this post back in February. A chilly time of year for our elderly flock. As they are mostly past there egg laying prime we don’t expect them to lay an egg a day.
Now it’s September (2007). Mrs Squeaky is still laying but the rest of the flock are moulting and resting. A couple might come into lay again before the first frosts set them off lay again. Who knows.
They are pets and all, with the exception of Carol, are not laying breeds. They will live here until they go to that great pasture in the sky. We love them more than the eggs, which are a bonus when they arrive.
How are your hens doing?
how do i get my hens to lay eggs they are about 18 to 20 weeks old i have them on laying ration do i need a heat lamp?
Hi Taryn,
Unfortunately your hens were too young to lay before the days started to shorten. If it was high summer, they should be coming into lay about now. If you want them to live in a natural environment (no artificial lights etc) they probably will not lay until the days start getting longer (December 22nd). This happened to us in our first year. We got our first eggs in January.
However, if you want to force your hens to lay sooner you can use artificial lighting. I have found two informative articles in the internet (I am sure that there must be thousands of relevant articles out there) that may help.
http://goldenplains.colostate.edu/light_and_egg_production.html
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw565.pdf
Personally, I would avoid using artificial light to encourage egg production in a domestic environment. Fresh eggs are great, but our chickens and guinea fowl are pets, not egg laying machines.
I’m worried because I am trying to breed my silky hens to my roster and they will not lay I’m hoping someone can help I have a deadline for there chicks
so please help me
Hi Madison,
If you chickens are not laying you can’t force them too. All chickens go off lay at some time during the winter. They should start laying about 10 days after the shortest day (December 21st) if they are a high laying breed. Unless you have an incubator you will also need a broody hen. This is rare in the winter months.
Silkies are bantams and might take much longer to start laying again. Only our layers start laying eggs in January. Our bantams take their time.
If there is a deadline it might be an idea to go to a professional chicken breeder. If they can’t help by providing fertilised eggs or chicks they will be able to advise you.
I too am having a problem with my hens not laying eggs. To make the matter worse my friend who gave me the hens from a large order she had placed is getting eggs from them.
What am I doing wrong? I’m using the same feed as her and check them twice a day. HELP!
Hi Jeanne
Not all chickens mature and lay eggs at the same time. It’s sods law that your chickens are not laying when your friend’s have started to lay.
I don’t think that you are doing anything wrong. You just have to be patient.
You were right. The day after I contacted you I got 2 eggs. The next day it was 1 egg. Since then I have gotten at least 2 eggs a day. I’m waiting for the day I get 6 as that is how many little girls I have. Until then, I am thrilled to death with whatever they give me. I just needed to be patient a little longer.
Thank you.
Hi Jeanne
This is good news! Thanks for the update.
Hi all,
We thank God live in a house with a very very large outdoor area and around 2 months ago we got 2 chickens and a rooster (they werent little yellow one’s but still young), just for pets but would love them to lay eggs because i think its such a lovely thing! We are comlete beginners but have learnt alot. The weather is quite cold now but completely sunny every day but they still havent layed? They get to roam outside there pen every day and there feed is very rich in vitamins etc. Forgive me for maybe asking silly questions but I need to learn these things, I read about a box? a nesting box? Are these box’s a must? and also what is the best bedding? or do they need bedding? again a complete beginner, help much appreciated. Any pointer’s, tip’s etc welcomed!
ANGEL
)
Sorry forgot to include the reason for my post hehehe, they are not laying anything? havent a the ‘Fist Egg’ yet?
Hi, I also have three birds that are not laying. My orpington stopped laying around september!! I hatched two wyancottes in august so I am hoping that they will start laying pretty soon. There is nothing nicer than collecting fresh eggs – I seem to have been buying mine from the supermarket for ages!!
Hi Angel
It’s still quite early in the year for your hens to be laying. Most hen houses have a nesting box (often bolted on the side). A quiet, dark area that encourages hen’s to lay. There is a perch in the main part of out hen house were hens like to perch and roost for the night. Where do your hens sleep? Do they have a hen house in their pen?
I use wood shavings in the house and hay in the nesting box (for the nests).
They should start laying soon as the days are now getting longer. They could already be laying somewhere in the garden!
Hi Sharon,
Oue hens are not laying yet. They usually start again around this time of year. I can’t wait for the first egg of the year.
Hi FN & Sharon,
They have a house with a long perch but the sunlight does not hit them directly in the face but we didnt know about the nesting box’s so right now they dont have one (need to get building those) how many box’s would we need? we have 2 hen’s and a rooster, he has learnt the wake up call hehehe in the past 3 weeks! We have not been using thick layers of bedding, a very little bit of hay so far.
When we got the 3, We later found out that there were 2 roosters so we had to rehome one and get another hen, could this cause them not to lay? she seems to have been accepted now.
They havent layed out in the garden because someone is always with them. Usually they spent ages stamping there feet on the floor and eating (very cute) I call that the ‘Running man dance’!!!
Two question’s, how can I determine what breed they are? have looked everywhere on the net and cant pinpoint mine? and also, what does ‘brooding’ mean?
Hi Elizabeth,
Our nesting box is bolted onto the outside of the hen house with the entrance from inside the house. The lid is a flap so it’s easy to collect the eggs. Make your nesting boxes tempting and line them with hay (I put the chipped wood and sawdust under the nests to make cleaning easier.
A friend of mine has old wooden wine boxes bolted to the walls of her hen barn. The hens lay happily in these.
The new hen wouldn’t have put the other hen off lay. It’s just that your hens are not ready to lay yet. You have to be patient.
Hens being broody can be a nightmare unless you want to raise more chicks we have an article on this here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=25
It might be worth investing in a good poultry keeping book as they are usually packed with ideas on how to keep your hens happy and healthy.
Hi, I have two lovely bantams, Margo a speckled sussex, and Barbara a buff Plymouth Rock. When we bought them, we were advised to block off the nesting area until they were old enough to lay, so that they wouldn’t get used to sleeping (and pooing!) in there. They are just about old enough to lay now and I was wondering if I should give them access to the nest and some bedding, or wait for our first egg? Will the nest encourage them to lay? I realise I sound very impatient and they are pets really – it’s just very exciting!
Also, has anyone got any good ideas for making their run more interesting? We let them out when we are around to keep an eye on them, but during the working week they are in the run for a long time – especially at this time of year so I’d like to do some habitat improvement! I have tied a cd up which they like to look and peck at – any other suggestions?
Thanks!
Hi Elizabeth
If you allow your hens access to the nesting box and provide some tempting bedding for the nests they might be tempted to start laying. I got so desperate the first year that I bought some china eggs to encourage them!
Like the idea of the cd, I must try that in my run. Our hens like lying on the day centre roof in the summer and also like jumping to peck at a cabbage on a string.
I have had chickens since mid Sept last year. They were immature when I got them. They have two nesting boxes lined withclean chopped straw. they are allowed to roam outside throughout the day. i have checked under all of my shrubs adn bushes, no eggs. Do you think that they will lay soon? Perhaps I should get an artificial egg to tempt them?
Hi Abbie
My hens have not started laying yet this year. It is always a bit dissapointing to find no eggs day after day.
They will lay eventually, you just have to be patient.
Hi, I have 60 hens, all various breeds, 3 cocks and 12 ducks, guess what? Not one egg, I live in hope every day, they have comfortable nest boxes, all the bedding they require, plenty of perching and nesting areas, food, light, grit,water, and they all live happily in the same barn, some are 7 months, some a little older, cocks are crowing, have done for a few weeks, and still no eggs, I am keeping tesco in profit, patience is a virtue, and I’m slowly losing mine, especially as they’re costing me 2 sacks of food a day, but we wouldn’t be without our feathered friends.
Hi Stephanie
I think that 8 months is the magic benchmark for eggs (at the earliest). Suddenly you will be awash with eggs, the day that you have bought a dozen from Tesco!
I love my hens too but we have no eggs yet this year. Just the one young Guinea and five elderly maidens. All eating for England.
HOORAY! My husband and I had been out for the day, and arriving home, he ran to the hen house in hope, and came back with the biggest grin and two very small perfect eggs, then doubt hit, and he assumed that one of our friends who know of our woe was having a laugh, but no, they are from our hens, now all we have to do is discover the star layer, 2 out of 60 ain’t bad.
Hi Stephanie
That is great news! Hope all the other 58 are up and producing soon.
Hi all, found our first egg!!! HOORAY! We are having the same problem of finding out who layed it? It was broken because I think they pecked it, found it late afternoon! Have a question, can I determine there breed by looking at the egg?
Hi Angel
Great that you got an egg but what a shame that it was crushed.
Answer to your question. Yes and no. Look at the eggs in the photo above. I know which hens laid these eggs as I know the sort of egg that each hen lays, so it is easy to match egg to hen.
The little egg at the top of the photo was laid by Mrs Boss – a Pekin bantam. Mrs Squeaky (clean) also lays the occasional egg and these are creamy white. Same breed, different coloured eggs.
So the answer to your question is probably no, in my limited experience.
Hi all,
(no, I haven’t really just added to our family, my children are plenty!))
i have about 20 hens (and unfortunately about five roos) who were hatched from May to October following a series of fox attacks last year. With new fencing, and an enclosed run and an electric fence to boot, they are certainly much safer. Unfortunately , although there are 2 hen houses the majority f them (all bar 4) insist on huddling together in the larger hen house, and with only three of them up perching it means the remainder all snuggle into the nestboxes at bedtime. As many as 7 hens in each nest box (designed for 1-2 hens to lay at a time). I know this keeps them warmer on a cold night, but I think they may be associating it with the wrong function (bed – rest not nest)
My question is, is this the reason they are not laying yet?
They are a mix of breeds, and I don’t suppose Buffy (Orpington) or Pixie (silkie) to be ready for some time , but the eldest black Araucana (Angelina) and the SL Wyandotte (Maria) are now almost nine months old – so why no eggs?? If I could have produced a child in that time it seems reasonable that they could reward us with an egg!
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I would be grateful. Should I try china eggs?
p.s They are all still on growers pellets (as I was recommended to wait until eggs appear before putting down layer pellets) and yes, I have tried moving them at night to a more even distribution between the houses, but they revert to old ways after a few days.
Hi Rosieposey
I think that it’s just a matter of time.
Although I use china eggs in the nesting boxes (you are not stealing all the eggs when you collect the real ones) and I’d switch them to layers pellets as they are old enough now.
Thanks Fn for your reply,
there is however an update to this,
I was inspecting the nest boxes (again) when I noticed what looked like a forkfull of spaghetti bolognese romana (tomato and spaghetti). It wasn’t of course, but infact a huge roundworm and some intestinal tissue!! The vets have offered flubenvet to treat them. Having worms present (specially that size) would almost certainly have an effect on laying, so I suspect this is the main reason the older ones haven’t started yet. Hopefully this will sort that out and generally everyone will feel a lot better after treatment. I can’t believe I have missed this for so long, I feel ever so guilty, I guess I hoped the verm-x and the diatomous earth would prevent this. Hey ho, a lesson learnt.
ha ha ha too you all my chickens have given me 300 eggs a year
Hi Mark
That’s great. Are you using artificial light during the winter months?
Yippee! update: after worming and adding mites/lice treatment, a week later and we got a rainbow of eggs. I took a couple of photos for all to see http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Rosi.zalduataylor/ChickenAndEggs
They are from Angelina (Araucana), either Bonnie (Welsummer or a copper black Maran – not sure which one laid them yet) and Maria (SL Wyandotte) hope you like them as much as I do
Hello Rosieposy,
The pictures of your eggs are beautiful! I love the green ones.
We now have two hens laying. The eggs are delicious.
Thanks Fn- they are absolutely scrummy here too!
The blue/ green eggs have also become bluer each day which is exciting. The dark brown ones were indeed from the copper black maran (thought as much). Can’t wait for the younger ones to start in the next few weeks (fingers crossed).
Thats really great that you have eggs now Rosieposey, they look lovely.
Can any one help us with our problem. We have 5 Chickens who have not laid since september , they are nearly 3 years old. We added 3 more in January who laid an egg each for the first 3 days they were with us and then they stopped. We wondered if a fox was scaring them as one did get some of our chickens from another house last august. We cannot understand why they are all now not laying. Last week my husband did notice a worm in the poo but only once, we found out today that the worms live inside the bird and that will stop them laying, so we have brought worm treatment today. They are very happy and eating and drinking well and have all their feathers, it’sfrustrating that we have no eggs, they are pets but the eggs are lovely. Can anyone help us with some advice.
Hi Rosieposey
That’s interesting. That the colour is strengthening on the eggs.
One of my greatest pleasures is collecting the eggs in the morning.
Hi Mandy
Your hens are getting on a bit. Carol is three and is laying evey day now but I think that we are lucky. Most people around here knock their hens on the head at 2 years old as they are getting passed their best. Our hens are here for their natural life. The older hens 4 yeras old and only lay an occaisioanl egg.
Where did the new hens come from. Was it a commercial setup with lights to extend the daylight hours?
If your husband saw a worm in the poo there are bound to be loads of others. They veer away from the light very quickly.
My advice is to worm and treat your chickens for lice. Spring clean their houses and give them lavish nesting materials in the nesting boxes.
We have found that a sharp frost/hot day/thunderstorm can put them off lay. They are responsive creatures and a good clean out can switch them back into laying mode.
I am sure that you do this already but if you clean out the chicken house every week and remove the poo from the nesting box everyday, your chickens will be happier and more likely to lay eggs.Â
Thanks fn, thats useful info. We douldn’t possibly knock them on the head. We got the new ones form the same place, they are not given artificial light, they are in a barn. We went yesterday to speak to the farmer and he said if ours had worms then the new ones could have picked up worms straight away and thats why stopped laying. My husband has treated for worms yesterday and will treat for lice. Our nesting box is empty, as they have only been using it for a toilet he stopped putting any bedding in it but will start again today and clean the box out every day. He does a thorough clean out every week with out fail of the house and run. It just seems to us that if the new ones were laying but came to us and stopped then whats the problem. Oh well, will try your ideas and wait in hope for some lovely eggs.
Hi Mandy
They will settle down soon. Often the arrival of new hens just puts eveything out of kilter for a while as it disturbs the status quo.
Hi Mandy,
we found that the combination of fresh soft cut straw bedding, a course of worming powder, some lice treatment and lastly a couple of china eggs-1 in each nest – (or even a shop egg just for a few days) did the trick. I don’t know which made the biggest difference, but we went from none to three eggs per day from the oldest 3 girls a few days after completing the above. i suspect, as fn suggests, that once wormed and de-loused they will soon settle down anyway.
Hi Fn,
yes, the colour has strengthened, though I must add that for Araucana eggs, the colour goes all the way through the shell, and it was more of a case of the initial few eggs had a darker, greenish coating.
We have to all bagsy first go at collecting the eggs here as it such a joy to find them!
Hi Rosieposey
Thanks for the advice, we have today added the bedding, done the worm treatment. Tomorrow will do the lice treatment and then try the china egg, if we can get one.
Then hopefully eggs will come and then we will be thinking, which thing worked!
Mandy
Hi Rosieposy
Once the eggs appear it seems like a true sign of Spring.
Hi Mandy
I think the china eggs work as it seems that you are not taking all the eggs. George made his own using a real egg and glue (see the comments on this post http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=62).
How do you know when to worm your chickens, haven’t got mine yet but want to know everything lol
Hi Barbara
I just worm our chucks once a year. In the spring.
Thanks if i buy them soon they wouldn’t need doing till next spring?
Hi Barbara
Ask the breeder when you buy them. Different breeders have different methods. They might already be wormed for this year.
I need to know if they are any website than can show exactly what egg is layed from which hen .I thought I knew but i have a brown speckled egg and i dont know whos laying it . can anyone help
ok should have thought of that! thanks
Hi Carrie
Eggs from the same hen can vary enormously. We have one maran hen who lays large brown eggs. Sometimes these are paler, sometimes speckled, sometimes dark reddish brown. Often they change slightly in shape too.
So I suspect that you will not find your answer as there are too many variables. If you are desperate to know you could set up a webcam in the nesting box.
My hens have completely stopped laying for 2 days, having laid 1 egg each all through the winter. I have 2 cockerels who are very frisky! Could this be the reason? They lay huge speckled eggs, but today i found one small misshapen egg with a very thin shell. The chickens are all completely free – they wander where they like, and although we feed them layers pellets everyday, they seem to prefer finding their own food, such as sheep feed, corn or any insects they can dig out of the wood pile.
I was wondering whether hens go off laying if they are becoming broody? they have always laid in their nesting box – they are shut up every night.
Any help or advice would be gratefully received
Hi Elinor
Hens do go off lay if they are going broody. What colour are their combs? If these are pink it’s a sure sign that they are going broody.
It could also be that something else has put them off lay. Chickens are sensitive creatures.
Hi Fn and Rosieposey
We have for the last 3 days started to get eggs. One of the older almost 3 years old is laying after not having laid since september and one of the new girls has joined in.
We did the worm treatment, made a nice comfy nest, still nothing then about 9 days ago added plastic eggs to the nesting box.
Just wanted to let you know.
Mandy
Hi Mandy
This is great news!
I am so pleased. Thanks for the update. The more questions and answers the more useful this site will be for people in the future.
Thanks for the update! Much appreciated.
Most of our hens are now laying regularly and it’s such a joy.
I have had my 3 hens for 7 days now how long will it be before they start to lay
Hi Michelle
There are so many questions here. What breed are they? How old? Are they joining a settled flock?
they are silkys and i only have the 3 and are 5 months old
Hi Michelle
They won’t start to lay until they are about 8 months old.
Hi All
i am completely new to all this and this may be a silly question!! But can anyone tell me can chickens lay eggs at anytime of the day or is it just in the morning
thank you
Hi Amanda
Chickens can lay at different times of day. They each have their own rhythm.
Hi, I have 2 questions if you would be so kind, one, I bought 9 hens about 4 months ago, 6 suffolk whites and 3 rhode island reds. I cant tell if any of them are males, how can I tell? and secondly, they are still not laying. I am feeding them corn as well as household scraps of bread etc, they have a large piece of garden fenced off to themselves, and a large shed (although I havent made any specific nesting boxes) when should I expect them to start laying? thanks for any help.
Hi Rick
If you can’t tell if you have any cockerels by now you probably only have pullets (young females).
Hens can take up to a year from hatching to mature and start laying.
Nesting boxes (even old wooden boxes lined with hay) would help progress the potential laying. A nesting box is a good idea. The hens love a dark quiet place to lay their eggs.
Hi, thanks for the reply, how obvious is it that any of them are males? I have one of the reds that seems a bit bigger than the other two, and has larger tail feathers, could this one be male? and do I need a male for the pullets to start laying? do I have good varieties (suffolk whites and rhode islands) for egg laying? thanks again for your help. I am so glad to have found a correspondence site regarding chickens, I was floundering with lack of knowledge a bit before this, great to have someone to ask these things!!
Hi Rick
I’m afraid that I can’t help re identifying whether you have a male. I am assuming that they are at least 8 months old and by this stage it should be obvious. You need to dig more deeply on the internet for pictures to help you.
The hens will start laying eventually. You just need to be patient and provide some quiet dark nesting boxes to encourage them to lay.
is it true that silkys are poor layers and do they have to be shut up at night as they like to sit in door way with bottoms sticking out and wont go in with out a little push
Hi Michelle
I know that Silkies go broody at the drop of a hat so probably are raised for this quality rather than their eggs.
I haven’t raised them so don’t know about them sitting in doorways!
It’s always best to shut chickens in at night to keep them safe.
Had my Chickens for about 2 months, 1 old hen, 3chicks about 10 weeks old and another breed which I’m not sure of?. The older Hen (Mother of the Chicks and a Bantam I think) Hasn’t Laid an egg do they stop at a certain age or is there a period after they have Chicks that they stop for? Please Help.
Thank you .
Hi Johnny
I’ve been scouring the internet for an answer and drawn a complete blank.
Mrs Boss adopted the guinea fowl eggs last summer and did’t lay an egg until this spring. I didn’t monitor this as I was watching her interact with her brood but thinking about it there wass never a egg in the nest for at least 3 months after they had hatched and had been moved to the grown up hen house. A hen that is looking after her young wouldn’t lay as she is distracted by her ‘chicks’.
hello i just want to know how long a chicken will sit an egg before it is hatch?
Hi Louise
Gestation of the egg takes 21-22 days.
I’ve enjoyed this website on chickens. as I just got 25 18mos old hens with a wooster and I’ve never seen hens being so afraid. They huddle in the nests and corner. They are leghorns and I got a week ago. Also there corns are pink but they look real good Please let me know what the problem is thank you. lavon shields
Hi Lavon
Just going to bed but caught your comment!
Chickens need to settle when you get them. Just like us. You need to be very gentle with them and gradually make friends. Even now, after 4 years our chickens are frightened of children. Unfortunately we don’t have children so if any appear they rush for cover.
Give your chickens treats every day when you go down to change their water and feed them. In time they will trust you and when you go into the pen they will not be rattled. When this happens you will be so pleased.
With chickens, you need patience.
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone can advise me…
I bought 3 pullets just two weeks ago. One has started laying as regular as clockwork each day, one has not yet started and one has layed three times since, but spaced out over the last two weeks, and the last egg did not have a yolk. She has not layed again since the yolkless egg. They are all about 22 weeks, but as they are all different types, I can’t be sure excactly. My question is this… Is it normal for a chicken’s first season to start off with erratic egg laying such as my third chicken, with some eggs and then none? Will she settle down to become more regular, should the laying be consistent?
They are on layers pellets with lots of free range.
Thanks for any advice you can give me…
Emma
Hi Emma
Some chickens will never lay an egg every day, you need to get a breed well known to be great layers for that to happen. By the end of the summer you will be able to assess the amount of eggs you can expect from your flock.
Often it takes a while for a chicken to get into the egg laying routine. I’ve never found an egg without a yolk but there is a very good site with loads of information about eggs here http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodrin/poultry/pdfs/eggqual.pdf
I do hope that this is useful.
Thanks for your help. Sarah has now given us two eggs on two consecutive days! I’m hoping that she is now going to carry on like this. Still nothing from our other chicken, Matilda, but she still looks quite small compared to the other two girls. I had a feel of her pelvic bones at the back and she still feels very narrow, so maybe not quite ready. Her comb is less well developed than the others, but she is a completely different looking bird, like a black rock I’ve been told. Fingers / claws crossed for us!
Hi Emma
Sounds like Matilda is not quite ready to lay just yet.
Hope that you don’t have to wait too long!
my sikly stared to lay one egg a day for the
last 15 days but now all she dose is sit on her
nest and she has not layed an egg for 3 days she let you pick her up and touch and dose not
seem to be in any pain why is she not laying
Hi Michelle
I’m no expert but it sounds as if your chicken has gone broody. Silkies have a tendency to go broody.
She needs to be shaken out of this state or her broodiness will go on all summer. There are instructions for making an anti broody coop here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289.
If you have a cockerel or access to fertilised eggs, you may want to put them under her so that she will raise a brood of chicks.
A broody hen will go off lay.
thank for the advice i have shut Kate in her run and not letting Kate back to her nest box hope this works
Hi Michelle
It probably won’t work as she needs day and night in a broody coup to shake her out of this state. The longer you leave her the harder it is for her to get back to normal.
I’d love to hear how she gets on.
i have now have Kate in a broody coup how long will i have to keep her in it i feel so mean wont it her her feet thanks for you help
Hi Michelle
You are not being mean. Your little hen won’t like it but she will quickly be out of her broody state and be a happy hen again.
Have you put food and water in the coop with her?
I would try her for 2 days initially; if she races back to the nesting box put her back in for another couple of days. Most hens only need 2-3 days to get out of a broody state. Mrs Boss needed at least seven! You have to play it by ear.
iv just been to see her and she is sitting there looking quite cosy and she has food/water i hope this works
Hi Michelle
Fingers crossed!
Hi Everyone
Great site. My family and I are new to keeping chickens , 3 weeks ago we went to a local farm to buy our new house guests, 1 brown ranger and 2 ambers ,the brown ranger and one amber started laying straight away and have given us two eggs a day ever since , the other amber hasn’t laid at all yet, they are fed on mash and scraps but spend most of their time foraging around the garden as we free range them if we are in.
I know they are young birds but not sure of the exact age , I don’t think it’s a stress issue as the two ambers are very friendly and come up to you to be petted.Any ideas would be appreciated
Why has my broody hen stopped sitting on her eggs ? Please help !
Hi Gary
Sometime hens (even of the same breed) take longer to mature. You just have to be patient. She will lay when she is ready.
Not all hens lay an egg a day. If you own hens that do this you are lucky!
Hi Tina
Without seeing your set up it’s impossible to answer your question if you don’t provide more facts.
Have you candled the eggs? Are they fertile? Has there been a recent huge drama in the hen run? All these could roust a bird from sitting. How long had she been broody? It may be that she was just feeling off colour and now is feeling better again. Has her comb changed colour? This is a good indicator re broodiness.
Chickens are complex creatures.
hi fn well puting kate in the broody coup has worked after 3 days i did not think it would work thanks
Hi all
Thanks for the reply, will just have to wait and see then , hopefully she’ll get the idea , just a word to anyone reading this that is thinking of getting chickens but hasnt yet, go for it , we wish we had done it years ago , these are our first 3 and we love them to bits , if you can let them roam free in the garden so much the better , they are hilarious to watch.
Hi Micelle
So pleased that it worked! Thanks for dropping by with the update!
Hi Gary
She will lay. Just give her time.
Chickens are great fun and not a lot of work. In fact I even enjoy cleaning them out! You are so right, they are hugely entertaining. Thanks for leaving a comment.
hi all
went out to check the hen house earlier and was greeted with 3 eggs so Pudsey has laid her first egg, she must have known we were talking about her
Hi, please help if possible! I have 14 chickens and 1 cockerel, 6 white suffolks, 2 rhode island and recently added 6 warren pullets about 5 months old. until last week, the whites and the two reds were producing between them about 6-8 eggs a day, but they dwindled over the past week from 2 down to today absolutely none. any ideas about why this might happen? they dont seem to be off their food, could it be the addition of the new pullets? I read something in a post above concerning recent “dramas” we did have my 6 month old kitten visit them and scare them a bit, but the egg reduction had begun before this impromptu visit took place! thanks.
do brown chicks come from brown eggs and when will my chicks start laying?
Hi Gary
Nice one!
Hi Rick
I reckon that it’s the addition of the warren pullets. This will disturb the equilibrium of the flock for a bit and affect egg laying.
Yu just have to be patient. They will start laying again when they settle down.
Hi Gayla
Brown chicks don’t necessarily come from brown eggs. The colour of the chicks depends on the colour of the hen and the cockerel that fertilised the eggs.
It can take anything from 8 – 12 months between a chick hatching and maturing to laying a first egg. Depending on the time of year that the chicks hatch.
We have 3 Rhode Islands. They have been laying one egg a day each consistently for a month or two now. They all laid before 11am. The past few days their habits have changed and now only one of them is laying in a morning. It was teatime before we got the others last night and have only got one egg so far today. Any ideas??
i have just purchsed 2 columbian leghorn bantams, they seem very timid at the moment. when do you think they will start laying? they were part of a trio does this affect things?
just to add they are a 2007 hatching batch…..have i been duped as a newbie?
Hi Loui
Chickens change subtly all the time. Just like us!
If they make a dramatic step we notice it.
They’re affected by the weather, the interaction with each other, hormones and a load of other changes that we can’t discern.
A chicken that is a laying breed might appear to lay every day but every now and hen she doesn’t lay when she “should be laying”. All layers take a break in the autumn/winter months. You don’t say where you are located. Is it autumn for you?
When we first got our chickens (six) we thought that we’d get six eggs a day. On a few days we actually collected six eggs. Generally I collect 2 or 3 a day now. Our main flock is in their 4th year. Carol is three (generally an egg a day) and the guinea fowl hen isn’t a year old but laying for England!
Hi Mark
Moving chickens about and splitting up a coterie will affect laying. You haven’t been duped as you were told that they were hatched in 2007. Most chickens are destroyed after two years as they are past their prime (egg laying wise). Ideally buy chickens on point of lay.
Your chickens need time to find their feet, adjust to their environment and to you. Try and be as gentle as possible with them. When you visit, bring them treats – a small handful of wild bird seed or chopped fresh greens. Eventually they will settle and lay. Two chickens doesn’t necessarily mean two eggs a day.
We are on the North east coast and yes the past few days its been cold again here after having some beautiful sunny days a week or so ago! I guess it is like autumn here at the moment.
thank you for your advice.
Hiya
We got 2 rhode island cross hens (Florance and Ermintrude) 3 weeks ago, we didn’t think at the time to ask how old they are, but they were from a reputable place so I assume around the 16 weeks mark. Can you give me an idea of when laying may start? Also after reading the previous posts is it common for chickens to have worms?
Thanks Carol
Hi Loui
I hope that they settle into a steady laying pattern quickly for you.
Hi Carol
We got our first chickens in August and the first egg in January. Most of our hens have started laying at around eight months. Some breeds lay earlier.
My chickens have never had worms but it might be wise to worm your chickens just in case.
Hi
Thanks, think I’ll leave the worming unless I see some evidence of them. Will just enjoy watching them for now and wait for my first egg
Hi Carol
Good idea. Hope that you don’t have to wait too soon for the first egg.
As I have posted earlier we are new to chicken keeping , we have 3 , 1 brown ranger and 2 ambers , we free range them round the garden most of the time , I was just wondering if anyone else has what can only be described as a lap chicken ,every time my wife sits in the garden one off our ambers (postman pat’s her name my son’s only 3 and chose the name himself) jumps on her lap and sits there like a cat while she strokes it , it’s hilarious to watch but I didn’t think chickens were that friendly , I would love to hear any other stories people have
Hello Gary
That sound wonderful. I wish my chickens did that!
I know Magic Cochin’s chickens fly into her arms.
I suppose chickens like most of us, enjoy a cuddle and a bit of affection.
Thanks for sharing.
Hello everyone.. I have 30 pullets.. 12 buff orps, 12 black australorps, 5 barred rocks and 1 white rock.. I noticed today that some of the combs on the buffs are starting to get really red including wattles and around eyes. Is this a sign they could be getting ready to lay? They are about 5 months.
We have 4 Warrens and 2 Light Sussex hens all bought in February this year. I have noticed that the largest Light Sussex has been spending more time in the nest box than before so I thought she might be broody but more concerning is the fact that when she does come out into the run one of the Warrens pecks at her and she becomes very anxious. I can’t decide whether she is broody or just trying to avoid the Warren. Do you have any suggestions?
I have a question for you pros out there, I have 3 hens all sussex, The thing is they are 23 weeks now have just started laying. The problem we have is holidays, When we go away for a week soon will they be ok to be moved to my parents house who have a chicken coop or will this put them off lay. Dont want to mess them about now they have started laying
Thanks xxxx
Hi travis. Yes this is exactly what it means. My 3 suusex hens are 22 weeks now and 2 have started to lay this week its so exciting Good luck and keep checking. REMEMBER to leave them quiet when they are laying they like it quiet and dark.
Hi Travis
Yes the red combs indicate that they are maturing and getting ready to lay eggs.
Hi Jane
Is her comb still red? The comb changing colour to pink is a good indicator that she is going broody.
Bullying will happen. But there are things that you can do to distract the hens. Putting a football in the run is good one or hanging a cabbage so the hens have to jump and stretch to reach it, also seems to work.
We also have another shelter that Danny bought when he saw that the bullied chickens were standing out in the rain.
Hi Helen
Any change will probably put the hens off lay for a bit but they will settle down again. I find that virtually everything effects laying from the weather to a change in feed!
Thanks for your advice re laying.
Peace and harmony has been restored! Our Light Sussex is no longer broody and the other hens are happy to have her around. We adapted a metal dog crate and put her within the run so she could see the others and they could see her, naturally sheltering her from the elements by putting a tarpaulin over the roof of the run. Thank you for the sound advice.
Hi all,
We are giving a home to a frizzle bantam, hopefully arriving this week. Already we have 3 lovely hybrid layers who are about 6 months old and doing really well. Can anyone offer any advice re settling in a newcomer to the flock? Especially as she will be a smaller bird, I would obviously like to minimise any bullying.
Any tips or experiences shared would be most welcome.
Thanks, emma.
Hi Emma
Ideally you introduce a couple of new birds to an established flock. This gives them a ‘friend’.
The new hen will be picked on. Especially if she is smaller. There is nothing that you can do to change the status quo. There is always a place at the top and the bottom of the pecking order.
What you can do is distract the other hens. A football gives hours of amusement and a cabbage hung high enough for the birds to have to jump a little to reach it is another good distraction.
Provide alternative shelter, even if this is just in the day. A simple wooden crate on its side with a plastic sheet on the roof (bantams are delicate) might give your new hen the solace she will need.
Why not look out for another frizzle bantam to join her?
Hi Jane
Sorry I skipped your comment.
Great to hear that peace has been restored.
Good move to put the anti broody coop in the run. This is ideal if you have the space.
Thanks so much for the update.
Hello again everyone. Pullets not laying yet, but combs getting redder every day. I do have another question. I have an older healthy Barneveld hen that is laying huge eggs and have etched lines all around them. The shells are hard, but just have the lines. These eggs are so long I can’t even close the egg carton over them. Could the etched lines be due to the large size of the eggs or could something be wrong?
Hi,
We just bought 3 Isa Browns at 20 weeks old. I built them a palace of a coop. 7 meters long with a 1.5 meter enclosed area with three nesting boxes.
Im over in Australia and we are heading into winter now and we have about 10 hours of daylight. Is it unrealistic to expect eggs given their age and it being winter with 10 hours of daylight.
Cheers
Hi Travis
The lines on the egg are a sign of an older hen. There is nothing wrong with the eggs (or the hen) they are fine to eat but just wouldn’t win prizes!
Glad to hear that the pullets are going well.
Hi Matt
They may start laying over the winter months but will really get into their stride once the days start getting longer again.
We bought some point of lay hens towards the end of the summer and started to get eggs a couple of weeks after the days started to get longer again.
It would be interesting to hear when they do start laying.
hi got 6 goldlines end of march 20wks old they started laying within 2 weeks got 12 black rocks at the same time they were 14 wks they are now 24 weeks and are still not laying any advice all black rocks gone really red now got 4 banties and 2 cockrals at same time one silkie gone broody so put her in a rabbit hutch alone with some eggs on friday and hoping for the best
Any advice is much appreciated
All hens are free range and only locked away at night
Well I’m glad she’s ok. The eggs are huge and I keep those for myself instead of selling hers. She’s laying daily 3-4 days in a row, then off a day, then back to daily again. I got 11 2-3 year old Barred Rock hens the other day. The guy just wanted $2.00 each, they are very fat and healthy. They are laying about every other day. So pretty..but I better stop now, up to 48 birds total.
have 2 black rocks been really good layers for ages – posh started going broody last week but we just kept her out of the nesting box and she seems back to normal although she stands outside the kitchen door and wants attention and food all the time (especially fond of spaghetti)- follows me everywhere – worse than the dog!! but still no eggs from her or baby (yes they are the spice girls – the fox got ginger and scary!) could they be moulting? they are looking a little ragged round the edges
Hi,
May two bantams have stopped laying as well. The one went broody and sat on both their eggs. I removed them and locked her out of the pen over a week ago, but now neither hen is laying!!!! Not sure what to do???
Hi Amanda
I reckon it’s just a matter of time before your Black Rocks start laying. Not all breeds come into lay at the same time. By the sound of it – colour of the combs etc you won’t have to wait long.
Good luck with your bantie – hope that you get some chicks.
Hi Travis
Wow you are getting quite a big flock now! Those barred rcks sound like a great deal.
Love my hens too!
Hi Dee
Sometimes hens go off lay for no apparent, particular reason. If Posh has started to go broody she will take a while to get back into egg laying mode. A broody hen can put others of lay too.
Don’t know about the feathers. Are they feather pulling? Why not try supplementing their diet with some greens and adding a little cod liver oil to their feed? Moulting usually happens in the Autumn.
Hi Lou
When a hen stops laying it’s easiest to cure the condition by putting her in an anti broody coop in the vicinity of the run. This causes the least disruption to her and the rest of the flock. Instructions on making an anti broody coup, quickly and easily are here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289
Meanwhile, it will only be a matter of time before your hens start laying again. You just have to be patient.
hi
I have 5 light suss cross RIRed, They are about ^ months and no sign of any eggs also at least one has a rather runny orangey poo, is this ok or should i do something about it they seem quite healthy, eating well and i give them vermx and cider vinegar once a month. any ideas?
thanks
Sorry typo they are 6 months
Hi Sarah
I think that it’s just a matter of time on the laying front. Watch for their combs to turn dark red, this is a good sign.
I am no expert but I wouldn’t worry overmuch about the poo unless it continues for a few days.
Make sure that they have fresh water every day, particularly in warm weather.
Sorry not to be more helpful.
The eggs that we are getting are changing in colour daily. I am keeping a close eye on which hen is laying. I have 2 light sussex and 1 speckled sussex. One day the egg is darker than it is another day is this normal. thanks
Helen xxx
Hello Helen
Yes it’s normal for eggs from the same hen to vary in colour. I don’t know why this is but perhaps someone else can shed light on this conundrum.
Hi,
One of our hens has been acting strangely! She is about 30 weeks old and has been a regular layer since 20 weeks, but over the last week I have found a few of her feathers of hers on the ground and for the last two days she has not laid. Otherwise looks fit and healthy enough, and although she spent one day monopolising the nest, she has spent the last two days ranging around as usual. Has she gone broody, or is it because she has moulted a little that she has gone off laying?
Our bantam has only just come out of broodiness so perhaps the behaviour is being copied?
Any advice or ideas would be great, thanks.
We have 4 Warrens and 2 Light Sussex chickens bought in February of this year. We are getting on average 4 eggs a day. We can’t understand why the Light Sussex have laid every day, apart from a week when one was broody, and yet the Warrens are not as regular. We seem to have one Warren laying every day and three Warrens laying once every three days. I always thought that that the hybrid chooks laid more regularly. It doesn’t seem to be the case in our small flock! The Light Sussexand 1 Warren seem to be doing the work for the rest. Ultimately they are pets but does this mean that the Warrens might lay for longer because they are not laying intensively? They are fed organically and have regular fresh veg. Ideas would be appreciated. Many thanks, Jane.
Hi Jane
Like us some hens just don’t do the ‘work’ we expect. Give them a bit of slack. That’s just how they are.
It’s disappointing but hens are all different. You are lucky if you get an egg a day hen. Treasure those hens but don’t sign off the others – they might be great broodies or might come into regular lay at a later date. A good mix is what you want, ideally.
Every POL hybrid hen does not necessarily lay an egg a day.
You need to think carefully about your hens. If you need an egg a day from every hen, pass the slower hens to another home now and knock your layers on the head at 2 years old (egg laying generally diminishes after this date).
If you just want to keep hens and enjoy their eggs it’s a different story. Carol is 3 and giving us an egg a day during the summer months. The rest of the flock is 4 years old, happily laying on and off.
We don’t have a commercial venture so the hens are under no pressure.
my girls in the past have laid very well till this winter chocolate as allways been a good layer
but when she started moulting. they all whent of the lay nigela and basil are the trouble makers
ginger and foo foo started getting funny and then the pecking order changed in come t rex and nothing in the egg department is happening we are in our winter in south australia and im at my witts end hopping im doing the right thing for my girls these are all pets as well my grand children loves em to death as do we all I would like to wish my fellow chook lovers all the best on the other side of the world.hope you can help yogi.
I have a question. We got 2 bantams on June 12, 2008 and that same day and the 13th we had gotten 2 eggs 1 each day, but now it is the 20th of June and now eggs. Can any one answer why they may not be laying eggs I would greatly appreciate the help if possible.
sorry every one it was suppose to be no eggs sense the 13th of June that is. HELP PLEASE!!!!!! New to taking care of chickens.
Hi Emma
I’m sorry I missed your comment.
Your hen could be going broody, it’s difficult to tell. By now you should know as she will be glued to the nest if she is. We have instructions as to how to build an anti broody coop here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289
Hi Yogi
As hens get older they start to go off lay more in the winter months. The tendency to moult will also increase. You are doing nothing wrong.
You just have to be patient. When the days start to get longer again they will start to lay again.
Hi Susan
This often happens when chickens are moved. A few eggs immediately and then nothing for a few weeks whilst they settle in.
Give them a bit of time, they will start laying for you eventually.
Many thanks for your advice. Our hens are here for their natural life whether they lay or not (they all have names!). I just wondered whether slow layers could potentially have a longer laying life if they aren’t laying as frequently as opposed to the Warren laying every day.As you say it is good to have a mix.
Jane
Thanks Fn for the support that you gave me. I sure do hope they will start laying eggs soon. Do you think me holding them and talking to them will help them to relax and settle in?
My 2 kids are calling me a chicken whisper, because when I talk to them they cluck real soft like they understand me and it is very soothing to hear them cluck that soft.
Hi all, and thanks for the advice re the broody coup. Since my post, our hen has been behaving normally, ranging around as usual, eating / drinking well but still no eggs. Can’t be broody as she is not glued to the nest (she did spend a day on there last week but not since). Is it possible that she had started to go broody but we managed to stop it very early on? or is she just having a break from laying. I have given them all a really lovely clean out today, and she is looking very fit & healthy although her comb is just a tiny bit pinker than usual. Not really worried that she is ill as everything else with her seems fine.
Thanks!
Well finally an egg from one of the pullets. Found it on the ground couple days ago and none of the older hens have been laying on the ground. It was just a bit smaller than the eggs my RIR hens lay. Another one about the same size tonight, but it was in a nest. I read on another site that buff orpington pullets do generally lay a larger than normal pullet egg. Oh and btw, up to 58 birds now. Got 10 about a month old someone needed to get rid of.. all sorts of crosses here.. signs of some cochin, easter egger (green legs – feathers around beak).. may end up getting rid of these new ones.
I had 6 chickens and I lost one when it could not walk, they were laying from 1 to 5 a day, but now they are only laying 1 to 3 and not every day some times it will go a couple of days and no eggs they are about 30 weeks old, can you help please
Hi Jane
So pleased that the advice was useful.
I reckon that hens that don’t lay every day have poentially a longer life as they are just working part time. However we lost both outr lavender bantams within the firt two years. So you can’t really predict.
Hi Susan
Everyone loves a cuddle. Even a chicken!
You are caring for your flock and I think that they’ll pick up on that. It’s important and has great results!
Hi Emma
It’s impossible to tell whether your hen was broody.
Egg laying (outside a commercial unit) is never very reliable. If you have a laying breed hen you will get to know her rhythm. With the rest so many things can affect laying – bad weather, trauma, and the simple fact that the hen is just not a laying breed. There is no normal. Every hen is different.
Hi Travis
58 hens! I can see how this has happened, chickens get under your skin.
Glad that finally you found the first egg. Hooray!
Thanks so much for dropping by. Great to hear how you are getting on.
Hi Sue
Egg laying is not an egg a day from each hen. Some hens will give you this, if they are bred for laying and are in their early years (after 2 years commercial outfits knock them on the head). Most hens will gradually wind down as the summer goes on and the days get shorter.
Also other factors will affect laying patterns – changeable weather, bullying etc. The days are now getting shorter so your egg count will slowly diminish. However, there migt be other reasons why your hens are not laying as you expect.
The important thing is to spend some time with your flock every day. Even if tis means getting up 15 minutes earlier. Watch them when you are giving them fresh water and feeding them. It’s obvious if there are problems.
Once you know what the problems are you are far more likely to find a solution.
I have 5 hens @ 11 weeks old. They are free to rome around the yard. But I want them to go inside the hen house at night. So without me running around the yard like crazy, running after them to get them into the coop. Is there a way to teach them to return at night to the hen house. Should I have a light on at dark so they know to return to the coop
Thanks for all you help
Kris,ours will do anything for cooked pasta and very quickly learnt that they needed to go into their run when they see the pasta dish. It never fails!
Buttercup and Tornado started to lay eggs again. I am getting 2 a day. I am so proud of them. thank you for all the advice. Patience is deffanitly a vertue that every one must have. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!
Thanks Jane.
Any thing is worth a try.
Hi Kris
Sorry I missed your comment. Our hens go crazy for wild bird seed. If I want the to go into their house I just sprinkle a little trail into the house from the run. Works like magic.
Hi Jane
I must try this with my brood! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Susan
Great news!
Hi
I have just purchased two welsummer chicks about 10 weeks old – I am feeding them only on Grower Pellets but their poo seem very dark brown and there is lot of it – is this normal?
Thanks
Linda
Hi Linda
Yes I think that this is normal. We feed our flock on baby chick crumbs when they are tiny and then move onto layers pellets, although I’ve heard that grower pellets are a good idea for an interim period.
We have 4 faverolles, which are supposed to be winter layers. Someone forgot to let ours in on that little bit of info. We have not had an egg for around 3 months. We are in Australia and mid winter. They have a seed food and a laying mash I soak with warm water in the morning (they dont like it otherwise). They run in the orchard during the day. They did lay for several months then stopped when they molted but that finished ages ago, and still no eggs. Would keeping them in their pen for a few days help? When they are out they mostly sit on the veranda waiting for scraps. The breeder we got them from assured me thay would start laying as of a couple weeks ago, but still nothing. They are supposed to be about a year and a half old but starting to have my doubts. Any hints would be appreciated.
my chock wont lay in winter
I baught two warrens at twentyone weeks old,we have had them for five weeks,they have a nice warm coop they the dogs and cats get on well after the hens showed who was boss,they are fed on egg laying pellets,bread and are free range,they are very tame to the point of bullying us for food they love to get into the lounge so we have to sit with closed windows!!but as yet no eggs,we live in Brittany and all the farmers say they will layDo you think worming may help the birds are in very good health and came from a well known breeder in this part of Brittany please help
Hello linda lundgrenÂ
Apologies in taking some time to get back to you. I have been checking the internet and asking around.Â
Faverolles – some people say that they are great all round layers (although in the winter they will not lay so well). Other people say that they are iffy layers, I reckon that it must depend on the strain of hens. Perhaps you will find hat your brood are great summer layers?Â
You could go down the route of introducing summer light conditions. Thy will lay eventually and regularly and they will also die young. I’m not sure how you want to raise your chickens, as you are on the other side of the globe you must have experienced the shortest day by now. Your hens, if not very elderly will start laying a few weeks after this date.Â
Commercial chicken producers knock all 2 year old hens on the head. If your hens are not giving you an egg a day they probably never will. As a hen gets older egg laying diminishes.Â
If you want regular eggs, buy young pullets. If you want an occasional egg, go for older stock that rest in the winter. It’s great to buy older stock and give them a new lease of life but you will never get the egg laying that younger stock will give you. It’s a toss up. I reckon that a good young/old mix is the most interesting flock.Â
Hi ChloeÂ
My hens don’t lay in winter. They are enjoying a well deserved rest!Â
 Hi MJargaret BoudinÂ
Sometimes hens just go off lay. There’s no magic answer. If they are moved they often go off lay for to or three weeks. Five weeks seems excessive. Do they have their own hen house? If so, make this super attractive. Clean and tempting. Plump nests in the nesting box and a good environment. If necessary feed them in the hen house to temp them in.Â
I’d love to hear how this pans out.Â
Â
We have just started to raise chickens. Our “babies” are now about 8 weeks old. They sure look old enough to lay but realistically how long before they start to? They are New Hampshire Reds. We have not put nest boxes up yet.
Hi Kelley
It could be some time before they start to lay. Our Maron hen Carol hatched on April 23 and laid her first egg in January.
MJargeret,
Warrens are indeed excellent layers, and once they start to lay they are pretty much bombproof. When I last bought warrens they had just started to lay, by the time I had them home, a 20 minute journey, I already had an egg in the crate. They have layed consistantly every day since with no interruption despite being intergrated into an established flock.
I think yours just haven’t started to lay yet, but rest assured, they will! If your breeder is good like you suggest, he will have already wormed them, just need to wait a little longer.
Hello all,
I just found this chicken blog and I love the information. I have 3 Reds and 2 Americaunas at 19 weeks old. I just put in nesting boxes this weekend and started them on layer feed. Is their anything else I need to do? The chickens didn’t seem overly impressed with my nesting boxes but I’m no carpenter. My wife put in a couple of fake eggs. I am in south Texas and the days are long and hot.
I appreciate any feedback.
Matt
As a general rule a chicken with red ear lobes will lay brown eggs & a chicken with white ear lobes will be a white egg layer. There are some exceptions. The Araucanas lay blue/green eggs. They are called “The Easter Egg Chicken”.
Hi Kallith
Thanks so much for taking the trouble to answer this query. Much appreciated!
Hi Matt
Your hens will lay eventually when they have fully matured. At 19 weeks they are still too young to lay. Most of our hens started laying at eight or nine months (roughly two weeks after the shortest day (which is December 21st in the UK).
With a bit of luck they will start laying in the autumn for you. Make the nesting boxes tempting, filled with straw or wood chippings and make sure they are in a quiet dark spot so that the hens can get out of the light to lay. The china eggs are a good idea.
Good luck!
Hello Jeanette
Thanks for posting this comment.
We have two identical pekin bantams one lays brown eggs and the other white! I must examine their earlobes!
Araucana eggs are beautiful.
Hi again I have been with out power for several days due to downed power lines. I have a question and not sure what to do or what is going on.
My Buttercup is still laying eggs but she is now loosing her feathers on her breast. What is going on and what can I do to get them to start growing again. New still to this.
Hi, wee have three blackrock hens that are 21 weeks old and are still not laying, whats going on
Hi susan, It sounds to me like Buttercup Is just moulting. This is a natural process that happens to all hens as a means of feather replacement so dont worry.
Thank you Lee I hope that is all it is. I just don’t want anything to happen to her. Buttercup is special to me Tornado is special to but Buttercup is so mellow and more relaxed and she loves to be cuddled.
Hi Susan Your more than welcome , I know exactly how you feel, I’m also new to this but I care for my chickens deeply. I have three, sheila Linda and Daisy all of which I care for. Unfortunately none have even laid yet. By the way what breed of chickens do you own and do you have any idea or advice on why mine aren’t laying yet as its becoming very frustrating.
Hi Susan
Sorry to take so long to get back to you. Lee has given you good advice but it depends where you are living in the world. If you are based in the UK your chickens will generally moult in the late autumn when they go off lay. If you are in the UK and your hen is losing breast feathers now she may be preparing to go broody and is thinking that her softest feathers could line a nest for her chicks. This is instinctive behaviour – you can do nothing about it. Just make sure that she is comfortable and well cared for. She may do this and not go broody but this behaviour could be part of the broody routine.
Hello Lee
Your hens are just too young to lay eggs as yet. You are doing nothing wrong. You just need to relax a bit around the hens. They will pick up on your frustration.
When they are mature they’ll lay eggs (we have waited 8-12 months for hens to start laying). Meanwhile, enjoy and bond with your hens and read the comments on this post, they have taught me loads.
Thanks for advising Susan, much appreciated.
Hellow Fn thanks for the advice, very much appreciated Ill just continue to bond with my hens regularly and wait patiently. My hens are beginning to have a very strong bond with me as every morning when I go out to the pen the whole flock rushes over to greet me although each have there own personality’s. If I have any problems Ill put them on this site and someone will help me,Its a great site and has huge amounts of info.
Ps Ill definitely get back In touch when they lay.
Hi Lee, I bought four Black Rocks back in late May which were advertised as point of lay – something of an optimistic call for seventeen weeks! Three eggs appeared on the same day on the ninth of July and our first four egg full-house was yesterday. They are little bigger than bantam eggs to start wth, but as the girls settle into their rhythms, I’m sure they’ll get larger.
So just to confirm what the very knowledgeable Fn has said, I reckon 24-25 weeks looks about right.
Incidentally, I feed them layers mash rather than pellets as it takes them longer to fill their crops and keeps them happily occupied for longer.
You can also see what you’ve got; the binding agent in pellets is form of clay and I can’t help wondering if it conceals the floor sweepings sometimes! Probably libellous and I’m sure you can trust the reliable millers but the mash goes down well so I’ll stick with it.
Hi niece to here from you jonathan you seem to know your stuff and well done on your your first full egg house. Thanks for confirming the laying date, I think we got ours In April SO Ill just be patient. By the way what Is this mash exactly and where do you get It?. And just on the point of food have you tried giving your chickens boiled unsalted white or brown rice because ours just love It, and Its so good for them as long as you don’t overfeed them so give It a try and see what your hens think.
Hello Lee
I’m so pleased that your chickens are bonding with you. Our flock give me immeasurable joy.
Your hens will lay and that first egg will be so sweet – well worth the wait.
I’d be really interested to hear how you get on in the future.
Hello Jonathan
I’m no expert but gradually I’ve learnt a bit about chickens and totally empathise with the initial frustrations ie I’ve just bought 6 hens, why aren’t they laying six eggs a day?!
Wehad to switch to mash for a bit last winter when we couldn’t get the pellets and the chickens hated it – I reckon that they’re creatures of habit.
Hi Lee
We give our flock vegetable scraps and they love it. Must try them on brown rice – humans can live on a diet of just this so it must contain loads of nutrients.
FN
I just want to say thank you for your advice on every thing I live in the united states in washington. I am down to one chicken now my Tornado had gotten out and our dogs got her while we were gone. I am sad about that.
Lee
be patient like I was when I first got mine it took about 3 weeks before they started to lay eggs. Hope that helps and just be patient with them.
At what age do chickens start laying eggs?
Hi Susan
How sad that Tornado got out and that you are down to one hen. I do hope that you find a new friend for Buttercup soon.
Hi Emma
It depends on loads of variables. When they hatched and the seasons.
Carol hatched on April 23 and we got our first egg in January the next year. If she had hatched in January we probably would have got her first egg by the end of the summer. Hens and their laying patterns are affected by the length of day light hours – low point being December 21st.
A hen will start laying any time after 6 months – I always reckon on 8 months so as not to be disappointed.
Hi susan so sorry to hear about tornado, hope everything works out okay and thanks so much for your advice, much appreciated.
Hellow fn thanks for your response you’ve been most helpful In your advice so far. I also give my chickens some vegetable scraps and they do love It. Try giving them rice ours just go mad for It and sometimes they even try to fly and jump up to get it out of the sive before Ive put the rice on the ground and amazingly they finish It within several minutes, so try It and get back to me and tell me what your chickens thought of It.
Ill also use this site regurarly for any more help and Ill definitely contact you and susan when my chickens lay any eggs.
Thanks again to you both.
Hi Lee, the mash would seem to be a mixture of milled grains and supplements and includes maize, field beans, wheat tails, a bit of grit and oil-bearing seeds – a sort of all-in-one feed, if you will. The technical details are on a label stuck to the paper sack it comes in if you need to check. The breeder supplied us with a bag (25 kgs)produced by Marriages, but I bought the last one from Seapets of all places and there is no discernible difference between the two. Expect to pay £8-£10 a bag.
Thanks for the tip on rice and I note with interest a similar suggestion with pasta further back up this thread. I’ve let a couple of last year’s chard plants go straggly and seedy in the veg plot just for the girls and they love it: anything like brassica trimmings, bolted lettuce, the odd manky strawberry, radish tops, broad bean “jackets” or pea stringings are all gratefully received. Trouble is I’m running out of stuff for the compost heap!
Hi Jonathan thanks for clarifying that for me, most appreciated. Sounds like your girls are been well fed and are getting spoiled rotten!.Ive not tried giving my girls any strawberries but Ill see what they think of them as my chickens are living the good life!.
Thank you every one for your support and the sorrys. We are looking for more chickens right now Buttercup does need someone to help keep her company besides me. Thank you again everyone here on this site is so nice and very helpful. Good luck to everyone!!!
Good morning all I am so pleased to have found this site .firstly I have 6 chickens 1 rhode island 2 langshan 1 copper morran 1 black leghorn and now one white leghorn (which has replaced a white sussex).The problem is my white sussex died no sign of illness just began to be seperate from the others and not feeding I didnt know if the rest were picking on her I went back to the breeder he could offer no explanation ,I replaced her as said with a white leghorn who is now showing same symtoms, I have seperated her into her own pen and when you approach her she is sprightly the rest of the time she just sits there its really sad to see this, all the others are fine except that egg laying this time has gone down to maybe 1 or 2 eggs a day. The egg laying is the minor problem I want to see a house full of happy chickens again .I hope someone can help thanks Wendy
Hey – we have 10 chickens – - – -5 barred rocks (females), 5 female rhode island red and one “RICKY”. They are 4 1/2 months old. We just started introducing laying pellets this week. Ricky started getting frisky with the ladies and I think he managed to get “happy” once. My question is – - how long are they on laying pellets before they start laying? I see patience is the key …. we’re newbies at this and I just don’t know what to expect.
Thanks!
We have four cochin cross pullets that we got two at a time a month ago and two months ago. I believe they are about three and a half months old. They all came from the same batch from the same farm. They are beautiful. I noticed a pecking order establish itself quickly when we added our second two. They two birds we had first really came down hard on the cutest, fluffiest bird we have, Apple. She’s by far the most timid, but has come out more and more the longer she’s been with us. Tonight I noticed an obvious limp on her right side. She’s never been a very mobile chicken and has always seemed focused on her feet, but I thought it was just one of her charms. Tonight, after washing and trimming her feathers, I noticed that her third toe on the outside of her right foot is pressed flat against the palm of her foot. There are callouses on the side of the toe and we’re thinking it was a deformity since hatching. She likely would have been fine if she hadn’t developed a little sore next to the toe that seems irritated with walking. I have fitted her with a brace to straighten the toe so it isn’t under the foot. – she can stretch out and curl the toe as normal – perhaps it was broken and mended when she was a chick. I have also wrapped a shield around the afflicted foot so she can not reach the brace with her beak. My question is – Do you believe this method will help her after a while of wearing it, or would you suggest something else?
I have been around and raising chickins since I was a kid,62 years old. My family used our 40 or so for food and the eggs. After moveing to our latest residence I was given 5 rosecomb black chicks and one turned out to be a male. We have had chickins since.
Our latest is one outside rosecomb black hen that supplies us with an egg per day when she is not sitting. She is about 3 years old now. She is quite the charactor as she believes she can do as she pleases, and ususlly does. We also have
about 15 scoobby ducks inherited from our neighbors. We also have 4 RIR’s(one rooster), two White Leghorns, and 2 unknown Bantum’s (one rooster). I have the 8 of them in a moveable enclosure about 8″ by 4″ shaped like a triangle on the ends. My latest group were hatched 17 weeks ago and they are looking really nice, no pecking observed, as they are on the ground and I move the whole cage daily throught the yard. This keeps them active looking for grubs and such. I am really appreciative for all the comments regarding the raising of chick’s and I can add that it takes time for them to lay properly. My caged bantums give me one egg every other day sometimes as they are over 2 years old now. I use trimician (sp) every couple of weeks for possible infections, but I need to worm them soon as per your instructions.
Thanks again for your wonderful article.
Ray Foret
I spoke with the vet today and he says that since it is just one toe, it is probably a result of recent nerve damage from an injury. This seems backed by the fact that her foot on the one side seems.. narrower? collapsed? up by the metatarsal area. He said brace for 10 days, then check it and see if it has helped. If it still needs more, tape it back up and check it again later. I will do just this and see if it helps my little favorite.
Hi Bishop
Just back from work. Sorry to hear about your favourite hen. I have no experience of hen claw damage so can’t really help. Good idea to consult a vet. Do hope that she picks up quickly.
There are a few things that you can do to stop bullying. Distraction – buy a cheap plastic football and place it in the run. Great to land on but it moves. Who can land and stick on? A cabbage hung so the hens have to leap to access it works wonders.
i have 12 chickens 2 rosters rest hens don’tno the breeds but they are 15 weeks old should they be laying soon and have ardifical light they are 3 to 4 mounths old can they be laying soon
Hi Jonathon
Our hens love vegetable scraps too and the compost bin is feeling the pinch a bit!
Hi Lee
The chickens went crazy for the rice. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Susan
I do hope that you find a companion for Buttercup soon.
Hi Wendy
I have been thinking about your problem for some time and can’t come up with an answer. There will always be one hen at the top of the pecking order and one at the bottom.
Being at the bottom of the pecking order won’t make a hen sick but if a hen is sick she needs to be separated from the rest of the flock to recover.
I have noticed that our hens generally hang out with others of the same breed so perhaps getting another leghorn hen would do the trick. Just a thought.
Often when you get new hens they lay like mad and often egg laying diminishes for a few weeks. They will eventually get into a regular laying pattern.
Sometimes worming does the trick.
Hello Ricky Rooster
They will start laying between 6 to 8 months. So you need to be patient.
Hi Ray4a
Great hearing about your chickens and ducks! Thanks for leaving a comment.
Hello Jack
Don’t expect any eggs before 24 weeks. You may have to wait even longer.
Hi
This is a great site and has already given me lots of tips. I’m new to chicken keeping but am loving every minute! I acquired 3 Buff Orpingtons back in May this year,Gertrude, Matilda and Florence, they were then 16 weeks old.They are completely free range and appear very settled and happy, rushing towards me every time I step foot in the garden!I feed them on layer pellets, mixed corn, which they love and any food scraps, yes they love rice too! I have a wooden housewith integrated nesting box on the side. From comments earlier on in the forum I think I made a mistake by letting them have access to the box right from the start. They have not started laying as yet and from the evidence of the poo in the nesting box they sleep in it and don’t use the perches. Should I now partition it off for a while? Any ideas would be gratefuly received. Although my children are grown up and left home they are calling most days for an update!
Hiya….. I have been reading all this information with relish…. what a great site
I have a question for you …… I had six chickens, one light and one buff sussex, two welsummer and two bantams.
A friend wanted a couple for his grandson, and as the sussex were not laying very often, and he wanted them for pets rather than eggs, I let him have those two. However I also let him have one of the welsummers as I thought that only one was laying (one lot of eggs are spotty and one lot are plain, the spotty one being the most prolific)
So I let him have the welsummer with the non existant comb and kept the one with a nice red floppy comb, obviously thinking that this was the better layer.
Well the one I kept has layed today, and the egg is plain brown with no spots!!!!! Have I given the wrong chicken away
Or do the markings vary on each lay??
what would be the chances of a chicken with no comb to speak of, laying about 3/4 times a week…. and one with a big red comb, only laying every 2 weeks???
Sorry for the waffle, cookies if you got to the end
Hi,
Have just come across this site,I have 4 Bluelelles(Rhode Island/Maran hybrid really!) and they are about 18 months now.One is well into her first moult,new feathers coming through but this afternoon the other 3 wont stop pecking her.She is bleeding so I have separated her but she is pecking herself now where her wound is.Is there anything I can out on her to stop this ie a horrible taste to stop it continuing?
thanks
Suzanne
We are in no hurry – I just didn’t know how long after starting laying mash should we look for eggs?! I guess being the chickens look so big it’s hard not to think they’re ready. LOL I think my husband is in a bigger hurry than I am.
I love this website – this is great to be able to have someplace to go and keep up with people who offer advice and have experience in the areas others may not have yet (or just have no clue).
Nancy & Bill aka Ricky rooster’s human parents
Hi, brilliant site, you have been a source of inspiration many times!! I have another question though; my chickens (6 suffolk whites, 2 rhode islands and 5 warrens)have stopped laying suddenly. the warrens are about 6 months old, whilst the others are about 10 months old, and they were laying brilliantly, but they all stopped together about 4 weeks ago. they are not off their food, are well fed and very happy, sociable etc, they are not laying elsewhere, I have checked many times, what could be the problem? secondly, we have one rhode island cockerel in with them, and he has stopped crowing, I think about the same time, could this be related or is he just getting lazy? the chickens get a balalnced diet of corn, layers pellets, household scraps, bread rice pasta etc, which all gets devoured with gusto. thanks for any response.
Hiya Fn thanks the response, mine just love the rice as well, I always give It to them as treat.
Hi everyone, I just have to Inform you all that Daisy has finally laid her very first egg and everyone In the family Is so happy. Thanks again to everyone for all the advice and support.
2 months ago i got my self 40 point of lay hens. they were 19 weeks old when i got them so they r coming up to 30 weeks old. today i got 2 eggs some days i might get 3 can u please tell me when the other 37 will start laying? i give them greens,corn and growing pellets and laying pellets still no luck. they have got a 30 meter by 15 meter run with 3 sheds. any advice wood be greatfull thanks roy.
Hi All,I have a question if anyone could answer it please,my dad has 2 long island reds,but the eggs they lay have soft shells what could he give the chickens so they lay hard shells on the eggs.cos i have no idea!,hope someone could help pls.
Hi, We have just got our first chickens!! After spending weeks reading up on what to do and what to do, another two weeks building what has turned out to be a huge house and run we finally got our girls last Saturday. It is Friday now and we have already had 6 eggs. They were all at the point of lay when we got them. We have an Amber Star called Star, a golden line called Izzi, and two french morans – think thats how you spell it – called Aubi and Wizzy. They are fab. All very friendly and love a cuddle. Star has laid one egg every 26 – 30 hours, Aubi has laid one and Izzy has also laid one. We are so happy to have them. Stars first egg had a double yolk which the children found soooo exciting. This site is fab. I have picked up so much info just reading what others have put. I dont realy have a question for you I just wanted to let you know how much we are loving having our girls and reading your site. Thanks X
my hens are 16 weeks old when should l get eggs
Hi Teresa, I was also really eager for my chickens to lay eggs but yours are just to young to lay at the moment. Wait until they are about 24 weeks old.
Hi everyone … I am so excited – I can’t believe it. My husband came in the house just now and said he found 2 eggs. Sure enough I looked under our back deck … and there are 2 eggs … one smaller than the other and they are not together. Does that mean 2 chickens are laying or just one?
My husband wouldn’t have even noticed or checked under the deck but when my husband went outside – Ricky bowed up at him and he couldn’t figure out why the attitude – then my husband started looking under the deck where Ricky came out from and … SURPRISE!
The chickens like it under the deck and out of the hot sun. They have nesting boxes – but haven’t been in there much.
Yesturday afternoon I was laying out in the sun and I heard the chickens making strange noises and they were under the deck. I wonder if they were discussing the new additions?!
Wow – they are 5 months old … are they a little young? Is the rooster protective of the eggs? Any advice would be helpful.
My husband needs to clip their wings because they fly out of the pen. Maybe this will help keep them in the pen and near the nesting boxes?!
I just had to share the good and exciting news!
Thank you for all your support and encouragement. I will keep you all posted!
We have 3 eggs today!!!! Should I leave them alone? How long can they be outside and be “ok” to eat? I just want to make sure we’re doing the right things.
Thanks!!!!
Hi!
We have 4 Plymouth Barred Rock chickens that are 21 weeks old. We found our first egg yesterday. We have added oyster shell and egg laying mash to their diet. One of them laid it on the floor of the henhouse even though there are nesting boxes in there!? We added some fake eggs into the boxes. There were no eggs today. Does anyone know when the next eggs should be coming? It is August here and the peak of summer in Washington. Thanks so much! Ami
Hi Pippa
Apologies that I have taken so long to get back to you.
Our hens slept in the nesting box before they started laying so I blocked it off until they were about six months old and likely to start laying. Then I filled it with tempting nests and china eggs.
Hi Sarah
The markings on eggs can vary from day to day. Sometimes Carol lays plain brown eggs and sometimes speckled ones.
I have never found that the size of the comb equates to egg laying ability!
Hi Suzanne
I can’t think of anything that you could put on her to stop the pecking. A little Savlon rubbed into the pecked area may make her feel better though.
Hi Ricky rooster & flock
The hens will start laying when they are ready. The layers pellets don’t make them lay they are designed to give them the nutrients that they need when they are laying.
Fingers crossed that you won’t have to wait too long!
Hi Rick
Sometimes hens stop laying for a bit for no apparent reason. Egg laying does fall off a bit as the summer progresses. Personally I would add a distraction to the run, such as a cabbage hung from a string or a football. Boredom can be a real problem amongst chickens. Also have you wormed them recently and treated them for mites? This can have a severe effect on laying.
Hi Lee
Great news that Daisy has laid her first egg!
Hi Roy Fagan
Some of the hens are probably a bit younger than the others. Do their combs look red – if the are still pink they are just not mature enough to lay. A delouse and worming could buck them up a bit if they look ready to lay.
I’d be interested to hear what happens.
Hi Tanya
Your dad need to feed his hens layers pellets and also give them a handful of oyster shell once a week.
Hi Tay, Jay & Zay
So pleased that you are finding the site useful and have discovered what fun it can be to keep chickens. Thanks for leaving a comment, much appreciated.
Hi Teresa
Lee is right don’t expect eggs until at least 24 weeks.
Thanks Lee.
Hi Ricky rooster & flock
This is exciting news!
I pick up eggs on the day that they are laid. I always keep china eggs in the nesting box so the hens don’t think that I’m stealing the lot. Eggs can go off quite quickly in the hot sun. If you don’t know how fresh the eggs are why not try doing this trick with a bucket of water http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=664
Hi Ami
Initially egg laying can be a bit erratic until the hens settle into a rhythm. They will probably start to lay less around October time when the days are noticeably shorter.
Thanks so much for responding quickly!!
Ami
Hi Fn, all three of our hens, Linda, Daisy and Shiela have just laid but despite having three wonderful nesting boxes they all seem to be using the same one, why Is this and will this change?.
Hi,
I’m a bit of a newbie to chickens. I decided to transform a triple dog kennel that had only ever been used to hang washing in, into a chicken house. They’ve got lots of ventilation and I can close the shuttered openings and sides whenever necessary, i.e. at night or when is crashing down with rain.
I’ve got a Bluebell, a Sussex Star and 2 Black Rocks. Bluebell (that’s her name too) is laying about 3 eggs a week, Star has laid one egg but the Black Rocks haven’t laid yet. Bluebell and Star are 25 weeks and the Black Rocks 21 weeks. Guess I’ll have to be patient for their eggs!!
I’m using Aubiose for the nesting box/baskets and wood chips for the floor, but that’s a bit costly and am looking for somewhere to get wood shavings from as the baled kind bought at agricultural shops is a bit expensive.
Does anyone have any suggestions. Can you also answer some questions for me please?
1. How often do you change the floor shavings, or do you just keep adding to it and do a complete clean out every couple of months?
2. What is mash???? I’m giving mine organic layer pellets as I want organic eggs. I also give them some organic mixed corn in the morning.
3. When putting cider vinegar in their drinking water, how much do I put in a litre of water?
Sorry about all the questions but I’m trying hard not to do anything wrong that might harm my hens.
2.
p.s. I love your website and forum. Brilliant!
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!
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
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
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 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?
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.
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
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 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 had an older barred rock hen die this morning. Not sure what was wrong with her. Comb was still red, she was a little sluggish last night, but was walking around. No other hens displaying any sluggishness or acting the least bit sick. She was around 3 yrs. Any clue?
How soon after a pullet starts laying will she attract the attentions of the rooster? I have a few pullets laying now and the older rooster seems to want nothing to do with them. He only pays attention to the group of older hens. Also introduced some older Wyandottes last week and he shows no interest in them either. I have a couple young roosters too, but they don’t seem interested in any of the hens.
I’m officially a chicken addict now. Up to 70 birds and picking up a dozen Barnevelder eggs to hatch this weekend. I have:
15 Barred Rock hens, 1 Rooster
11 Buff Orpington pullets, 1 Rooster
12 Black Austrolorp pullets
3 Rhode Island Red hens
3 Barnevelder hens
5 Silver Laced Wyandotte hens
5 Golden Laced Wyandotte hens
5 White Rock pullets
2 Ameracaunas pullets
2 Crossbred pullets
5 Crossbred cockerels
Currently getting around 5 dozen eggs a week. Been selling them fairly quick. Plan to start hatching some chicks to sell as well.
It sounds like you have a great assortment of chickens, Travis. I wish I had the room and money for that many birds! Does anyone know if it is all right to give 7 month old bantam pullets and a bantam cockerel mashed-up regular size hen pellets to them?
Hi R-hawk
I have no idea what ails your mother’s hen. It sounds to me as if she’s moulting – this happens towards the end of summer with some hens. She will stop laying during the process.
Sometimes you will find that you have a hen that doesn’t lay much in a flock and causes you concern.
This could be the hen that keeps the rest laying and feeling good. Hens are socially complex, they need a hen at the bottom of the pecking order.
Hello Nicola
You can pick up china eggs quite easily on the internet if not at your feed supplier.
Unless you have bought Rolls Royce laying breeds (such as our Maran, Carol, who at three years old still lays an egg a day, you will find that you have hens who follow the sun. As the days get shorter they will be less inclined to lay.
If the weather gets very hot, very cold, stormy, frosty or anything out of the ordinary they will not lay. If you introduce new stock this will affect laying patterns too. Between October and January you will be lucky to get an egg as they rest when the weather gets colder and the days shorter.
If you provide heat and artificial light they will lay for longer but they will die younger.
Hi Ben
I reckon that it’s best to introduce two new hens or a pair when you want to increase your flock. There is always bullying – it goes with the territory. If there are two, they always have a friend.
There are things that you can do to avert this scenario a bit.
Hang a cabbage in your run, high enough so hat the hens have to jump to reach it.
Put football in the run.
“I’m standiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing on it, now I’m not.â€
They love this challenge.
Distract the flock. They get bored. When they’re bored feather pecking, bullying and the rest bubble up fast.
Hi Travis
Great to hear about your flock! Brilliant that you are selling your eggs.
Good idea to raise chicks to sell as stock.
Happy chicks, contented pullets, good sales. You can’t lose.
WOO-HOOOOO! Today I got my first egg from My Old English! It is quite small and is a creamy-white.I am hoping that when my Golden Laced Cochin begins laying she lays fertilised eggs as the the cockerel does mate with her…
fn thanks for your advice. Harmony is getting better and quicker than expected before I have even actioned your tips. Solo, the new hen laid an egg yesterday and also today, so I’m delighted. I have another question and excuse me if this has already been answered in one of the previous threads. Is it necessary to have a rooster in the flock to initiate egg laying, or is solo enough and or it’s just a case of patience?
Great website, i am learning so much. i have 7 hens and one rooster, all about 5 months old. one of the buff orps, laid 1 egg about 3 weeks ago but that was it. she laid it on the ground in the coop. i am trying to be patient. one question i have is how often do i feed them. they are let out in the morning in the corral with our horse and femail goat, they all get along fine. i bring them in at night and feed them laying feed. is that enough?? I give them scraps during the day also. thank you for your help.
Hello R-Hawk
The first egg is so exciting!
It will be brilliant if you can raise your own stock from your very own eggs. Good luck.
Hi Ban
A hen will lay eggs without a rooster. But you need a rooster to fertilise the eggs, if you want to hatch a clutch of chicks.
Solo will lay eggs when she is ready. It just needs patience.
Hi Mo
We have a feeder permanently in the hen house (out of the rain) and out of the reach of rats at night when the hen house door is closed. Some hens feed little and often others feed at more regular intervals. None of our hens are fat.
We also feed wild bird seed in the morning just a big handful for the entire flock (4 bantams, 1 Maran and the Guinea fowl couple). Probably every other day they have a small saucepan of kitchen vegetable scraps. Every other week they have a bucket of freshly cut grass.
I hope that this helps.
fn thanks for your response about not needing roosters to encourage laying. The question referred to the other 2 hens and not solo, as she is laying every day, so no problems there. I am not expecting the other 2 to lay quite yet because they are still too young to lay. As it is going into Autumn now, I dont expect eggs until after 21 Dec.
Hello
We have 8 chickens, they are all diffrent breeds and they are about 22 weeks old and they haven’t layed any eggs. Now its getting darker are we likely to see any eggs before christmas? We feed them on layers pellets and they are free range.
Hi Ban
I think that you are right. You probably won’t get eggs from the two hens until after Christmas.
Hello George
Your hens are still a bit too young to be laying so, like Ban, I reckon you will see the first eggs in January. Fingers crossed!
My chickens are about 30 weeks old…completely free range except at night they are locked in a hen house with nesting boxes filled with hay. They have perches in the main hen house which has a pull out drawer underneath which I line with newspaper…bizarrly I check the content before deciding which page to put upwards!!!! There are 4 chickens but it now turns out that 2 of them are cocks. No sign of eggs anywhere . Fed on diet of corn pellets veg scraps and oyster shell…available all day but not at night…will mine be January layers as well?
Thank you so much for your help…wonderful site
I don’t know how old my chickens are, i think just over a year, but they are battery rescue hens.
Up until now, they have been laying anywhere from 11 to 8 eggs a day (i have 11 girls) now all of a sudden, im lucky if i get 4, and today i have only gotten 2 !!
Is this normal, or might there be something wrong with my girls ??
They seem fine, and still attack me whenever i go in to steal their eggs…:-)
They are bedded in sawdust, and a lovely deep layer in their nesting box
hi elisabeth i keep about 100 rescued battery hens each year
hi elisebath ususly when buying hens from battery they have had 1 lay and are about16 month old for the first 2 or 3 week you will get eggs after that they go into malt keep them locked up in a shed for 6 weeks with plenty of fresh water theyre better on rough corn till you start getting eggs again then give them 2 different feeders 1 with 20 percent mash the other 80 percent wheat watch them lay again
hellooo
i have just recently bought a hen and she is not laying im not sure how old she is im feeding her laying pellets
can any1 help me >>???
regarding to the comment above i recently found out my hen is a large light sussex but im still not sure how old she is. wot is the age for point of lay for these.
can any 1 help>>?.
Hi Louisa
Egg laying in young hens depends so much on the time that they were born. With the shorter days I suspect that your hens have just missed the boat laying wise for this year and will spring into action a couple of week after the days start to get longer (December21st).
I had the same problem when we bought our first POL pullets one August – zilch until January and it was February/March for the Pekins!
Hello Elisabeth
I’ve heard about this happening to ex battery hens. They lay and then they suddenly go off lay for no apparent reason. I reckon that it’s all part of the process of settling in and preparing for the winter rest.
They will lay again, given a bit of time and patience.
Hi Stuart
Thanks for your input.
Locking them in a shed seems a bit extreme! ? The hens will settle into their new environment without this, it just takes more time.
Hello Scott
Light Sussex hens are beautiful birds.
Most of our hens have gone off lay as the days are getting shorter now in the UK.
POL so much depends on the breed and the month that the hen hatched. A chick that arrives at the end of April may not lay her first egg until the following January. A November chick might start laying as early as April – lighter longer days when she is maturing.
If you live in the northern hemisphere, your hen will probably start laying in January if she is not laying now.
hello
thanxs for that and i live in engalnd/bristol
is there any way to tell the age of the hen on a estimate>>?
wht is the bestfood to feed her as at the minute im only feeding her on laying pellets can u recomend any thing else that will produce me the best eggs>>?
she is a lovely hen as a pet but not used to me yet so is running wen ever i go in her run bust is getting more braver
hellooo
just keeping u ap dated my light sussex hen has layed me 2 eggs now since i last commented
and dey taste really nice thnahxz for da info u gave me
x
Hello Scott
On telling the age of a hen, I don’t really know. S always says look at the legs and claws. They get thicker and more gnarled as they get older.
I reckon that you are feeding your Light Sussex well. Layers pellets are good – loads of nutrients and vitamins for hens. We supplement layers pellets with a small handful of wild bird seed in the morning – between a flock of 7 fowl. This distracts them as I fill up the water fountains and top up the food. We also give them chopped vegetable scraps and greens from the garden such as dandelion leaves. Just a little.
Great that your LS has started to lay for you. She must be a young bird.
helloo
how much laying pellets would u rekamend to feed her a day as at the min im just filling fer feed bowl up and leaving it till its all gone den re filling it.
Hello Scott
We use a feed hopper for our layers pellets. I have never seen an overweight hen in our flock – They just take as much as they need. Have you ever seen an overweight hen?
The feed hopper is good for 2 reasons – on demand food and if something goes wrong – such as the rare but real circumstance that you cannot feed your chucks – bad flu, car crash – your chickens have supplies. I top the hopper up every other day or so and it has about five day’s supplies. Similarly water fountains. Ours is refreshed each day but has water for a week if things go wrong.
If you are the only person tending the flock always make provisions for several days ahead just in case. Never just feed/water for the day.
Hi, I have 4 hens, a light sussex (Suzie) a magpie (Maggie) and two un-named as yet light ambers. One amber and Maggie look around the same age, the other two a little younger although all purchased at the same time from one breeder. I am only collected one egg a day, i think from the amber but Maggie is definately laying (my father in law informs me!) but no egg in the box… I have looked in the garden but can not find any evidence of a nest… any idea’s as to where she’s laying and why she wont lay in the box (there’s are 3 so plenty of room for her to lay) it just seems such a shame if they are going to waste outside…???
P.S I am an absolute beginner so all suggestions welcome!!
hi emma i have about 100 hens including 6 light sussex your hens need at least a couple of week to settle in lock them up in a shed for 2 week with plenty of layers pellets or layers mash then let them out they will start laying but dont forget the dark nights and cold weather wont help
i put a comment in on the 13th sept and obviously someone didnt agree ok leave your ex battery hens outside through the winter and watch how many die they need locking in a shed for a couple of month to keep warm if theyre not laying put them on wheat and barley.barley warms them up.if they are laying 20 percent pellets 80 percent wheat if you feed on pellets only its expensive and they wont lay any more eggs.trust me about battery hens i always keep 100plus for the last 10 years
Hello everyone! I have not been on in a long time,but I am finally going to comment again!I have a new addition to my coop- she is a regular sized Polish Top Hatter. She is quite pretty. Unfortunatley she has not laid any of her white eggs since I got her becasue she is still adjusting to the coop. Now both my Golden Cochin and My Old English Game are laying eggs. I get a brown and a cream-white egg every day. After looking at Wikipedia, I discovered that Old English Game hens lay 2 eggs a week at most. My little Old English bantam must be very happy becasue she lays 7 a week!
Thanks Stuart, I’ve had the hens for about 3 months though, i got them from a breeder when they were about 4 months old so they have had plenty of time to settle in!
Today however, i collected my usual brown egg, let the chucks out for their usual mash mix, then this afternoon I returned them to their pen and thought i would check the nesting box’s just in case… low and behold there was a medium sized white egg :0) needless to say I am very happy with my little lady!
my chickens stopped laying a few weeks ago and i dont know why,can anyone help?
hi emma you didnt say what breed they were warrens or hybreds will lay from 21 week old sussex from 26 week most other breeds 26 week to 30 week all laying depends on the light and the weather
serena all chickens stop laying they cant lay forever if they are young birds they will stop and start till warm weather comes back usualy march time
thanks for the reply was getting a little worried,thought may b they were unhappy,they have a lovely hen house and have the run of our big garden during the day.got them in the summer when they were at pol,and they have been laying every day up until a few weeks ago.
Hi everyone
have just 2 young Marans at what age do they start laying I realise that time of year and weather afect this. they are approx 18 weeks
marans at least 25 week old but although pullets through the winter you may only get 3 or 4 eggs a week
Thanks for the info Suart 3 or 4 eggs will do just fine
Hi John
I reckon that it will be January before you see an egg. Our Maran hatched Aril 23 and we got our first egg January the next year.
Hi Stuart
Thanks so smuch for giving advice. It would be great if I’m proved wrong and that John gets a few eggs over the winter!!
i love chickens same as everyone else on this page.but i keep my hens for selling eggs .its a great hobby keeping hens but why noy make a few quid while still enjoying it.the problem with buying battery hens 2 or 3 years on they start dropping dead cause theyve layed them selfs to death.warrens or white leghorn are obviously the best layers 340 eggs in the first year.thats if you buy point of lay i pay 5 pound each for them. and only 1 pound for battery hens.the young warrens ive got now are 8 month old ive 30 i get on average 25 eggs off them a day fed on 50 percent wheat 50 percent layers pellets.if you can afford it your always better buying pullets
I’m so glad I found this site.
We have 4 hens, though I haven’t a clue to their breed. We hatched “our ladies” from eggs last April. I have a few questions about caring for them and about eggs.
I was wondering if their coop is too small. It’s a triangle shape design, 8ft long and 5 feet wide, there are two nesting boxes inside their little home elevated to 2-3ft above the ground and 3 areas for them to perch.
Secondly, what is the best material to use for their nesting box? They prefer to roost in this area.
A few days ago 1 or 2 of the hens began to lay. We have only had two eggs in 4 days…may not be a lot but we were egg-cited. Should I be concern that my sister’s hen (just one hen) from the same hatched eggs began to lay weeks ago and lays 1-2 eggs a day? I think I’m doing a pretty good job in caring for ours, but I’m concerned. We live is South Cali, and the weather just now began to cool down.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Elizabeth C.
elizabeth your hen house is big enough for 20 hens dont worry about that.nest boxes straw or hay is better.for the floor fine sawdust as it is much easier to scrape droppings up.if your hens are just starting to lay the cold weather and early dark nights will knock them off a bit but even through winter you should still get 3 or 4 eggs a week off each bird providing they are only young.
I have just found this site and am now wondering if we have made a mistake in leaving it till now to get hens. Our henhouse is arriving tomorrow and we were hoping to buy a couple this week (if we can). From reading this site I realize we wontget any eggs till the new year which is fine as it will give us time to get used to our new friends. Are we likely to have any additional problems getting them so late in the year?
every ones probably sick of seeing my name on this site.but the only reason i give so many replys is because i have quiet a lot of experience with most of the problems sandra if your buying young hens now if theyve been fully vacinated they will go through winter like ducks on water.give them good pellets and they will lay
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.
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.
if you buy your pullets from a good source they will already be vacinated
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?
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
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 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
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 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
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?
Hi Sandra
Our hens have vegetable scraps (cooked and raw) mixed with bran as a treat. We feed them layers pellets and some corn in the mornings.
It’s illegal to feed your chickens meat. If they can’t free range it’s important that they have access to food that has the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Hi Stuart
Thanks for all your advice. Much appreciated.
Hello Ann
That was a soft shelled egg that you found. There is nothing wrong.
Chickens naturally stop laying eggs as the days get shorter and colder. They will start to lay again after the shortest day (December 21st in the northern hemisphere) so expect eggs to start coming again in January.
Hello,
Thank you for the quick answer! I forgot to tell you that I have a light on in the chicken coop, I have 2 bannies that are laying every other day, shouldn’t the leghorn still lay an egg? Since she is getting enough light.
by the way thanks for the help!
Hello Ann
Like us, all chickens are slightly different even within breed. Leghorns should be good layers, specifically if you provide artificial light.
However, even in the height of chicken laying (around Easter time) there are loads of factors that can put a hen of lay for a bit. Such as a sudden change in the weather or a tiff in the hen house.
My good friend, The Chicken lady, advised me against raising Leghorns.
”They are a continental breed. And very emotional.”
She advised to raise a steadier breed (White Sussex). Now I am beginning to see why!
Your Leghorn just might want to keep warm rather than lay eggs for you. It has started to get a bit chilly.
BTW we are planning to raise a brood of Leghorns in the Spring. We don’t provide extra lighting in the winter, as we reckon that the hens are happier with a few months rest. We do miss the eggs though.
white leghorn is still regarded as the best laying hen in the world.go to america for a holiday buy some eggs from a shop there all white it is still usa best egg producer.about providing extra light personally i dont.let your pullets lay naturally through the year then the second lay the year after will be better than the first and much bigger eggs.about being illegal to feed on meat a lot of meal you buy as fish meal in it.as ive said before if your hens are in the molt open a tin of dog food thats great protein. obviously you must give them other food.any scraps meat bread pasta all is good for them plus a hand full of pellets and a hand full of wheat
ive got 18 pullets in a shed they have access to a large area of grass 24 hours a day as with all my hens i feed them in the afternoon then they go in the sheds whenever they wont.i dont go back and lock them up at night as i am working.i feed the 18 pullets 4 cup full of pellets when theyve ate them then 4 cup full of wheat then they forage in the grass.for the past 2 week i get 17 or 18 eggs a day off them and no artificial lighting.with my other 100 older hens half a bucket of pellets when theyve gone 3 buckets of wheat.then also all the scraps and i mean any scraps.
Thank you very much for all the information. It helps out alot. It is nice to have some where to get some information, from people who know what they are doing. Very much appreciated! Thanks again.
ann you should be in bed at this time of night
Where can one buy anti worming medication without the expense of summoning a vet?
And what is the recommended space allowance for smaller (Bantam) and larger (Auracana) breeds?
Thank you
-Brigitte
brigitte look in yellow pages any poultry vet sells it.also any good animal feed store will most definitly sell it.read instructions but dilute it a bit stronger than it recommends. then keep your drinker inside till theyve drank it all.your second question depends how many hens you have.1 square metre per any hen is ample.
Hi Brigitte
Generally you can buy wormer from the ordinary vet, they might have to order it for you.
I allow the maximum space for each chicken. Our run is 30′x 6′ for seven birds (three full sized birds and four bantams). The max I’d like in the space is ten or twelve at a pinch. They will happily live in a smaller space but I like them to be able to fly in the run.
Hi Heather
The birds shouldn’t need a heat lamp unless you live somewhere very cold indeed.
They are still too young to lay.
fn i dont no were you live but in england its very cold everywere.heather if you have a heat lamp use it.as for laying if your hens are hybreds they will start laying at 19 or 20 week old especially if you have heat on.let me no what your pullets are i will tell you when they should lay.
My Buckeyes are five months old now. Started with 25 and have 18 at this time. At least five roosters. Mine are not pets and I look forward to eggs. They live in an unheated coop outside and are free range during the day. From what I read they won’t lay until six or more months old. These are multi-use birds and I plan to add Plymouth Bar Rock in the Spring. I’ve been feeding a diet of Purina Start and Grow medicated and they are off their feed. Seem to prefer the scratch (wheat and corn) I throw out for a treat. I need to cull the roosters, right? Any input except cynical or smart aleck is welcome. I appreciate you.
Hi, i live in pa. My family and i got our first chickens this past May. we have…
2 black sex links ( one of which is giving us eggs about every other day.)
1 austrolorp
1 araucana
4 bantams ( 3 of which are roosters)
and 3 barred rocks.
next spring we are planning on getting a few more chicks. we want to try some different breeds that are efficient layers and also good pets. do you have any suggestions on what breeds to get?
thanks, Matt from the u.s.a.
matt the white leghorn is no doubt the best laying hen in the world and its american bred.but english people prefere a brown egg i dont no why but they do.light sussex is one of the tamest breeds i have 6 .but on the other hand i have 18 warrens origanly crossed from whiteleghorn they are kept seperate from my other hens and they are actually to tame. they even sit on my shoulder.theyre 9 month old i also dont have artifisully lighting and they still lay between 16 and 18 eggs every day with out fail.
jean b as i wrote a few week ago.hens love wheat but its not enough for them.what i do with my 18 pullets is.in a morning there food hoper is empty.i put about one and half kilo of layers pellets in they go mad at them while theyre eating them i go and feed the other 100 or so older hens after about 1 hour i go back and put 1 kilo of wheat in when thats gone there crops are nearly full then they go out on the grass and peck about and im getting 16 to 18 eggs a day and in england its very very cold.also the trouble with breeding its unfortunate that you have to cull your cockerals but you must.i just put my thumb at the back of its neck press hard and pull back.its quick.im afraid these are the things you must do.
Hi Stu,
I’m in Western NC, USA, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and have been getting all my chicken education via the internet and the local feed and seed store. The people at the feed and seed keep telling me to keep them on the Purina Start & Grow but that doesn’t feel right to me. You mentioned “layer pellets”. I probably can’t get the brand name you use due to geography but can you tell me what’s in them so I can get a similar product here across the pond. One thing I’ve learned about chickens is that everybody has a different opinion. I’ve been collecting an opinion to achieve a consensus. sort of like chicken politics.
Anyway, I appreciate your site. On one I was referred to as a fruit and on another a very unfriendly type told me I didn’t have any sense. Hmmmmm. Wonder if that’s a consensus. Thanks again Stuart. 
In minnesota and wisconsin winters, do 6 month old hens continue to lay an average of one a day or do they reduce production do to cold and less sunlight?
Our’s just started laying eggs two weeks ago. We have 9 hens and 4 roosters and are presently getting 3 to 4 eggs a day.
Stuart,
Thanks alot we will defenitly consider those breeds when we choose some new chicks next spring. we were already considering getting the white leg horn but we will try those other breeds.
Thanks again for the advice. good luck with your chickens.
Matt
Hello Stuart
The Cottage Smallholder lives in the UK. East Anglia, so relatively warm.
I have no idea where you live in the UK as we have no poultry vets around here and no chicks /young birds are vaccinated when you buy them. Do you live in an area that has had reportable disease? I‘m curious. Generally chickens are not treated by local vets around here so a search on Yellow Pages draws a blank.
Thank you so much for your help with questions. Much appreciated.
BTW how much do you charge for a box of 6 fertilised eggs from your Warrens? 18 hens and 16-18 eggs a day with no artificial light? These wonder hens would be appreciated here!
Hi Jean B
Our hens love the treat food (mixed wild bird seed) that I scatter in the morning. But Stuart is right they need grower or (later) layers pellets. These will be available in your country. They have all the nutrition that your flock needs. Look on the internet for feed suppliers and also advertise (again your vet’s boards etc). There may be other chicken keepers locally and you can buy feed cooperatively- much cheaper and greener.
Re culling you cockerels. Advertise at your vet/feed store/ local shop for a swap. If you offer X cockerels as a swap – take them but give me back half of them prepared for the table – I bet you will be inundated with replies. We don’t shoot but hang and dress game for a 50/50 swap. It works well. We have a good supply of game and the hunters don’t have the bother of preparing the carcasses. Think around the box!
Really pleased that you are enjoying my site. You have loads of sense! You are looking around for advice and that’s what it’s all about but I would recommend that you buy a good chicken rearing book. Great to refer to when everyone is asleep! As you say every one who keeps chickens has different ideas.
Hi Matt
You need to find a good laying breed and a breeding line that is good as well.
Don’t rush in. My best advice is to take an afternoon researching this in the spring. Just buying ‘A good breed’ will not necessarily give you good layers. Out of the 4 hens with ‘broody tendency’ we have discovered that only one has this nature. Chickens are far more complex than we humans think.
Hello Mora and Emma
Shorter colder days decrease egg laying. When your hens are over two years old they will probably not lay during this short period. You can put a light in the hen house. This will force them to lay as the chickens will think that it’s summer and start layinng again.
If you do this their lives will be signifisntly shorter as yours would be if you worked seven days a week 365 days a year.
I reckon that the mid winter break (October to January is their ‘weekend’). So we don’t go down this route but do miss the eggs!
fn i bought 23 warrens on 5th june they were 19 week old.2 week later i was getting 10 or 11 eggs a day.then within 1 month 5 suddenly died in the nest boxes probably egg bound but im not certain.then till the end of september i was getting roughly 10 eggs a day.now in the last month every day a gaurantee 16 eggs a day.ive just in the last hour come from my allotment and ive got 18 eggs just from my 18 pullets.as for fertile eggs i dont keep any cockrils.when i get 30 hens die i then buy 30 pullets to replace them.
fn one of my friends bought 12 warrens from the same place as me 5 pound each he bought them in march they had just started laying hes still getting 10 eggs a day.by the way i live in rotherham south yorkshireand its freezing and raining.as i said a dont breed my own.
Thanks everyone for your input. I appreciate it. I had to drive a bit farther to find the Purina Layena for pullets but I got 50#. That should keep them pecking for awhile. I need to look up East Anglia in the Atlas since I don’t know where it is. I’m one of those folks who has to see pictures in my head in order to wrap my brain around a subject, person or place. Here in the U.S. there seems to be a chicken craze in the works. Folks you wouldn’t suspect are closet chicken owners. I use mine as a teachng tool as well as a source of entertainment. I take foster children and many are city kids who think computer games are a pet. I don’t have TV and screen time is limited for the kids (and me). Anyhoo, thanks again. I’m sure I’ll have bunches of questions in the future.
Hi Stuart, I live in southern Michigan Its been getting in the mid 30s here at night, so i have been keeping the heat lamp on, so It is ok to have it on all night? Its pluged in outside, Thats why I havent added a timer. I have full bred 1 rhode Island red, 1 Buff Brahams and 1 buff orphington and 1 buff orphington rooster. I read they will start to lay 18-20 weeks. They are now 20 weeks.They still havnt laid an egg. I have heard some people around here said their chickens will lay all winter? We just have a coop and a run for them should we make some laying boxes for them. We live in town and just have a small coop for them with some straw in it. Thanks for all your help, It is very appreciative. Heather
Hello Heather
It is winter and cold. Good idea to keep a heat lamp on in your neck of the woods. It is winter so these expected laying dates are crazy. I have been looking after a range of hens (young and old) for friends recently. There were very few eggs – perhaps 2 in 3 weeks!
When they days start to get longer, after December 21st, expect the possibility of an egg. Your hens are far too young too lay at 20 weeks in the winter. If they were 20 weeks in the summer it’s a totally different story. Although I always reckon on a hen not laying before six – seven months to avoid disappointment. If they mature to this age during the winter months I would definitely extend my expectations and not expect an egg until January or February.
Sometimes breeders can be a bit misleading.
Allways provide laying/nesting boxes. These encourage hens to lay. Set them in a dark place and make them inviting and comfortable.
Thank you for leaving a comment on my site. All comments add to the knowledge base for everyone to share.
hi heather its same here in england very cold.wear i keep my hens 120 or 130 theres no electric as there in a field away from houses so the only real way i can have lighting or heating is with a generator or solar panel.but the problem is every so often we have kids breaking in and killing the hens so its not a good idea for us to have any form of lighting.its not so much the cold that stops the hens from laying its the short hours of light were getting.100 of my hybreds are just coming into there second and third lay i get the same problem every year september october november 15 or 20 eggs a day but same as fn said after 21st december they start again then shoulb be 70 or 80 days. but like most breeds with the exeption of warrens 25 to 30 week before they start laying HAPPY CLUCKING WHAT A FANTASTIC SITE ALL THANKS TO FN.
a friend of mine hes 64 years old and he as a small piece of land near me.he bought 2 aylesbury f27s hybred ducks for is grandaughter last november. he bought them as they were just starting there second lay and i swear to god even to this morning eccept for a one week break he gets 2 eggs every single day with out fail.
We have 2 Light Sussex and 4 Warrens. They are in their first year. They reward me with 3/5 eggs a day, even in November. No artificial light but lots of fresh veg, corn as a treat. I would quite understand if the needed a rest!
I have one silkie who is a rather old lady – given to me as a pet as she was being picked on by a friend’s other chickens, and a rather lovely looking Brown Leghorn. I brought her at a rather young age back in July time and as of yet, she has not produced a single egg! They are both fed a diet of mixed organic corn, scraps and grit. Do you think I am doing some thing wrong? I’d be greatful for any advice offered… x
Hi Jane
Lucky you! I think that egg laying in November seems to depend on when the chicks were hatched and the breed. I think that we’ll think about raising some Warrens and Leghorns next year!
Hi Rachael
You are doing all the right things. Your Silkie is not a ‘laying breed’. Your Leghorn was probably just too young to mature before the days shortened.
Expect your Leghorn to start laying in January. After the shortest day (December 21st in the Northern Hemisphere), hens suddenly start to get into egg laying gear.
Hi all,, just found this website. my hens havent layed since the storms in August. They went into molt right after that and now it is the shorter days.I live in central florida so winter isnt very cold. We are complaining now at 40 degrees. I have learned alot from all the good information from all on this site. I have 19 hens and a rooster. all but 4 of the hens are americaunas, the other four are buff oglethorpes. the 4 are better layers and i got 1 or 2 a day from them all through it.I will get 5 white leghorns in february so i can have a nice variety. Does anyone have information on natural ways to deworm. I dont want to give my hens chemicals as i feed them laying pellets and they are free range. They go in the hen house at night. Thanks for any information and thanks for a very good website. Susie
hi susie first of all have you seen worms in there mess. if so you need to get some worming syrup either from your vets of from a animal feed store you put so much in there drinking water for a couple of week till its disapeared . if you dont it will spread to your flock and they will over a few months die.
Does anyone know, if the shorter day length has caused the birds to stop laying, can an immediate artificial light create the change, or did the light need to be introduced weeks ago when the natural daylight first began to reduce?
Following on from my post on 18th Nov, I thought I would stop by again and let you all know that Poppy (my Brown Leghorn) has done me proud and produced her first egg. It was there waiting for me this morning… I’m so pleased!
Thank you fn for replying to my post. It filled me with reassurance so thank you x
HI, I dont see anything wrong with their mess. it actually looks good. it is brown with a white top. none of the birds separate themselves from the flock as they do when they are ill. I’m beginning to think its just the long molting period as the other day i had 6 eggs. Of course it was too good to be true and its gone back to 2or 3. We have 12 hours of light in the winter so i dont think thats a problem. I think I will get some Leghorns around February as they are supposed to be the best egg layers here in the States. Just want to say again this is a terrific site and I will keep in touch. Susie from Central Florida USA….
beth this time of year in the uk its cold its dark its damp. putting artificial lighting in now would be a complete waste of time.feed your hens on a good quality food and loads of clean water and just be patient.
My chickens started laying!!!! Sunday and Monday, I found 1 egg each day. Dont know which one layed it, but was way excited to find one. They turned 22 weeks on the 21st.
Hi, does anyone have a natural remedy for worms. i dont want to feed my hens chemicals. My goats may be pregnant and i would like to use it for them. would appreciate any help. thanks. Susie…..
Hi Susie
Have you tried Vermex? http://www.verm-x.com
I use it as a preventitive. If a hen has a bad infestation of worms I think it best to use Flubenvet to get rid of them and then use the Verm-x regularly once you know the birds are worm free, to prevent reinfestation and to keep the gut healthy.
Celia
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
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 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
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?
if the carrots dont cure the worms at least they will have good eye site
Hi Fn Ive added to more girls to our flock, Buttercup and Bluebell.
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
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
1st today unfotunatly soft shell they have oyster shells plus whatever is in their mash is this normal with first eggs any advice welcome
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.
it dosnt matter what the weathers like rain cold or snow the weather wont stop your hens laying its the amount of day light they need 14 hours a day to produce an egg. unless of course if theyre pullets as i wrote a few week ago ive got 18 young hens that have been laying since july and im still getting 15 16 or 17 eggs a day never one day since july have i had less than 15 eggs.and its very cold in south yorkshire.
Fn, Daisys molting what should i do.
Hi Lee
There’s nothing that you can do except make sure that she has access to a warm hen house. Gradually she will replace the feathers that she has lost.
We have three hens that were born the end of July/ begining of August time frame. A RIR, a White Leghorn and a black hen (looks like a jersey giant). They are not free roaming as we really dont have enough to let them go like that so they are kept in a 8×12 pen w/ a 4×8 coop that is three ft off the ground (I did not know they needed laying boxes, so that is next).
But they are on the medicated chick feed – recomended from the local feed store until they start laying and about every other day they get scraps of bread and about once a week they get table scraps (usually left over corn cobs and veggies).
Both the breeder and the feed store said at thier age that we should start getting eggs around mid to end of December.
Here it is four days before Christmas and nothing yet! Am I just being impatient?
Thanks – we are new at this, but all seems to be going well so far.
I will get the number from the HAPPY HEN Farm where we buy all our yummy eggs from. Maybe she could give you some advice.We drive into the farm and ..well they are pushing out eggs like it’s going out of fashion! Ducks, Chickens. Geese and other feathery birds….OH! Forgot the best spuds! BEST EGGS IN THE WORLD! She needs more birds to keep up production so I reckon she could give you some sound advice!
Hello Ed S
Today was the shortest day so now we are stepping into the possibility of eggs.
The length of day will have immense repercussions regarding egg laying. Your hens start laying again in early January after their winter rest.
Don’t start worrying until your pullets are a good six months old. I can almost guarantee that they will be laying by Easter.
Hi Viv
I reckon that your egg supplier is using artificial light. Nothing wrong with this. It tricks the hens into thinking that it’s summer all year round and the hens don’t go off lay.
I prefer to let them rest if they want to in the darkest winter days. They live longer and have better lives I think.
Hello Well we are very pleased with our hens 2 and possibly 3 are now laying. The thing is that I have recently had a couple of eggs with blood in.Not very pleasant, does anyone know what causes this and are they safe to eat?
Thanks
Hi Sandra
The eggs with a spot of blood in are safe to eat. I usually whip out the blood spots with a teaspoon when they are in the frying pan.
As to the cause this is a good site for information about eggs (scroll down for information about blood spots).
I do hope that this is helpful.
Hi All, Well my hens have started laying again. On Christmas day I found 5 eggs in the boxes. It is up to 9 today. I have 19 hens and a rooster so I’m sure it will be up to about 15 or 16 in the next week or so. Thanks for all your help and good advice. Susie in Central Florida…
bit of a daft question-share chickens with neighbour, have 5 black rocks and 1 warren, all good layers, regularly at least 4 eggs aday even in latest cold dark weather. my neighbour now is interested in introducing a cockerel, but as a confirmed veggie this worries me as the eggs we collect will now be fertilised. obviously from reading previous comments many people happily have hens and cockerels-am I just being fussy? is there a ‘safe’ no of days for eating the eggs before cracking them open to an unwelocme surprise?
Hello Rhonda
If you collect your eggs every day you will not have a problem. An egg needs to be incubated before the cells start to divide to eventually produce a chick. Until then an egg is in suspended animation. That’s why you can buy fertilised eggs by post.
A cockerel means that you can produce your own chicks. As hens get older they lay less eggs so being able to produce your own chicks could be a boon in the future.
Rhonda, I have 24 hens – 11 mos. old – several breeds and the dark breeds are loosing the down below the vent; however, the white ones aren’t. I have looked for parisites and pecking and haven’t
observed either. Most are getting new pinfeathers
in the area. They are on Purina Crumbles (free choice), scratch in the evening and vegetable and bread scraps when I have them. They appear healthy otherwise. What is your educated guess?
Hi Pat
Your hens are moulting. They will not lay until they have stopped moulting. This happens every now and then. You just have to be patient.
i bought my chickens in late july early August when the 6 months came and past i was disapointed but i was leaving there light on 24/7 then a couple of days ago they started laying then a day later a nother one started to lay so i think that first hen had an affect on the second
Hello Brendon
If you leave the lights on 24/7 your hens will be tricked ino laying ealrlier but you are working these hen 24/7 so they will die earlier.
Would you like to work 24/7?
I was told to leave a light on in the coop so they could stay warm. Is this wrong? Should we be turning the light off?
Hello Ed S
A heat light can be a good idea if you live somewhere cold. If you could construct some sort of small screen so you could provide an area that’s not quite so bright for your hens to roost in a more restful light.
Alright our leg horn legged it’s first egg on Sunday or Monday, so far she has laid three – about every other day. Today when we went out we noticed one of the hens was not out, she was squatted in the corner of the coop and we when got home we had our first brown egg – she is a RIR. Now we need the JG to start laying also.
One thing I noticed is the brown egg was smaller then the white eggs from the leg horn. Is this normal?
Thanks
I have just bought 4 hens, they seem to be settling in and are comfortable in their nesting boxes at night. Can any one tell me how long roughly it will take for them to feel comfortable for laying. Is there ant tricks to it?
Hello EdS
Often the first eggs are smaller. As the hen gets older the eggs tend to get larger.
Hi Kevin
How old are the hens and what breed(s). This makes a huge difference. Every hen does not lay an egg every day.
If they are ‘layers’ they should be up and running by Easter. With a laying breed you should expect an egg a day. However if they are a breed such as a Silkie or Pekin, these are perfect for raising chicks but will only lay intermittently. They should be laying by Easter too but only say three or four eggs a week, if they are in their first year.
After two years old hen egg laying production goes down. After four years old it nosedives.
Fake eggs in the nesting box have made a difference for me. Thanks for the nudge, I must put them back in. If you take all the eggs every day this can be disheartening for hens but if you leave the ceramic eggs in the nest they tend to lay alongside these rather than in some outlandish place.
Hello Everyone,
I have 1 rooster and 2 hens. They Have been very comfty relaxed and have a whole yard full of seeds and green grass to run around in all day. They have been so happy and relaxed that one of my roosters and hen even started mating several several times. I figured that that the next egg will be furtile from that hen. But the other hen will not lay any eggs. It has been about a week and half since we have got them. The only change in their diet is that they have more greens and healthy grass like a chicken should have! Am i doing something wrong? Should i just be more patient? Since the 2 have been mating alot and the hen is starting to nest most of the day then i figured that i would get an egg soon. but what about the other?
O.K. This is my story. I built a chicken coop. My family want’s chickens for eggs. I saw a man selling chickens by an Asian Food Store. I bought 4 big white hens. I’m sure they were for food but, do you think I can get them to lay. I went to the feed store and got Laying Mesh and I’m doing the deep litter method. They have boxes and I’ve had them for one week. Please tell me I didn’t just buy meat chickens.
Hello Fiona,
This is our second year of chicken keeping. Our hens are given Diatom once a week, sprinkled on pasta or rice as a routine wormer. There are no signs of worms but wondered whether we should worm them this spring anyway. If so, which wormer would you recommend, as natural as possible, please?
Chicken Dillema!
One of my chickens has been having some nasty egg laying problems lately- she’s about two years old, and her laying has dropped off considerably, much of that due to the cold weather.
However, her eggs, when she does lay, are lumpy and extremely fragile. They are very large and resemble potatoes. When they are picked up, they must be held very carefully, because the slightest pressure will cause it to break.
And now, recently, she was sitting on a roost in the chicken coop, and she actually laid an egg- well, sort of. It was shell-less and the yolk looked like a chewed peice of gum. (Disgusting!)
Do yo uhave any suggestions as to why this is happening?
Hi Miranda
Often chickens take a few weeks to settle in when you move them. Hopefully both hens are laying by now.
Or it just might be too early for the one that isn’t laying.
We just have one hen laying at the moment. Although she’s five years old she lays an egg nearly every day.
Hi Barbara
Most chickens lay at their best for two years. After this many people decided to eat them as they have outgrown their optimum laying period. Your chickens may be some of these, they will lay but not as prolifically as younger hens. Or they could be excess stock. It’s impossible to say.
Where do you live? It’s near the end of winter in the UK and our chickens are just starting to lay again.
If I was you I’d go back to the man and ask him about the hens that you bought from him. If they are hens for the table he might swap them for laying hens.
Hi Jane S
The most naural wormer is grated carrot. If you mix iit into something like warm bran they will take it.
Hi Rachel
This happened to me last summer when I was supplementing the layers pellets with vegetables and cereals. The hens wolfed it down and within about a week started to lay strange eggs with thin distorted shells. They clearly were not getting the nutrients that they need to produce eggs with firm shells.
I now supplement their feed just once a week and no longer have the problem.
They also need oyster shells – are you giving them these?
One of our susex has always been slow and rather dopey hence the name but lays well and has no signs of any illness that I have read about. she almost seems as though she falls asleep at any time no sign of worms no discharges etc Tried a few extra vits but by the time she decides to eat the other 3 have had more than their share.
Any ideas would be welcome
Thanks
Hi John
If your hen is laying, leave her be. She is clearly healthy.
She might enjoy meditating. Or whatever. All hens are different. Some just want to chill and do it very well.
The signs that you point out indicate broodiness. If you know that she is laying ignore this state otherwise read this post – http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289
I have had my hens for 10 months they are not laying eggs. I have been giving them everything they need I rebuilt a new chicken coop with a light and nests roosts but for the nesting i used peat moss the have all the food and water needed
the hens are big and well fat. help!!!!
I dont know what eles to do.
Hello Drumsolo
Are your chickens 10 months old or were they ten months when you got them What breed are they? Where do you live (is it spring?). Are you feeding them layers pellets? Nesting boxes should be comfortable and inviting – wood chips (like those used for hamsters and horses are ideal). Peat moss might be a mistake. Have you wormed them? do you regularly check for lice and mites? Perhaps they are exhausted with the lights on all the time. They need rest, just like us.
I bought them as peeps, I looked at some books I think two are Rhode Island Reds or red stars,
I have two big black hens that have a teal color in the sun light and the other two look like Orpingtons that are somewhat little still and I think that is because the black birds are the boss and one red hen is as well. It is starting to warm up I live in the north part of Utah. I have been feeding them Layena by Purina Mills.
I was using the hamsters cedar chips before the peat moss I have not used the light much at all I know they need 14 hours of light and I just started to give them the pullet sized oyster shells. I have not wormed them, Can worms be seen, or are they to small to notice? I do not see any signs of lice I am not sure about mites I will have to look online. I am new to the fun adventure they have fresh water everyday I have up the feed. This Tuesday I am moving them to the new chicken house. My neighbor’s hens are lying eggs.
so there must be somthing I need to fix.
I will surf and read some more online. Please help if you can.
I just looked up mites worms and lice. I do not have any of those on my birds. I guess I should get a de-wormer for them just as a precaution.
Hi Drumsolo
Whenever I have chicks I always say to myself not to expect eggs for a year. I’m never disappointed.
Your hens will be laying by Easter, I expect. Hens that hatch in April or May often don’t start laying until April the next year.
I think that you’re right to worm them. A feed fountain is always a good idea – two if hens are being bullied and double up on the water fountains too.
Just be patient they will start to lay soon.
BTW if you introduce artificial light you will lengthen the laying period of your hens (when the start laying) but you will decrease the length of their lives. Ideally they need to sleep when it’s dark just like us.
Thank you for your information. I bought a dewormer from mcmurry hatchery with flax seed. I am to mix it in the feed, But the rep seemed to be reading a script and did not answear my questions. my question do I have to give the dewormer every month or just once a year? It is organic I made sure of that. I also bought cedar chips for the nests as you advised. I plan to sell some eggs to friends and family. do I need anything special for that? I do not have a rooster
so no peeps to cause a problem.
hi our chicken stopped laying in october and still are not laying but yestrday we found they were but they were not stong(just a soggy lump)
we feed them grit every sunday and they have layers pellets and acsess to lots of water there bedding is small woodchippings and they have no artaficial lights!
are we doing something wrong or is there something we should be doing?
Most problems with chickens in the States come from parasites. Mites and lice are not really a problem. The poop should look like a brown turban with a white top. It should be relatively solid. It is the best measure of healthy birds. All natural powder is usually one and a quarter cup to a 50 lb sack of laying feed. Younger birds would have about half a cup to 50 lb. You should see improvement in the poop in 2 or 3 days. The woodchips make ideal litter for the coop floor but i find cheap coastal hay (about 6 dollars a bale) lasts a long time and makes a very good nesting material. Just stuff some in the box and the hens will make the nest. Do not disturb it if it remains clean. A little coaxing can be done cheaply by putting a couple of the plastic eggs, found now at Easter time, glued so they dont come open, in the nests help to have the hens laying. If your chickens are free range use troughs for the laying feed to keep it off the ground as thats where they pick up parasites. watch that none of the hens separates herself from the flock as that is a sign of sickness. If you need to, isolate the hen in a dog cage and feed her the white powder in a little water through a syringe. A half teaspoon several times a day plus the feed with powder mixed with lots of water to make a gruel and feed though a syringe several times a day. The poop will tell you when she is ready to join the flock. Hope this helps. Oyster shell ground up should be available all the time in a bowl under the coop.
drumsolo if youve had your hens 10 month and there still not laying theres something drasticly wrong. even if your hens were a day old when you got them they should have started laying a month ago at least.even if its winter that any hen 9 month old any breed as got to be laying by now.if there outside check every nook and crany.because in all my years with hens ive never heard of a hen not laying for 10 month.
julie your hens have just come through there molt.sometimes the first egg is very tiny.sometimes there just see through shell and sometimes there like a hard piece of rubber.i guarantee within the next week theres eggs everywere and hard shell if theyve access to oyster grit
I just got home. one of my hens just layed it” first egg.
Thanks to Jn and Stuart
for your help.
Hello Fiona,
We have 6 hens, just over a year old. One of the hens is distinctly off colour. Her comb is pale, her poo is slightly runny, she is quiet and she is being picked on by the other hens. We have isolated her in a large dog crate within the run to give her some peace. She is eating and drinking but not very keenly. They were wormed last year and have Diatom and raw carrot regularly. No sign of any worms. Help!
Jane S.
hi i am looking to get at least 2 green laying chicks i understand they probably wont lay this summer but i wanted to get them when they was still small so they get to know us and our boys and our dogs etc we are planning on building a small coop for them and we have a fenced in back yard will it hurt them to be in the same fenced in area as our dogs the dogs are inside most of the time also was thinking about making a complete fenced in area for the chicks in the same area so i dont live in the country so need to keep them close. should i do anything different i am knew to this thanks so much.
chucknchristy depends what temprement your dogs are my dog died about 6 month ago a cross chocholate lab.i let him in with my 150 hens not a problem he was more scared of them then them of him.hold the chicks in your hand and let the dogs lick them and smell them over a couple of month i cant see any problem.
jane s your hens may be coming into molt if her comb as started to go pale.as for the runny poo if there on layers mash or layers pellets give then a good feed of corn late in the afternoon it stops in there crops longer theres to much goodness in mash and pellets on there own
My hens’ yolks are rather pale. What can I add to their feed to improve the colour?
I feed them on organic layer’s pellets. They look beautifully healthy
and their eggs are delicious, just rather pale.
That’s interesting about the runny poo – some of mine have this too – I wondered if this was a maturity thing as the oldest of my 6 hens don’t have it.
I love this site by the way – so helpful and interesting.
Fiona,
Sadly lost our ill hen overnight. Just hope it wasn’t anything we’d done wrong. We are going to worm our other hens as a precaution, although the remaining five seem fine.
Jane S
Hello Jane S
I’m so sorry that I couldn’t get back to you yesterday and very sad to hear that you hen died.
I couldn’t have given you the answer to save her. Every now and then a young hen keels over and dies, it might be a virus or just that she is not very strong. We had two beautiful lavender Pekins that both keeled over and died within a day in their first year.
What you did was right. Isolate the hen and give her access to food and water. If she feels cold bring her indoors and wrap her in a thick towel.
Over the past six years I have had one hen that pulled round and a few that just didn’t make it. It’s always so sad when an animal dies.
Fiona,
Thank you for your kind words. Being new to chicken-keeping I naturally wondered why Martha died. As you say perhaps she was just a weaker hen. My son gently reminded me this morning that at least she wasn’t a battery hen. She had access to organic food and greens and had room to move.
Kind regards,
Jane S
I have had only one egg out of six hens for four days.
they get fresh water everyday I have used a light in the hen house to extend the day longer 15 1/2 hours longer. there is 3 nest filled with sting wood shavings mixed with cedar chips one plastic egg filled with rocks for waight and glued shut. They have plenty of feed layena by purinia mills mixed with oyster shells and a organic dewormer. I have checked for mites lice worms and no signs what so ever. The light bulb is 90 watts.
Is there another way to get them to start laying? a person at work told me to jently squeeze the back end of the hens, But that sound like a dumb idea to me. any more info will be great I have been searching the net for information. I just have not found the info I need.
i kinda thought they would be ok with the dogs IF the dogs dont chase or try to eat them. can you tell me a good breed to get that lays the green eggs? to me the green eggs taste better might just be my imagination but hey you cant find them in the store .. lol.. thanks and i also love this site. i have had ducks in the passed for my boys loved them to death we keeped them inside till they got their feathers should we do that with the chicks also? and does it hurt them to hold them alot? will that make them any tamer?
chucknchristy if you want green eggs the breed you need is called araucana.check for a good poultry breeder they will sort you out. as for holding your chickens it wont hurt them one bit it will just make them tamer.
thank you so much.. around here we mostly have like tractor supply that sells the chicks not sure if they know exactly what they get in or not.. we have a sale barn that has some on occasion when would be a good time to check to see if they had any? and what signs are good to look for on healthy chicks? god i really sound stupid dont i.. ha ha
If you can afford to buy 25 chicks and pay the shipping I have had very good luck with McMurray Hatchery. Go on the net and find them. They will send you a free catalog and the information in it is great. You will find out about many different types of chickens. I put a natural powder in the laying feed to keep my hens healthy. they should not separate from the flock and the poo should look like a turban with a white cap on top. Hope this info. helps.
Hi,
we have just got 4 chickens. but have noticed some of the poo is runny. what could this be? we are trying to find out which one it is and to isolate it at the momemt with access to food and water. could this be because hes been moved to a new home and is a bit unsettled??
cheers
I dont understand why the answers to so many questions dont seem to help. If you read the last 10 replies you will find the solutions to many recent problems.
hi one of our chickens is acting strange it tends to just stand there with her eyes closed and doesn’t move.
is there a problem with it or is it normal?
hi. i finally got my 4 chicks.. we are in the middle of making a pen for them.. do they need to have sun light inside the nesting box and inside the coop? the coop is small but we might be adding onto it sometime in the future their run is pretty big for just 4 chickens..
Hi Dan
Chickens are quite sensitive to changes in the weather, being moved etc. This will sometimes effect their poo.
If it continues I would consider worming all the hens.
Make sure that they have a good diet of corn and layers pellets with plenty of grit and oyster shells.
Hello Susie A Ingram
Sometimes I wonder the same! Thanks for all your comments much appreciated.
Hi Julie
The hen is not well. This is not normal behaviour. Isolate the hen and keep her warm with access to food and drink. If she doesn’t get better ring your vet for advice.
Hi chucknchristy
Generally there’s a small window on a chicken coup. The nesting box needs to be as dark as possible.
hi julie what kind of hen have you got thats not well.if its an hybred generally 3 to 4 year old nearly all go like that im afraid theyve come to the end of there time if it is a hybred.if you want a bird to live a long life bye a banty.ive got one 10 year old she lays roughly 30 eggs a year but she keeps surviving every winter.
ok will have to do. it will get morning sun could make a small window on each side for morning and afternoon.. i just figured they would spend alot of time in the run.. we are planning on putting a roof over the run will that be ok? its about 4ft high right now…also when will i be able to put them outside? when all their feathers are in??? right now just the wing feathers are in these lil girls ( i hope ) are flying everywhere and nosey as can be. lol
Hello,
I’ve just found this website and it’s been really fun to read. Just a quick question…. Does anyone have any ideas for how to encourage the hens to lay in the nesting box. I have 2 hens and if I keep them in the run I almost always have 2 eggs waiting for me in the nesting box. However, if I let them out to free range in the garden they don’t lay in the nesting box – I presume that they have found some other place to lay but I can’t for the life of me find it! I’d love to find a way to encourage them to lay in the nesting box all the time because that would mean that I could let them out to roam more often. The nesting box is clean and dark with shredded newspaper…what else could I try?!
Thanks for your help!
Hi Susie
I have fund that porcelain eggs in the nesting box seem to encourage the hens to lay. Also ultra clean bedding. We use a deep layer ofhorse chips and sawdust. You are not ‘stealing ‘their eggs every day as you always leave a clutch. Our hens can’t be free range as the Min Pins would polish them off in seconds. But they do have a lrage run 30′x6′ where they can fly and hide.
The paper can stick to their legs and cause problems. The other option is a deep layer of straw. You could also try an independent nesting box in the garden – a dog kennel type of construction that is darkish inside and is located in a quiet spot in the garden. If your hens think that you are taking their eggs (which you are) they will take great care to lay in a secret nest that you may never find.
The porcelain egg route always seems to work for me.
Hi Chucknchristy
Most hens willspend most of the day in the run but some prefer hanging out indoors.
You need to be able to get into the run without the hens escaping. Ours is about 5’6″ high, with a wire mesh roof to stop them flying away. They need to have fresh water every day and you need to check the feed levels and eventually collect the eggs. If you give them a four foot high run they will not be able to fly as adult birds. When you lift off the roof to tend them they could easily escape.
I would give them limited access to the run when they are about six weeks old. This needs to be carefully monitored as they are liable to sunstroke. Perhaps an hour at the end of each day then they will naturally return to their house at dusk
where the run and their coop is the run wont get afternoon sun from 12pm on.. and we are making a door on the end so i can walk into the run to give them fresh water and their feed there is also goin to be a roof on it so the water will drain off and the coop will have a seperate nexting box with its own door on it to check for eggs and to clean it when needed how much space do you really need for the coop for 4 chickens? its a small coop right now and i figured the smaller the warmer they would stay in the winter i dont think that its warm enough here yet and they dont have all their feathers in yet either it gets to about 50 here during the day sometimes 60
We just got 6 baby chicks on the first day of spring. We’ve had them indoors under a light since we got them–the coop is almost finished. It has been AMAZING watching them grow-they grow SO fast! So, at what point do they HAVE to go outside? Do they still need to have a heat lamp? They don’t have a run (yet), that’s the next project…
PS We have found this site very informative–thank you! Just don’t have time to read ALL the questions and responses. Thanks for helping!
jim@lee this time of the year you can take the lamp off at 5 week old no problem.ive 2 hens sat on eggs they should be hatching in the next few days i leave them with there mother for 4 weeks then seperate them.i then put them in a small shed with a wire front so they can see everything whats going on i keep them on growers pellets.after 6 or 7 week old i sort the hens from the cockrels then i clip one wing so they cant fly and then let them on the field.just be careful of rats and magpies.
today it was really nice outside .. i took the 4 chicks i have and let them in the run for awhile wow did they like that they was flapping their wings and running around pecking the ground, till the sun was ready to go down they was all 4 sitting back at their box that they are kept inside wanting to go back in hopefully they will sleep early tonight and not be louder then the tv lol
ive mated a 5 month old rody cockrel with 17 warren pullets 18 month old.all the eggs were full 2 did not hatch 2 the mother squashed but i ended up with 5 yellow balls of fluff this morning
Hello, Fiona,
One of our Light Sussex hens(in her second year)is pulling out feathers on her chest. She is more prone to go broody than the other hens and now has a bald patch! She seems perfectly healthy.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Jane S.
Hi chucknchristy
Young chicks are just so delightful. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Stuart
Oh well done! I’m so envious.
Hello Jane S
Pulling out feathers on her chest is a sure sign of nest building and imminent broodiness.
I have no idea how you tackle this problem. The feathers will grow back in a few weeks.
hi i have 4 chickens and sometimes my eggs have little hard lumps on only a few what could this be and why they like that? thanks
I have five ladies, they are not laying its winter in new zealand at this time will i get eggs over this time i dont know much about these ladies i got given them.
Where would i get wormer for chickens and how will i know they have all had some…Do I have to catch each one and give them panacur. Ive just started with chickens , I have no idea what i bought.for all i know they could all be cockerals…hmmm… could be why no eggs from tey sussex ones… or they are too young …My 4 Warrens are great..old birds they may have been but running free in my garden seems to have renewed their egg laying abilities… Also i thought chickens always did runny poop… never seen a solid poop from them… The older ones wait till i walk near and aim at my shoes…. but its ok…. I smirk as i eat their eggs…. However back to worming … any one got any ideas or tips for me… or tips on sexing them?
Thanks
I have a chicken she has stoped laying her bottom is crusted with siome kind of whit powder
Can I run her under warm water or is there anything I can do she is one year old and her wings are droopy and has had a brown fluid run out of her mouth smells awful. please help.
The Chicken just died. but , Does anyone Know what the heck happened?
Hello Aimee
The little bumps are shell defects and nothing to worry about.
Make sure that your flock have access to grit and oyster shell 24/7.
Hello Tracey
I’d imagine that they will start laying again after the shortest day. Ours generally don’t lay over the winter.
Hi Amanda
Our vet gives us a liquid and we put a drop on each hen’s beak as they come out of the house in the morning.
Re sexing the chicks your best bet is to look at hens and cockerels of your breed on the internet and compare them with yours.
Hello Drumsolo
What sad news.
I don’t have enough experience to advise what happened. It sounds as if she was in a very bad way.
Fiona,
We have 6 hens ,all in their second year.
One of the warrens died 7 weeks ago, unexpectedly,
now another appears to be unwell. She appears quiet and is not moving as much as the other hens. Her feathers seem slightly fluffed up. I intend to isolate her but do you think there is a link between the two birds. Does anyone know the life expectancy of Warrens?
Regards,
Jane S
Hi Amanda, I use a natural powder and put 1 cup into the 50lb sack when i dump it into the bin. it mixes easily so i just swirl the top abit and it works itself through the rest. I dont know where you can get it if you are in England but in the States McMurray Hatchery has it. It seems pricey but it goes a long way. 5lbs lasts me months and months. Its much easier than having to do each bird. When i had one not eating and just sitting around I isolated her and put some of the powder in a bit of water and put it into her with a small (no needle) syringe. I also put some in her food and shoveled it into her beak gently in between the water. In a few days she was fine.
Hi drumsolo, the white on the butt of the chicken is called a pastie. they sometimes get stressed and thats what causes it. you need to get it off quickly or it will die. it is chicken constipation of a sort. Wash it off with warm water. if it takes some doing you will have to try as the chicken will not survive in that condition. Sorry i just realized the chicken is gone. Its not common in grown chicks it is generally a thing that happens when chicks are transported.
Hi Fiona, Sorry you lost your chicken but i do think there is a connection. When one has parasites others can get them. Parasites are microscopic so you can not see them. Even under the microscope it is difficult to tell the good from the bad. Most chickens live 5 or 6 years, some breeds much longer. 2 years is young for any chicken. You need to get the group wormed to stop it from spreading. Ask at the feed store for a dewormer. Take note if you have to wait 3 days before using any eggs from them. If so put them in the trash as eating them is not recommended with many dewormers. If you read my other entry it will tell you about powder you can use after you get this taken care of so as not to have many problems in the future. hope this helps.
Hi Susie,
The hens were wormed in the Spring. However, having spoken to the lady we bought the hens from , we treated her for an impacted crop. We gave her some olive oil from a syringe and massaged her crop a few times throughout the day and she seems to be back to normal (touching wood ).
Many thanks for your advice,
Jane S
Hello Jane S
I have no idea about the life expectancy of Warrens.
But gancing down the comments I see that you have found a solution to your sick hen problem.
Hi Susie
Thank you so much for your advice – really appreciated.
Hi Jane S. Glad your chicken is well. Its so upsetting when they get sick. Can you tell me about an impacted crop as I’m not familar with that. What caused it? Are the chickens free range? Do they pick up gravel to clean the crop? Please let me know whatever you have found out as I am always interested in learning new things. Thanks for anything you can let me know.
Hi Susie,
My hens are in a large run with access to layers pellets, oyster shell and grit.They have fresh greens everyday, grass etc.
I was advised that if you have greedy hens,as apparently Warrens can be, this can cause a blockage in their crops. The hen will appear to be unwell. If their crop is hard then that is the cause, particularly first thing in the morning , when their crop should be empty. Just give the hen a few drops of olive oil from a syringe with no needle, massage the crop and repeat 3/4 times over the day.The blockage should clear. The hen is back to normal today, thank goodness.
Hi Jane, Thank you for the information. I have thought about giving the hens some cracked corn and cut back abit on the laying pellets. It would save some money but I’m more interested in a comment someone made saying the pellets may be too rich. My chickens free range all day but we are in a drought and the bugs must be scarce. The temperature has been about 93 daily and the egg laying is going down so I really dont know if the corn is the answer. If you know about corn please let me know. Thanks….
Hello EVERYONE,
1. I have 1 rooster and 2 hens, one of the hens is laying eggs. BUt the other is not! SHe is deffinitally old enough! they are about the same age. What could it be?
2. I just ordered 12 more baby hen chicks (they will arrive JUNE 4th. Do hens have to have a rooster to have eggs?
Hi Miranda, Glad to welcome another chicken person. Dont worry about the hen not laying as long as she is well. Hens lay when they are ready. As for the rooster, you only need him if you want the eggs fertilized for hatching. Its good to keep a polite rooster (one that is gently with the hens) as he will run the roost. If you dont have a rooster many times a hen will stop laying and become the boss. I find it better to have the rooster. One rooster for 12 or 14 hens is about the limit for breeding purposes. I hope this helps.
people who are keeping warrens must understand there laying machines.many warrens dont live to 3 year old theyve wore them selfs out i keep over 150 at a time all free range.a lot of older hens get the white powder round there backside this is called newcastle disease they usually die within 6 month.as for pellets if you want eggs and plenty of them feed just layers pellets.you no when people give there dog a dried complete meal its exactly the same with a hen give them just pellets theres everything in it including 40per cent corn.
HI everyone, me and the kids have just got our first 2 hens, we got them from a breeder and although we dont know the breed one is all white, very brave and friendly, the other is dark with a hint of green and red tint, whos a bit more cautious but fine.
Being a hen virgin could you tell me what i can give them as a treat, i think the pellets must get boring after a while.
Also i converted a 6×4 ft shed with 2 perch’s and a nest box, but the door is open for them all day and have a open run at the side of my house of about 12ft x 8ft. is this ok?
Also last thing, how big should the nest box be?
oh yea one more thing, any way of stopping them pooing so much ha ha
Thanks for your help, cant wait for our first eggs
Hi everyone
what do you do with a broody hen when you dont want to breed
Any answers would be welcome thanks
tony your shed and run is great its big enough for 20 hens.just layers pellets may sound a bit boring but believe me for egg production its the best.throw them a bit of wheat in the grass that wont hurt that will give them something to do and give them exersise.your white hen could be a white leghorn.your dark one could be indian game but im not posotive.your nest box 18 inch square is ideal good luck with your new hobby
john put your broody in a dark place away from other hens and sit her on 2 or 3 pot eggs till shes had enough.alternatly you can do what i do i can get 6 or 7 broody at the same time.i take them off the nest and dip there heads in cold water twice a day for a week or so and that seems to do the trick for me but thats not to everybodys liking which ever you seem to do good luck.
Hi Stuart
Thank you so muh for your advice – much appreciated as always.
hi its me again.. i have the 4 chicks well they are about 6-8 weeks old now.. we have a small coop for them and a run but i also leave them out of the run and coop for about an hr a day to roam in the yard they seem to like it as they come to the door when they see me wanting out for awhile and then go back around the door when they want back in.. when should i start them on something different right now they are still on the chick starter.
Thanks Stuart dont think it will be the water treatment
Hi Christy
I usually switch them to layers pellets at three months. Some people switch them to growers pellets first.
Hi John
We put our broody hens in an anti broody coop – it works a treat. http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289
Hi Susie A Ingram
Thanks for all your help and advice much appreciated.
Hello,
I am trying to get my chickens to lay in the nesting box – it is warm, dry and dark, in a corner of the henhouse.
But they free range during the day, and have made their own nests around the back yard. Everyday is like an easter egg hunt!!
Is there any easy way to get them to lay in the box? I have put an egg in there.
Secondly, it is winter here now and I have covered the whole henhouse with tar paper, so it is quite dark inside. There are agaps around the door when air can get in, but it is very dark inside. Is this OK? They are usually only in there at nighttime.
my chickens arn’t laying ethier ive got to bantam chickens and one bantam rooster they have water and exellent food available all the time they are so spoilt but we dont get any thing in return they are 8 months old thanks
p.s really great advice thanks
Hi Ann, your coop may be too dark as chickens dont lay at night. Leave the door and windows open to let light in. Putting a fake egg helps alot. free range chickens are notorious for laying outside but if you get them to start laying indide it will cut it down abit. Once i found 20 eggs in an outside nest. didnt know how long they were there so i tossed them. some people feed eggs and shell to their chickens but i dont. If it is not really freezing the coop needs more air circulating to keep dry. I also nailed a 4 inch board in front of my lower boxes at the bottom and they started laying in them right away. Security i guess. my upper boxes had the front on them. hope this helps.
Hi Hannah, Bantams are slightly different than the rest. I find they are slower in laying but they are wonderful mothers. My friend has one bantam and she likes to sit. My friend puts 2or 3 eggs from the other hens under her and she hatches them and then raises the chicks. They are bigger than her but she is the Mom. Give them time and they will lay when they are ready. Bantams are really great little birds. Hope this helps.
thanks
what should i use for my bantams nesting box hay dirt or sand
Hello Susie
Thanks for your advice!
Hi Hannah
I use wood chips (like you would use for a hamster or a guinea pig). They are very absorbent so make the weekly spring clean really fast and easy.
Hi Hannah, I use hay but its more a convenience for me than anything. I have pygmy goats and keep a bale of hay in case it rains and i have to feed them when they wont go out to pasture. Goats are desert animals and dont like rain. I use wood chips on the floor of the coop as it is an excellent material to keep the place nice and clean. I dont think sand or dirt would be good. Hope this helps. Susie..
what chickens go well being together with bantams
thanks
Hi Hannah, Any egg laying breed will do. You dont want the breeds that are bred for meat as they are too big. I would get a few baby chicks or buy a few fertile eggs from a neighbor and let the bantam sit them. Either way the bantams will get along well with no pecking order problems. Bringing in full grown hens may cause a problem. Because of the size they may bully the bantams. It takes 21 days to hatch fertile eggs. It will take awile for egg production when you start like this. The other choice is to keep 2 houses and 2 feed troughs. If you do that make sure you put the new birds in the new house for 24 hours when you get them, that way they will know where they live and not try to move in on the bantams. Susie.
thats great news would rhode island white go well with bantams
if we bough fertile eggs for the bantam to hatch and do you need a rooster if u want your chickens to lay normal eggs and then fertile
my chickens are brooding all together all three of them wat does that meen they do it in this dirt patch alll the time but the same place with no egg under neith
Hello Hannah
You can get bantam versions of all full sized laying breeds. As they are much smaller you could have a bigger flock in a smaller space.
We have bantams, one full sized Maran hen and a pair of guinea fowl. The three latter rule the roost as they are far larger than the bantams. They were all raised by bantams but when the get bigger they are naturally stronger and the leaders of the pack.
The Maran and the Guinea fowl hen do lay bigger eggs but the bantam eggs are much sweeter with a bigger ratio of yolk to white so they are sought sfter in the UK and people are willing to pay a premium for the eggs.
My advice would be to stick to bantam versions of the bigger breeds.
You need a rooster to fertilise the eggs that your hens lay.
Your hens have gone broody – they will not lay eggs but will happily sit on a clutch of eggs. Why not get some fertile eggs to put under your hens?
If yu don’t want your hens to be broody, make an anti broody coop see here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289. This gets them out of the state within days and you will soon have eggs again.
i put a normal bantam egg in there laying area and they won’t go near the egg what if we bought fertile ones and they wont hatch them and they die can we buy one that are only a few days of weeks old
we bought a new house for the chooks the house is really big so i think that that might help
if i bought a day old Crele Old English Bantam would the other bantam like it
and is it a good idea
Hi,
We have 5 hens and we think one rooster (starting to crow) Born in January. (No eggs yet) Recently the local school has asked if we wanted 6 more that have just hatched. How long would we need to keep the new ones separate?
Hi Mimi
They would need to be kept seperate for at least three months (until they reach about a third of their body weight). They would also need a heat lamp to keep warm if they are newborn chicks.
Hello Hannah
I can’t answer all your questions as I don’t really understand a lot of your questions. Perhaps it might be a good idea to go to the library and find a book on caring for chickens/bantams. This and talking to local chicken breeders and owners might give you all the answers that you need.
It’s great that you are really into keeping chickens but perhaps you need to just rest, observe your hens and discover what you already have before branching out further.
All fowl need a stress free environment. Only add to your flock when you feel that all your hens are settled and content. You can’t buy your way out of a problem – if you have an unsettled flock adding more hens will only add to your problems.
Meanwhile it might be a good idea to consider venturing onto the chicken forums – they can offer valuable advice and you might enjoy them.
I guess we may need to rethink getting the newbies. It seems we’ve just finished with chicks in the basement, I’m not sure I want to go back to the heat lamp, etc. so soon. Thanks for all your info. This is a great site.
how can u not under stand her questions there simple
Hi Emilie
Hannah’s questions are not simple to me.
If you find them simple, answer them. I’d really appreciate this as I have loads of other questions to answer and want to go to bed
my chickens arent laying eggs HELP ME!!!
Hi Fn,
I have one more question if you can help….. is there a down side to keeping a rooster with the hens? (other than annoying the neighbors:)) My daughter has gotten attached to the bird we were told was a hen, but he’s definitely grown into a noisy rooster.
By the way, we took the new chicks. Now we have both babies and big ones….separate of course, but I’m hoping they can all winter together in the coop
Thanks.
Hi Mimi
We have just started keeping a rooster with our hens. He hatched out last autumn and is a beautiful and vociferous bird.
There are no downsides as far as I can see. He will fertilise some of the eggs if you want to produce your own chicks.
If you keep too many cockerels they will fight – and this is to be avoided as the fights can be very nasty – unless you have a lot of land and then they can have territories.
Great that you took the chicks. If you live in the Northern hemisphere they should easily be big enough to winter with the other hens.
Thanks for dropping by.
hi mimi if your not going to breed your own hens the cockrel is not much good to you your feeding something you dont need for nothing.also if you only have a few birds they will lay better without a cockrel around.if you do breed you also have to remember your going to get some cockrels and sadly have to get rid of them.ive been trying to breed a rode island cockrel with some 18 month old warrens the first lot are 6 week old and i can just identify them 3 cocks 2 hens but ive had to cull the cocks unfortunatly.the next should hatch tommorow then another lot monday.
Hi Stuart
Thanks for your input. Our hens have been laying much better this year than last when we didn’t have a cockerel. And most are elderly maidens -6 years plus.
Why did you have to cull the baby cockerels? Were they not the cross that you wanted?
How many cockerels do you have in your flock? I’d love to know the perfect ratio if you have a moment.
there were worms in my chickens water bowl today that i have never seen what dos that meen there is no worms in there poo though thanks
Hi, I recently bought 2 light sussex and 6 warrens at 20 week old from a reputable farmer at the end of March and as yet I have had no eggs. They are in a good sized pen with 6 nest boxes which are in side, hence in the shade with plenty of straw bedding. I have fed them on layers pellets from day one. I was told it was ok to feed them on layers pellets from 20 weks old. Is this ok or to early, should I of waited until they start laying and if ok when can i expect to see some eggs.
fn i have one young cockrel with 16 pullets just for breeding.also if i keep the cockrels what am i going to do with them i will end up with to many.ive also 100 or so old hens that run about seperately with no cockrel.
Hello Stuart
Thanks for your reply.
I can see your point.
Hi Chris
I’m no expert but I always move my chicks from chick crumbs to layers pellets and they seem to do fine.
A move can really rattle hens – they could take a month to settle down and relax enough to lay. Try not to be impatient they are still very young and will lay when they are ready.
Now I never expect eggs before a year after hatching. There are always eggs before the year end date and I never experience the “no egg” angst.
chris that puts your hens at about 30 week old if my maths are right.light sussex as most pure breeds dont lay till about 32 weeks old.ive got 4 of my own.warrens i cant understand they should be laying at the latest 24 week old are you sure there only 20 week old or as he let them go through there first molt any telling you there only young birds because it seems very strange why there not laying.i put my pullets on chick crumbs from day old to 6 week then from 6 week to point of lay growers pellets or as some people call them reares pellets then when i see my first egg from either hen onto layers pellets.but everyone does there own thing ive got a friend that gives them wheat from day one and whole not ground up even he gets good results.i prefer to feed them like this they seem to grow faster but same as i said everyone has there way. good luck.any way fn i think all us chicken lovers should get together one day and have a good drink .
how come your never answering me
Hi Emily, I have never seen worms in the water and was waiting for someone to answer you but it didn’t happen. I am guessing but maybe one pooped in the water. Parasites are generally microscopic and I live in Florida and havent heard of a worm problem. We do have parasite problems with most of our livestock because of weather conditions. I use FOOD QUALITY diatmacaeous earth in my chicken feed. 1 cup for 50lbs of feed and I use it as needed for my pygmy goats rather than putting it in their feed all the time. I hope someone can explain about the worms as I am very interested too. Susie
thanks for aswering me there was no poo in the water bowl though
emilie id like to no what you keep your water in and were you keep it. i would say its not a tape worm witch is the most common in hens. if your water is outside then maybe a young earth worm as crawled in and if its been in all night it will turn white.if your worried chop a few carrots up very fine for your birds that will help.
Hi Emilie, Well I think your worms in the water is a great puzzle. When chickens are sick they tend to separate from the flock and they dont race to the feed like normal. I use all natural dewormer as the other says not to eat the eggs for 3 days. go on the internet and find something near to you. Most feed stores sell stuff but I havent found anything that works as well as DE powder (food Quality ONLY). I think if you take sometime to scroll back reading 20 or 30 of the comments you will find tons of great information about raising chickens. If you do find out about the worms in the water please let us know. Susie..
Hello
3 weeks ago we bought 3 ‘Boven Gold’ hens, the breeder informed us that they were at point of lay at 18 weeks old. They have a hen house which they sleep in at night, they have a run and they spend most of the afternoon/evening in the garden. Can anyone tell me when we shoud expect some eggs. This is the first time we have kept hens. I think we maybe being a bit impatient.
claire boven gold are a beautiful friendly hen i worked in holland for a year in 1998 and the boarding house i stayed in kept boven gold so i no theyre from holland.ive just rang them they said if there young birds this time of year they should start laying between 20 and 23 week old.and they are suppost to lay very well.
Hi there, we have just delved into the chicken world and have bought 10 chickens from a local market. Three or four different breeds, suffolks, warrens, silkies etc.
We are on day 4 and have had three eggs a day so far, which isn’t too bad. How can I tell how old my new chickens are, is there a useful website anywhere with this information?
Hi if fn or anyone else can help me it would be appeciated. recently one of hens has started sleeping in her nesting box rather than on her perch, everyone says this isnt right, so why is she doing it.
Dont worry most of my hens occasionally sleep in the nesting box. They are all really good egg layers, but dont always follow the rules at first! We used to have soft eggs all over the place but they just get there in the end. Check out the omlet website forums, loads of chickeny info.
thanks for all your help but they still arn’t laying and they are defenetly overdue for laying
i got my chicken 3 weeks ago and she still has not layed an egg!!! How do I find outt whether or not she is old enough too lay. Does she have worms??? should I put A china egg in there to encourage her??????
How do you know whether or not your chicken has lice? Ithink I saw some in her feathers but im not sure how to treat them.
Try checking the comb for bugs and you can sprinkle some cleaner powder called seven-five on them but dont let them eat it. Thats what I did and now they are lice-free.
oh and dont get it in thier eyes- that wouldnt be fun for either of you
and about thier age- if they are only three weeks old they wont lay eggs for a while. They should start laying at around 24 weeks old.
when we bought it it was a chicken already and now we have had it for at least a month and still no eggs!!!! Is there a way of telling if it is old enough to lay eggs?
How can I encourage my new hens to use the roosting box and perches at night
Hello Snapper
You want them to use the perch in the chicken house at night. It’s not a good idea to encourage them to sleep in the nesting box as this is the main place that they will lay their eggs.
Give your house a good clean out and treat for mites each week during hot weather. If the house is attractive they will use it. Perhaps something has frightened them – is a rat visiting at night?
All our birds are in the house by dusk and then I close the door until the morning
my chicken has got a prolaplse what do I do, can it still lay eggs?
Hi my name is maddi anderson and i have 2 bantims and a grey-purple-brown chicken and the bantims have not been laying for like two months and my other chicken has not been laying for one month im starting to get worried can you fix my problem?
from maddi anderson
Hi
Do chickens stop laying when they are moulting our 2 sussex have stopped ?
Hi John
Yes chickens will stop laying when they are moulting.
Hello.
I have read part of this very very long blog and am impressed with the detail of knowledge you have. I hope then you can answer me this question; i only hope it has not been asked before.
I am about to get 4 hens (unsure of breed at the minute) I have been offered a cockerel bantam by a friend, who says he is only 4 months old so is obviously immature. I plan to put them all together in one very large run in the garden (20m x 10m.)
A couple of questions come to light… my friend assures me that bantam cocks are quieter than
Hello Ed
We have a bantam cockerel. We wondered whether his cry would be small and piercing but it’s exactly the same as a big cockerel. No complaints from the neighbours as yet and we have passed the longest day now.
Sharing eggs with neighbours is a great way of keeping them sweet.
Thanks for that. Good plan!
The post cut off the other questions which were really my main ones. Which are…
Will having 4 hens be enough for the 1 cockerel, or will he damage them through over treating them?
Also with all that friskiness going on will the chickens only lay eggs to sit on them all the time, or will the cockerel & hen only try and make a family at particular times of the year?
Thanks again.
Hi Ed
The cockerel will have his favourites. But most “laying” hens will not become broody. Some will if you chose hens with a tendency to become broody but even with these, they might never become broody.
If you remove the eggs every day, the hens are not encouraged to become broody. But if you do this leave china eggs in the nest as the hens might give up laying as all their eggs seem to be stolen every day.
Hens are brighter than people think. Treat them with care.
Thanks for that, really helpful!
Don’t you worry, I’ll look after! It’s why i am worrying about getting it right as often as possible.
I have 5 pullets that I bought the week before Easter. They were all about 1-2 weeks old at time of purchase. We found 4 eggs upon our return from vacation last week. Not sure when they were laid as we didn’t expect to find eggs until Sept according to their age. We had not been checking the nests. In the past 5 days we’ve found 3 more eggs. No idea which one is laying. The eggs were brown,some small and some noticeably larger.
Is it common to find the bloody spots in the yolk? Do you eat them if they are? Or are 2 yolks common? How long is the egg good once you collect it? And if we are gone over night, would an egg laid in the nest the day before be safe to eat? I did crack and smell the initial 4 we found and there was no fowl smell, but chose to discard them until I have some answers. If they are laying this early, will they stop and start again?
I am new at all this and could use some answers to many questions. Thanks to all who are sharing their knowledge and experience. I guess it might help if you knew what breeds I have. I have a Barred Rock, Black Sex, RI Red, Cinnamon Queen, and an Araucana.
Does each chicken need their own nest or will they share?
Hi Mardi, In terms of nests for egg laying they dont need there own. We have five hens and three nesting boxes and they are happy to use all of them. Although i have noticed that they may favour one nesting box over the other. Hope that helps.
Hi everybody. I have five hens and although i know that pecking is normal i have noticed it may be becoming out of hand. In particular buttercup seems to be getting a really hard time with pecking. Can it become more bullying than pecking?. Also is there any way of reducing the girls pecking each other?
Hello Songbird2sing
There are often two yolks in the eggs of first time layers. Blood spots are not uncommon too – perfectly safe to eat.
Eggs last as long as the supermarket ones – for at least a week. If you use the egg test you will know exactly how fresh each egg is – fill a bucket with water if the egg floats it is bad if it falls to the bottom it is fresh.
Hi Mandi
Ours share a long nesting box and are fine.
Hi Lee
This is a tricky problem to solve. Although recently I read that getting a cockerel can do the trick http://moonovermartinborough.com/2009/07/25/old-man-henry-and-the-chook-house-race-wars/
Good luck
Lee, we have 5 hens, one of which is clearly dominant. She will always chase one of the Light Sussex hens away from treats such as corn or general scraps and I have seen her peck at her. A few weeks ago, however , she was being so nasty and other hens were copying her behaviour so she was put in the broody coop within the run and kept there four 4 days. It seemed to cure the excessive behaviour, although she still remains the dominant hen. Hope this helps.
Please help, Untill about 4 weeks ago my 7 hens were laying daily then suddenly down to 2 or 4 eggs a day, i was a bit confused by this but excepted it as the norm, whilst doing the garden 2 weeks ago i come across a stash of 12 eggs in undergrowth? i marked 1 and put it back(removing the others) kept checking but no more were laid there. Only this week again clearing the garden i find approx 30 eggs in a nest under the lavender bushes, all very amusing i thought but what a waste of eggs. I now check the garden daily but have not yet found more, does anyone know why this is happening??
please help, my chickens have not laid for four months!! they both seem healthy and happy,4 years and 3 year old. they are fed on corn, layers pellets and scraps, they are out for most of the day in the garden, eating well.the youngest one has just moulted, she is a bluebell. is there anything i could do to help in making them lay again.
Hi
Our cockerel is very over-protective of his girls. They come running to me, he follows and then takes aim, jumping my leg. He is a small bantum and it hurts!
Can anyone advise how best to deal with this situation, please. I don’t want to have to give him a new home though.
Thanks.
Jules
Hi Jules, I have always had good luck using a childs water gun to correct behavior in my animals. It doesnt hurt them and after getting a few squirks of water in the face they dont do it anymore. I hope this helps. Susie…
Hi Jane S
That’s really interesting – using the broody coop as a naughty coop. Thanks.
Hi Kim
Do you use china eggs in the nesting boxes? Hens often start to lay away from the nesting boxes if they think that you are stealing all their eggs.
Hello Heather
That seems very strange. Two of ours stopped laying at about five years old. They were hybrid layers and giving us an egg a day in their prime.
I’m sorry but I don’t have the answer.
Hi Jules
I agree with Susie, a water pistol does the trick.
Hello Susie
Thanks for your advice.
hI WE HAVE RECENTLEY BOUGHT SOME WARREN HENS THE FIRST LOT OF 6 WE BOUGHT AT AUCTION ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO AND ARE DOING QUITE WELL ON LAYERS PELLETS AMD MIXED ETC WITH COOKED POTATOE PEEL BUT WE HAVE HAD NO EGGS PLEASES COULD YOU TELL ME WHY
THANKS TERESA
Hi Teresa
They may be too young to lay yet or to old to lay much. Have you any idea how old they are?
thanks for answering six of the hens have medium crest on their heads 3 look like battery hens which i got last week and have alot of feathers missing and their crest are quite big and 3 are free range layers and their crest are medium.
Hi Teresa
The size of the crests doesn’t necessarily relate to the age of the hens. S once told me to look at the feet. If the legs are thick and the feet ‘old’ looking steer clear.
I would imagine that the battery lookalikes will take time to settle and lay. The days are getting shorter and they could be used to light 24/7. This encourages them to lay all year but puts a strain on their health.
All I can advise is to be patient. And perhaps buy direct from a reputable breeder next time.
I got myself 2 hens at point of lay.
That was 3 weeks ago.
Initially they were eating the layer pellets but now they dont want to eat the pellets.
They eat chicken scratch (mixture of seeds) and love bread.
I was told they would settle down in their new home in 2-3 weeks and start laying but not a single egg so far.
Dont know if they’re properly nourished.
Please help
By the way i’m in Melbourne, Australia
Today is the first day of spring. We get almost 12 hours of day light.
Ours did exactly the same and were told to persever with the pellets but mix with corn or mash and it did eventually do the trick. Apparently its important to have the mach/pellets to make the shells????
Hi John
They need the layers pellets/mash as it suits all their nutritional needs. I give a little wild bird seed as treats – also bread (just a bit).
The chickens will eat the layers pellets if this is all that they have to eat. We also give oyster shell to help with the egg shells.
Your hens will lay as soon as they are old enough. POL seems to be a flexible description!
Hello Kim
Yes you are right a pellets corn mix is good too. Thanks for your advice.
Please Help!
I posted a comment on the 3rd of June, and as yet still no eggs. What is concerning me is that the combs on the chickens have only just starting to develop and are still not on some, why is this. I have read a number of chicken keeping books and nothing stating reasons why. Advice welcome, thanks Chris.
Hi Chris
Your chickens are clearly not old enough to lay yet – especially as their combs are only just developing. Combs are a bit like noses and can vary amongst a breed.
Since the last time I posted on this website, I have tried to only feed them layer pellets.
They dont seem to want to eat the pellets but I have crushed the pellets to make to easier to eat.
They do eat a little but not too much.
The chickens have small combs (probably about 1 cm high) that are reddish in colour.
But still no eggs!!!!
I wish I knew what’s going wrong.
The poultry farm I bought them from promised me they would start laying over 2 weeks ago if I just fed them layer pellets.
Hi John
The combs need to be red but it sounds as if they are moving towards laying. You just need to be patient. If you live in the UK they days are getting shorter and this can effect laying.
You are doing nothing wrong. POL hens are often not ready to lay – we made the same mistake 6 years ago. Bought them in August and got our first egg in January.
BTW you can get layers mash – a powdered version of the pellets, they might prefer that. If they are having trouble eating the pellets they must be very young.
Hi, could someone help me, I have been keeping chickens for approx a year. Igot them as POL and they have been laying everyday for a few months now (I have 2 Warrens). However, I have noticed that 1 is losing her feathers around her bum, and up on her neck, I thourghly scrubbed out thier house and nest, but ever since they have stopped laying. Is the feather loss anything to worry about? her skin looks healthly, her comb is bright red and firm, they are feeding well and have plenty of water. Any advice would be greatfully welcome as I am still learning, and love my girls and would hate to overlook something that could become a major problem if left unchecked.
Thankyou.
xxxx
Try getting some bird mite spray from the pet shop and spraying the birds and where they sleep. This worked for me some years back. Could be affecting their laying if they have mites. Good luck
Hi Rhayfen, Sounds like your chickens are moulting. Look for a few feathers and if they are around they probably are. They loose the tail and neck feathers and stop laying while they moult. You just have to wait it out. It’s natural and they will start laying when they are ready. They usually look messy when they moult. Hope this helps.
Thanks Penny and Susie for your help!
Further to my comments earlier, I put my two girls onto layer pellets (which I would grind into a powder) since the last one week.
I gave them nothing else to eat and after a couple of days they started eating the powdered pellets.
Yesterday I got my first egg..I am so excited.
Thank you fn for your comments which really helped me..awesome..
Hi John
That’s great news. The first egg is so special.
Hi everyone
can anyone tell the symptons on a hen being eggbound and what to do to help her,
Thank John
Hi John
I’ve never experienced an egg bound hen but there’s lots of advice here on the Omlet site
http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=31430
I’m a new subscriber and found the blog really helpful.
I have 4 hybrids I bought POL at Easter. Until a few weeks ago they were laying really well but have really slowed down now. Some days we only get 1 egg. They seem happy and healthy and eat well on layers pellets and corn. I think one light brown Sussex went throu’ a stage of moulting and had a bare bottom and legs and looked very scruffy but seems to be picking up now.
The nights are drawing in now and they go to bed around 7.45pm, I’m not sure if I need to put a heat lamp in the house when the weather gets really cold. They are in a 5×4 and fairly sheltered. Any advice please.
Both my hens are now laying!!
The eggs are pretty small..
Is that normal for first time layers?
Will the eggs become bigger as they keep laying or will the eggs remain small in size?
Hi John in Melbourne, Is that Florida or Australia? Anyway, the eggs will get larger as the hens mature. The young hens are known as pullets and the small eggs are called pullet eggs. In a month or so they will be medium to large and all will end up large and remain that way as long as they lay. Only the small bantams eggs stay small. Hope that helps. Susie
Hi Shar
This is a good question. Our dormitory is upstairs and pretty draught free so I don’t use a heat lamp in the winter.
But if your house is an ark type one your hens may appreciate a heat lamp.
Hello John
The eggs will get bigger as the hens grow and develop.
Hi Susie
Thanks, as ever, for your advice.
Hi Susie & Fn
Im in Melbourne, Australia..
Thanks for your response..much appreciated
Im so happy with my girls since they’re both started laying..
Hi got 5 Hens and a Cock a few weeks ago they were between 18/20 weeks old so looking forward to my first eggs. Lost one of the hens yesterday a white sussex found her in a hole at the base of the footings of a new conservatory seems very broody so think she may be getting ready to lay my first egg. The hens are all different breeds and get on really well together.
Question whats the best thing to do with the old straw and waste?
thanx for the advice, i think it is due to their first moult, but am getting some mite spray/powder just incase. this is a brilliant site thankyou soooo much.
Hi . I have 4 ex battery hens. had them 10 days, and got about 2 eggs a day for 5 days, now nothing. Am I likely to get any eggs over the winter? I am feeding ex bat crumb and grit. They are free range during most of the day
Hi Sue B.
If you put a sign on your gate stating you have ‘free’ chicken muck available, every gardner/allotment holder in your area will descend on you. Chicken muck is the best fertiliser you can put on your garden. I have no trouble whatsoever disposing of mine. They even bring their own bags!!!
Hi Jill
I don’t have any experience with ex battery hens so can’t help. Sorry.
Hi im new to chickens and have 2 welsummers in a triangular shaped hut on the ground. It has an indoor and outdoor section, in the indoor bit i have shavings on the ground and straw at one end and a perch. They eat a mix of layers pellets and mixed grain and leftovers. We got them in may at 5 weeks and they are now about 6 months, and as yet they havent laid. Any reasons as to why? One chicken looks more developed or ‘grown up’ then the other, ie it has the red crest on head and dangly bits under chin (sorry dont know the proper terms) they are both def girls, as we had 3 to start with and one was a cock so we got rid of it.
hi i have just saved4 hens from being locked up and they are now roaming my garden i have had them a week but no eggs think they bout 1 year old red crest on all of them they were x battery will i get a egg please ????
Hi JoJo
They will lay evetually. The shortening days will not help on the egg laying front. You might have to wait until January before you get your first egg.
Hi Lisa09
If they are all ex battery hens they are likely to be about 2 years old. At this time of year in the UK our hens stop laying for the winter.
They will lay eggs but you might have to wait until the days start to get longer again.
Hiya everyone
we bought 3 Isa brown point of lay chickens about 3-4 weeks ago and have settled them into the coup and the garden, they are fascinating to watch and are freindly enough, we have no eggs as yet but one of them is suddenly(these last two days) acting strange, she is keeping herself away from the others and goes off to bed sooner than them too, is she just being unsociable or is this normal behaviour when they are ready to lay, my hubby is convinced that hormones are involved as he has three more girls in the family! She seems to be eating ok, layers pellets and kitchen scraps, any ideas welcome please
one of my hens over the lsat few days seems to be doing the same she is making sure alot of noise then settleing in the coup for about 3 hours still making noise but then just makes nest the others stay away from her but nothing seems to appear in the nest any suggestions please bye the way she did produce what looked like a boiled egg with no shell first time but was all gundge inside they have grit and plenty of food any help please.
I have since found out that we have a Red Spider infestation….this isn’t nice for either the hens or me(when I’m cleaning out). I suspect this is the reason my hens have slowed down in laying and have bare bottoms!(I was also told the bare bottoms is due to pressure when laying eggs).
I have spent two weekends scrubbing the house out and applying the recommeded solution and I’ll do it again next week. I’m not sure if they’ve gone because red spider mite is TINY. I clean the hen house out once a week, is it worth treating it every time to keep on top of infestation?
Anyone else got this problem.?
as hen’s begin to start laying, their first eggs are often strange shapes and almost always small. They gradually settle themselves in and get used to the knack of laying and soon they produce beautiful eggs with wonderful yellow yolks.
I always add grit to their daily feed as I found they didn’t bother with it when I kept it in a separet bowl in the run.
My hens are on layers pellets, bowlful of corn. For elevenes and supper they have a mixed salad.
Hi everyone
Great site with lots of information. I have tried to get the gist of everything but so much to read. If anyone could help me with a summary of the following that would be great.
2) I have 3 Rhode Island Reds – which we got at 8 weeks old in June (I think they are around 7/10 months old now) They havnt laid any eggs yet – Am I right in saying that it may be due to the shorter days and that they were too young when it started to get darker early. SO I just have to be patient and it may be next year before we get any eggs?
They get lots of exercise time and have a big run so they should be happy as larry. I love my girls but by husband is getting a little impatient.
2) Should I be worming by hens?
3) Should I put their grit sepearate to their food as at the moment it is mixed in with their
feed.
4) I have been told that one of them is a cockeril but I dont think she is. She should have a spur by now and her feathers are the same round shape as the other 2. It this right?
Thanks everyone
Hi Kar
Yes you are right with point one. I expect that they will come into lay a few weeks after the shortest day (21st December).
I put my grit and oyster shells in the run as they like to scratch for it.
You can buy a wormer from pets at home online. I do mine every six months or so.
If the ‘cockerel’ looks the same as a hen she’s a hen
Thanks fn,
I was pretty sure she was a hen, I was just being misled by self professed chicken experts!. It would have been terrible to have say goodbye
Thanks again.
Hi KAR
If she was a cockerel she’d also be jumping on the hens by now.
Hi Fiona,
We have 5 hens- 3 Warrens and 2 Light Sussex kept in a large run. One of the Light Sussex has always been small in comparison to the other.They are all nearly 2 years old. The small Light Sussex has been plucking chest feathers most of the summer but now it is far worse and she has a totally bare chest. She has also plucked out feathers from her wings and tail. We have checked her for mites and lice but she seems fine. She is eating well and is not at the bottom of the pecking order, although we did have to treat her for sour crop a few weeks ago. She is laying. Should she have finished a moult by now? Why is this happening? Any advice would be appreciated.
Regards,
Jane S
Dear fn
Just to let you know I had my first eggs this morning. It was funny how excited I was about it. They were very vocal about it LOL
KAR
Hi we have 3 black rocks that 9 months old and they have just started laying and we get between 2, sometimes 3 eggs per day!!
Hello, Happy new year to everyone, i was wondering if anyone could help me i have 2 khaki campbell ducks and a drake they are all over a year old now and i’ve had less than 100 from both ducks and they haven’t laid for nearly 5 months. HELP!!
I’m relatively new to keeping chickens. We bought four hens from the market in October however we discovered two and a half weeks ago one isn’t a hen lol – and boy is he loud! A raving loon of a cockerel – unfortunately, we can’t keep him. He’s quite boistrous. To make matters worse we had our first egg this week and we’ve since had one every day. I’m not sure which hen it is (I’ve got my suspicions) but if I get rid of the Cockerel will she stop laying?
BTW, can I just say thank you to everyone who’s posted comments on here? I never knew that it would be a January thing – just wish I’d have found this site earlier as I’d have not worried so much…..
Hi Blakely, Dont worry about getting rid of the rooster. Hens dont need the rooster to lay eggs only to fertilize them is you want to hatch them. Sometimes one of the hens will get bossy and stop laying as she thinks she is the rooster. If you find a nice quiet rooster you can bring him in and she will go back to laying. Some breeds are more docile though they all crow. Hope this helps. Susie
Thanks Susie – it’s been an odd week of eggs but stil only one a day. Still deilberating about keeping the man or not. He’s quite magnificient though.
Take care and happy chickening
Hi,
What a great site! gonna try a few things, see if my chickens will start laying again! thanks.
Does anyone know when Quails and Guinea Fowl should start laying? Have been waiting ages for the guinea fowl to start!
Thanks
Been a while since I have been here to ask for help. But for the past week or two we’ve been having problems with our leg horn and I am not sure what is going on.
All three girls have stopped laying, just stopped. Our white leg horn, looks like she is losing weight and is pulling all the fathers our from around the nape of her neck and shoulders. She looks sick. The other two (R.I.R and Jersey) seem to be doing fine and not effected any way like our leg horn except for the not laying part.
Any clue as to why she is like this?
They get feed and water every day plus they have a feed block in their coop.
I have 4 hens who are at least 10 months to a year old. But I have only got a couple of eggs about every 2 or three months for awhile. They were about ready to lay before winter arrived. When should they begin to lay everyday? One recently layed about a month ago. Another I received from a neighbor and it layed and then just stopped. Hope you can help me.
Hi Bryan, This is the worst time for laying. The winter causes the hens to really drop production. Ususally they molted just as winter arrives as they change to winter feathers, so between one thing and another we all sit around waiting for the production to pick up, Mine have just started and its still just one more egg each day. I live in Florida US, we usually have mild winters but this year it is cooler for us. I expect by the end of february things should be looking up. Hope this helps. Susie
My Babe and I rescued 3 ex Battery hens 14 weeks ago. We were led to believe that they were around 18 months old and their egg production had dropped off, which is why they were released. So far we have had over 200 eggs. We give most of them away to the family. What wonderful girls they have turned out to be.
Hi Dexter
Egg laying dramatically drops off after a couple of years. Although our Maran, Carol, is still laying regularly at six years old. We have a couple of seven year old hybrid hens who don’t really lay at all now but as they are pets we don’t mind.
Hello
I have 1 rhode island, 2 marans and a light sussex (hens). the 2 marans are ready to lay but is there a way to help them lay and would the others interfere?
Hi there could any1 help me,im new to hens and Cockerels,but im learning very quick.But i still got a few questions,i have 2hens and 1 cokeral yet i have not had a single egg,in 5months.But if and when i do get a egg,if i eat it,does it taste any diffrent if its fertile or not??as sometimes i believe they can be hard to tell…also do chickens prefer perches in the box??many thanx
Hi Wayneboy, If you have young hens and got them about in Sept. They will start laying soon. If they are older hens they may have been going through molting time. They loose feathers and dont lay. As far as the rooster, one can service about a dozen hens and have a good fertile probability. Hens lay eggs with or without the rooster. His job is fertility and there is no way you can tell the difference until you try to hatch the eggs. Have patience the days get longer and warmer and the laying starts. Good Luck, Susie….
It is important for egg laying that hens receive correct feed. A proper layers mix with correct protein levels is a must. No scraps and not too much corn.
MANY MANY THANX SUZIE..SINCE THE OTHER DAY I HAVE DECIDED TO MOVE OUT,OF MY HOUSE,AND MOVE TO A NEW ONE,SO IVE DECIDED…TO SPOIL THEM AND BUILD A NEW BIG,ENCLOSURE FOR THEM,AND HAVE A FEW MORE HENS,WILL KEEP U UPDATED..THANX
Hi, Our 4 chickens have run of the garden during the day and so go bug hunting and we scatter minced veg and fruit around for them to find. They dont seem to like their layers pellet and will only have around a hand full each day.They love mealie worms and corn as well. Will it matter to them if they dont eat a great deal of layers pellet or should we cut back on all other foods and make them eat more pellets? One has started to lay and the others have brught red combs so may start soon…they are all between 18-20 weeks. Sam
I’m at my wits end with 2 of our 3 silkies. I live in the city, so I’ve naturally got neighbors to think of… (since this is the “egg layer” section-I might as well add that 2 of the silkies have been laying for a week now, yay!
now, to wait for UC acceptance letters, hmmm) anyhow.
The problem:
My hens are squawking non-stop these days. I don’t know what it’s about, and apparently my parents have gotten complaints from our neighbors now. =[
I don’t know how to stop them, either! Anyone encountered this problem?? Any solutions?
I just got some day old rhode island red chicks and i was wondering when they will be old enough to lay
Hiya – we live town and have neighbours on all sides, i have 2 hens and had them from chicks last may – they didnt start laying until about 2-3 weeks ago!! But they too have had a few days lately where they have squawked and clucked like you wouldnt believe. I havent had complaints but most people will have been able to hear it…. but they seemed to coincide with them starting to lay for first time, as if they are freaking out and dont know whats happening to them. I have one that jumps in and out all day long and kicks out all the straw and bedding prior to laying its egg at teatime! Crazy thing, but they are settling down now and i havent heard them go mad for a while now – so this could be the prob with yours, they are just settling into laying and im sure if you explain to the neighbours that the noise is only a tempory thing and promise a few eggs once they get going they should shut up!!
I live in Spain and have 8 chickens and 1 cockeral, i have a brrody hen sitting at the moment on 16 eggs but as she is sitting where the others normally lay there eggs the others have now stopped laying , what do i need to do do to get them laying again as I CANT MOVE THE broody who bis sitting on the eggs, any answer would be appreciated
you CAN usually move a broody hen into a smaller pen if you have one so long as it has a nice nest box… I usually find broody hens in bushes, so I always move mine. good luck though!
on another subject- I have a hen who is egg-bound and was wondering if anyone had a solution to that?
One of my Sussex hens disappeared for a week or so before I went on a 2 week hol got back and yes I saw my hen back in the garden only to disappear again before bedtime. Next day I located her in the bracken down on the hillside and guess what we have 2 baby chicks too! Well done Hettie. I rescued them all and have put them in the summer house as I don’t have another chicken pen do you normally need another pen or what are the alternatives pls
Hi Sue B
Oh good for Hettie! They definitely need to be in a seperate pen until the chicks are about three months old.
Great no summer house this year for me then! When will Hettie (mommy hen) want to leave her chicks to go out and see the other hens and when does she lay eggs again.
Hi Su B
She will stay with the chicks until they are big ebough for all of them to join the rest of the flock – about three months. Then she will be busy looking after them so wan’t probably start to lay for a while.
I have just got my family and Myself 4 hybrid hens, they are all around 19 weeks old and today , which is there third day with us one of them has laid our first egg (well done rosemary). My question is that she didn’t lay it in the nesting box but in the corner of the Hen house. The nesting Box’s (two) have both been cushioned with straw. Is this usual for Hens to ignore the Box’s in favor of the pull-out tin floor which also has a minimal layer of straw so that i can collect the droppings. Thanx Garry
Hi Gary
Hens don’t necessarily lay eggs where you want them to lay! Most like the nesting box eventually (if tht=is is a dark place) but you will find eggs all over the shop in time.
Hi FN,
Im new to keeping Chickens and these are our first . Should we handle the chickens on a daily basis to get them used to us. Two of the four are quite nervous, also what type of sand should i use for them to dust themselves in. Thank you Garry
Hi FN,
Im knew to keeping chicken and have Four 18/20 week old hens. I would ike to know if I need to handle them on a daily Basis to get used to us. Could you also tell me what type of sand is required for them to have a dust bath and should it be put in a separate box for them to use or just lay it on the floor of the coop.
Many Thanks for your time Garry B
Hi Gary
Handling your chickens can only be a good thing and most of them enjoy a cuddle. If you buy sand for them get silver sand (the sort that is used in children’s sand pits). However our chickens make their own dustbaths in the run and seem happy with that.
Thank you FN ,
You have been most helpful I have no doubt that i will call on you again.
Kindest Regards
Garry
We have recently purchased 2 leghorns only had them over a week and have had 2 eggs already, the run we have them in is only small
Hi everyone,
We have 5 hens, all in their third year. One hen has started to eat the eggs on a regular basis before they are collected (the nest box is checked often).Does anyone have any advice on how to stop this? Many thanks. Jane
Dear FN,
I thought I may be back with another question. Out of four 20week old hens three seem to be laying normally, the fourth has laid not one but three eggs today . The shells are more like a rubber than shell. Margo seems very subdued . Could you give me any indication what could be the problem and is it normal for a new laying hen to lay so may at once ?
Kind regards Garry B
Hi I have a question . my hens have been laying eggs all spring it is almost july and now they are not laying . everything is the same, Ilive in Mo. and it is very hot right now could that be the reason they are not laying ?
One of my chickens looks poorly. She has not been laying and she looks plump at the rear. Her tail is also down, and she has not got very much get up and go. Does anyone have any advice?????
Interesting comment that chickens can lay only a maximum of one egg a day .. perhaps our aussie “chooks” ( as we call them ) have greater talent than those in the northern hemisphere?
I have red hens. I usually get between6 and 8 eggs per day.. seems like someones’
chooks must be sneaking and laying eggs in our chook run!
I remember as a child, my Dad loved his chooks. He had one special hen. A grey speckled creature with a great personality — My dad named her “Jenny the Machine” . why ???
you wont beleive this .. but she was regularly laying up to 7 eggs per day. Spent most of her day on the nest … but she was loved by all of the family.
What was she fed ?? nothing special 0- some warm hand mixed bran and pollard of a morning ( as were all the other chooks — and some wheat at day’s end.
Hi Okellie
The heat will affect egg production any extremes of temperature will put hens off lay.
any advice??? i have two bantams that were laying an egg each almost every day ,until i decided i wanted some normal sized eggs, so i got two chickens. ever since that day they havnt laid a single egg. does anyome have any ideas on how to get them back to normal.
ps. they all seem to be getting on ok together.
thanks
Hi just to update you all Hetti and her chicks (now 7 wks old) all doing fine. Hetti goes out in the garden during the day with the other hens and back to chicks at night for the last week now Hetti back in coup with other hens at night and chicks on their own. Only problem is we had two wasp nests in the summerhouse with the chicks I have managed to remove the nests but should I wait to spray powder etc till the chicks have moved out or will it be safe to spray wasp killer in their. It gets really warm in there.
I’m not sure you really need to spray poweder if you’ve already removed the wasps nests?? Don’t they usually just move on if their nests are destroyed? Or are these those pesky wasps that return time and again?
I’ve found that if I destroy the nests they move to another place ( usually into my garage for somer eason!
Hi FN.
I have four 22 week old chickens and they are all laying regularly , most days we get four eggs>
One of the hens has taken to continue to sit on the eggs, spending most of the day in the nest box. I have been taking her out and removing the eggs as soon as I see the other hens lay them. Am I doing the right thing and how can i deter her from sitting on the others eggs .
Thanks Garry
I have one adult chicken of unknown age and 3 young chickens about 5 months old. When will the young ones start laying. Will i have to wait until spring? Also the older chicken produces about 5 eggs a week, small brown ones. The last 2 have been smaller and they are greeny in appearance. Whats that all about?
Hi Garry, If you have 22 Chickens, and you’re getting four eggs a day, it is probably wrong to say they are ‘all laying regularly” Its been my experience since boy hood that a chicken will average one egg a day. some chickens, depending on breed and circumstances will lay more — we once had a grey speckled chicken which regularly laid 7 eggs in one day .. my Dad used to call her ‘the machine” .. she was always laying..
But I’d suspect your four daily eggs, are probably all coming from the same four chickens,, otherwise if all were laying regularly a daily egg that should be 22 eggs per day you are gathering —- give or take an egg or two
Hi all Dear Hetti has gone off in the bracken again and is broody how often will they get like this as I can’t find her to take her off the eggs and I’m afraid we will end up with new chicks all year round
Dear Garry, A broody hen will sit each time she gets an egg to sit on. Removing them will discourage her and eventually she will give up. Her comb usually is pink instead of red when she is broody. Just keep taking the eggs away. The green eggs are coming from another hen maybe 2 others. Auracana chickens lay green to blue eggs. Since they are smaller I think you have 2 starting to lay. They will get bigger as the chicken matures in a month or so. Susie
hi, i got 3 silkie cross chooks about 5weeks ago,they should be about 5months old now, but what i would like to kno is,is it normal at thier age to have a blooded up nest box? 3weeks ago there was a week where there was 3 different poops with blood at the end,then nothing until now, when i have opened the box this morning and there is red jelly blood rite down through the hay to the box floor!!! i am a little alarmed! i dont know wich 1 it is, they are all eating well,look and act fine, getting their wattles, please help!!
Hi Sonja
This must be scary. I haven’t had the problem myself so scoured the Internet and found this forum thread which looks pretty good
http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=42224.0
I do hope that you find an answer soon.
Hi,
I wonder if you could tell me what might be causing some of (not all) of my egg yolks to be an almost white color. I have 4 hens and I feed them Layers Pellets and Layers Mash. I also give them Greens and some crushed corn as a treat . Is there something I’m missing from their Diet ?
Thank you
Garry B
i was justwondering i got 10 ready to lays yesterday and was expecting to wake up to eggs this morning didnt happen..we have a good setup for them had help from our neighbours who have had chickens for years….so my question is how long after i get them should they start laying…do they need timeto adjust to the environment?
thanks fn, that was very useful page!they
all seems fine again today,sunbathing,chasing eachother over the coup n round their penn, so i am hoping that it is just a blip in digestion, as the site suggests!
WHAT A WONDERFUL SITE THIS IS
thankyou so much xx
just to let you know, that last nite i had a lonely egg left in the penn! how chuffed was i!!!
i dont know if this is of any relevance to my previous post, but iv still had no problems since!
im happy =)
one of my chickens has stopped laying, she is about7 months old, she seems to go in egg then lays what looks like a rubber egg , what is the problem
How do you know if a chicken is broody? Im told theres a difference between “broody” and “clucky”.
Howe do you “set” eggs?
How do you know they are fertile eggs?
It would be pointless putting un fertilized eggs under a hen, surely?
Hi Have recently about 4 weeks ago bought a trio of white silkies to add to our flock we were told to spray all our hens new and old with spray deodorant so they all smelt the same and would mix together guess what it worked! However, 4 weeks on my original Leghhorn rooster who till now looked better than any I’ve seen in local shows has suddenly started looking like he’s loosing his feathers and seems quite down could this be because of one of the silkies may be a cockerel and he’s being intimmidated even though he was the original cockerel in the group.
Hi Sue B
Some chickens naturally maoult around this time of year – so no need to worry. If your cockerel is bigger than the Silkies – being a Leghorn he is certain to be – he will remain top.
Thanks for the reassurance he just looks so scruffy and has always been so lovely
Hi, I have four pekin bantams that are between 16 and 18 weeks old. Should I start them on layers pellets? They have been on Garvo minipellets until now.
I’m also worried as there seems to be lots of feathers in the house. Are they too young to moult or are they pulling them?
I give them a good few handfuls of grass each day (the coop is on plain earth), a handful of grain in the morning to say hello and they have access to their food all the time. They have access to water in the daytime. I’ve got barley straw in the coop and nesting box…
Just not sure if I’m doing everything right. Any tips would be great please!
Thanks
Hi Ruth
We always move from chick crumbs to layers pellets without a problem so I reckon that it would be fine to switch them.
I’m not sure about the ‘moulting’ so you need to research elsewhere. Also if you spend just 10 mins observing them it will be obvious if bullying is taking place.
Chickens love their water so I’d give them access to this at all times – even a saucer of water in their house overnight would make a difference if they get up earlier than you.
Apart from that I think that you are doing everything ‘right’. You probably won’t get eggs until 2011 as the days are now getting shorter and Pekins are not really a laying breed. However Pekins have great characters and I miss mine a lot.
Hi fn,
I don’t think any bulling is taking place, other than the usual pecking order stuff. It does seem to be a mixture of all their feathers… i think. I’ll have to check.
They don’t seem to drink loads of water. I did start off by putting it in with them at night, but then worried about it spilling and wetting the coop. I’d read somewhere that they’d be fine overnight with out. But, yeah they are up earlier than me and I’ll give that a go again I think.
They seem to be quite shy about coming out of the coop and don’t spend as much time outside as I would have thought…
You’re right they do have great characters!
Hi
I’m having trouble with my silkie bantam hen & rooster, my hen just layed her first three eggs a day or two ago but is not laying anymore and i dont want to touch the eggs just incase they are fertalised and then she rejects them.
My rooster, im sure, does not know how to mate he has tried with my hen but only backwards and im sure she cant be fertelised if he does it backwards.Should i just leave it and hope he figures out the right way or should i get a new rooster?? (He is quite old.)
Also i bought my hen mainly for breeding purposis and not for eggs, as they do not produce very large eggs.Can you help with my chick problems.(or my lack there of)???
Also my hen does not seem to be very broody and that doesn’t help when i want chicks and not eggs!
I live in south africa so we have just finished winter and it’s becoming spring now. how do i get chicks???
Thanks alot
Taryn
Hi
How do i tell wether my chickens eggs are fertile or not and how do i get my hen to hatch them??
Also, i want to make new egg boxes but my chicken just started laying and im not sure wether its safe to take her old box away because i read that chickens like to lay in the same box everytime, what do i do??
Hi Taryn
You can’t make a hen go broody although Silkies are prone to go broody. You just have to be patient and wait. I think that iy might be a good idea to invest in a younger rooster – if he is old and still doesn’t know the right position is a big problem. Perhaps he has the chicken equivalent of goofy teeth.
What is your set up? Do you just have the two? If so it would be kinder to invest in another hen too and then you would be 50% more likely to have a hen going broody.
I don’t know how to tell whether an egg is fertilised.
Hi, If you want to know if eggs are fertile you have to candle them. Thats an old term still used as they actually used candles years ago. Today any good light will do. after the eggs have been sat on or put in an incubator for a week you put a light behind them. A flashlight thats bright works fine. you will see what looks like spider webs or fine threads and then the egg is fertile. No fine threads the egg is not fertile. The eggs must be kept warm by the hen or the incubator or even if they are fertile they will not hatch. Hope this helps. Susie, Florida, USA…
hello everyone its 18 month since ive visited the site and i can see fn is still giving excellent advice.ive now gone onto layers mash 6.50 for 25 kilo and im not feeding nothing else at all ive 150 hens there laying like mad.im still having problems with redmite ive used everything to kill them they must be one of the hardest things in the world to get rid of
We have got 4 hens (2xpeking bantams, 2 x bantams) they were born on 20th July 2010. Can u tell me when they r due to start laying they have been moulting, some more than others, is this right? Also they r currently in their run all the time I want to let them out in the garden, will they back in their house on their own when it gets dark or will I have to catch them and put them in? Also I am feeding them Garbo food that we was advised when we bought them (for growing) will I need to change this if they r goingt o start laying? Also any ideas of treats I can give them. We r new at this and would appreicate any advise.
Hi Kirsty, Your chicks are quite young. Most chickens start to lay after they are 5 months old or later. They dont need laying feed til they get close to that time. They will go back into their coop all by themselves at night. Its natural for them. Hope this helps. I think you may have a while for eggs as winter has less sun lit hours and so the laying slows down. Susie in Florida
Hi Kirsty, Susie’s right, even our utility ISA Browns (one egg a day give or take sub zero temperatures, nuclear holocaust etc) slow down slightly in the dark and cold of winter (and when moulting).
Also, it’s great that you are planning to let them out – they will really thrive with a bit of freedom and scratching around – just cover up any tender seedlings with twigs. They will usually put themselves away at night but I would maybe encourage them inside the first couple of times in case they decide to prefer a nice sheltered hedge or bush! I heard bantams more likely to try and roost in trees?
Finally, for treats, be careful not to give them anything that has salt, strong spices or meat (or eggs, I wouldn’t anyway) in; you can chop it up a bit as they obviously tend to guzzle stuff whole, but my girls love:
cooked plain rice
cooked plain pasta
cooked plain potatoes (especially mashed and they do look funny with it all over their beaks)
cooked plain spaghetti (they think it is worms and rush trying to steal it off each other)
cooked or uncooked veg like broccoli or spinach(try hanging up a whole cabbage or lettuce for them in the run)
left over cereal with milk (but not too often cos of additives)
They also get a small handful of mixed corn in the evenings – important not to give it in the a.m. as they will then not eat their boring but more nutritious pellets; and also because corn is rich and the richer the food the less they will lay, I have heard.
Hope this helps!
Enjoy your first eggs!
We seem to get varying opinion on what is bestfor our bantams – for me, I give them some “millrun” (bran with pollard) mixed with water an large cup of mixed grain, (corn the predominant one, but also includes laying pellets) for ‘breakfast’
I have 7 bantas, 8 guinea fowl and four normal chooks.( hens)
About 1 pm ( if I’m home) i give them about half a cup of mixed grain … and to entice the ‘stragglers into their coop at night, I give them another cup of mixed grain,.
They are pretty much free rangers – and they certainly keep the weeds down. The Guinea fowl are said to be good atkeeping ticks at bay ( and so far this australian summer, it appears to be true…. and as a group they will also have a go at rounding up a snake ( so thats probably why I havent seen any snakes on our property this season! … I have however, seen two carpet pythons not far from where the chicken coop is – a python loves to eat chickens! so I’m keeping a close watch on what goeson there ( In Australia most snakes/pythons etc are protected by law. You are not allowed to kill them ( unless there are no witnesses!(wink).
From my collection of poultry I am getting between 7 and 11 eggs per day,, (for now) so I think Im happy with the formula I’ve come up with.
do 2 female light Sussex have eggs
I have a bantam hen who has taken to sitting on a nest all day – nearly every day –no eggs under her, she just sits there and rarely leaves the next to eat.
Should I isolate her from all nesting opportunities, or just let her laze around in bed all day?? It can’t surely be healthy for her??
Hi newslug
Your hen is broody. Hens can go broody without eggs to sit on. She will not be happy in this state and will continue until you stop her. I have a post here which will help
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/how-to-make-a-broody-coop-for-your-chickens-and-bantams-in-under-an-hour-289
Hi Susan
Yes they do lay eggs. But it’s late in the season now so expect laying to begin in January.
Hey Fn
I dont know if you remeber me but i wrote in about my silkie that wouldnt mate the rite way around…
Well, we have seen him doing it in the rite position and my silkie bantam is laying splendidly, we have just built a wonderfull hen house for her and the other hen (average chicken, brown)and the brown one is also laying great, unfortunitly or fotunitly my hen has finaly gone broody but its the wrong hen…
my silkie layed 12 eggs and my brown layed five but my BRONWN hen is hatching them! which is fine really, i just wanted to let all the other chicken people out there that they should just let there chicken do what she does best and all will be well. =)
Hi
I am new on here its 25th jan and i have no eggs from my birds
I have my two year old and 8mth olds about 30 in total but no eggs to date, the older birds where laying well last year.
I have them on shredded paper with barley straw in the nest boxes and on layers pellets
what am i doing wrong the geese and turkeys are not laying either
I feed them in hoopers every morning and open the cages about 7.30am they are free range all day and shut up at dusk.
Hi Marion
Welcome to the site.
My hens are not laying yet either – it’s starting very late this year. I have one of 2 years old and one of 18 months. I don’t think that you are doing anything wrong – you just have to be patient.
I have an Americauna that was hatched mid April. I also have 4 other hens the same age. All the hens are laying and have been since September except the Americauna. There is plenty of light and they are very healthy. Will she ever produce eggs?
Hi there,,
I have 3 hybrid hens who i bought at the end of October at point of lay. I was expecting them to start laying around now, after the cold spell, but still nothing. Is this usual? do i have to wait for the warmer days?
Today one has dug herself a hole and is nesting in it outside – could this be a sign and shouldnt she be laying in her lovely nest box?
Hi Bex
They should be laying by Easter. Pont of Lay hens are not always POL. You bought them fairly late when lots of mature chickens are going off lay. Our older hens are laying but in spurts. Our new POLs are not laying. Check the crests on their heads they will start laying when the crests go red. The one outside might have gone broody? What breed are your hens? Some lay much better than others.
hello everyone, i was wondering if you experienced people might be able to help me with my situation
A week ago i bought 14 chickens of the 13 are hens and one is a rooster. They have a amazing chicken house, as well as a pen to be in as well as rich feed. It has been about a week and only one chicken has laid an one egg. They are all grown chickens and from my previously owned chickens observation, they should really be starting to lay eggs now. Could any one help me with this situation, and perhaps any suggestions or reasons why this is happening?
Do like small chickens have an effect on the hens egg laying, these small chickens are about a few months old, do they have an affect on the egg laying of the older hens?
help would much be appreciated!
Hi William
The hens need time to settle – the move will have rattled them. They will begin to lay when they relax! You just need to be patient.
Younger hens (pullets) will not put the older ones off lay. It’s best to have a mix of ages, I think.
Thank you for you advise and your quick reply!
I understand now that they will be laying soon then i am guessing in a few days, it is good to hear that pullets don’t have an affect, what about about having different breeds of chickens together, there are chicken fights sometimes between some, but do keeping these different breeds together affect the egg productivity of the chickens? i can not exactly tell you the breed of chicken since well i am swedish and living in china, these are chinese chickens, and where i bought them there are many different breeds all together so i don’t know which one is which and what they are called. But to get to the point, does this affect the production of eggs????
Thank you so much for you previous advise, and i will get back to you with the updates!!
Hi I was wondering if you have any advice for me, my friend went to a auction today to get some Bantams and brought home 3, 1 of them a rooster she is unable to keep him so i have taken him on as i have plenty of space for him, but im wondering if he will be ok going in with my 6 hens 3 of them are around 30 weeks 3 of them are over a year old, I kept him separeate for a few hours with a mesh partition and then introduced them for 1 hour before the sun went down and they have all go into roost together.
Im just concerned as the hens gave him a good pecking, is this normal and will they settle down after a day or 2?
Thanks everso for any advice
Joanne.
hello joanne all chickens have a pecking order your cockrel will be fine in a couple of week hes new in the flock id love to no what people are paying now for layers pellets as the price as gone mad
Hello, I bought 2 Americana Chicks late last year. Id say around July. I have yet to get one single egg from them. They are on laying mesh and leftover veggies. Like corn, potatoes and peas. I read some articles last year that they needed sunlight and since there area was in the shade I moved them. I figured Id have eggs by this time this year. Today I learned about the nesting box so now they have one. Any suggestions on why they might not be laying?
I also have/had Auracaunas/Americaunas. I find them to be pretty irregular layers all year long. I’d say 3/week on average during the summer and maybe 1 a month during winter. Right now, maybe-maybe not. Evidently, the eggs are naturally low(er)-cholesterol. Be patient-the eggs are definitely worth it!
i am so glad to know that im not the only panicking ive done the wrong thing or that my chickens are sulking. have an ex-bat (3 years) a run of the mill (2 years) and just brought 6 POL 2 weeks ago….im lucky if i get 2 eggs a day out of 4 i know can lay! will just have to wait i guess…..it is funny watching them and they eat the weeds and past it plants amazingly…..good luck to us all!
Hi Yall, Havent been on in a while. This new format is easier. Older but not wiser when it comes to the new electronics. I have found my Auracanas have finally turned on. I am getting a good amount of eggs now. It did have me concerned all winter and spring. I have added 40 more white leghorn as I sell the eggs to pay for the feed for chickens and 2 small dairy cows and 1 small bull. The drought here in Florida has me buying hay still. Well hope your eggs are flowing. Susie
Hi, we have a laying hen in Qld and she spends most of the day with out labrador dog. She is now 6 months old and has not started laying yet. She eats a mix of laying pellets, grains, scraps (any we feed the dog) and is free ranged. At night we put her in the coop to keep her safe from the neighbourhood cats. If she had her way she would sleep with the dog. I am concerned that she thinks she is a dog.
Hi i have two hens – one is still laying every day bu the other has stopped. I noticed a few weeks ago that her feathers around her breast had gone and i now believe that she is having problems digesting her food as this morning her gullet is still full. i treat the house for red mite but do not do anything else. she lay one egg without a shell then the next day she lay a good egg then she laid a tiny egg now nothing – appreciate any advice.
i am really confused now…..advice would be lovely please. 3 of the new girls i mentioned above give me small eggs every day…the ones who were laying for me before hand have stopped laying…they havent given me eggs for a good 3 weeks now. even the older girls who should still have plenty to give have stopped! is it because the new ones are stopping the older ones going in the coop to lay? or are they still sulking about the big change 6 weeks ago? they are all getting on well now….im so pleased….but not the normal eggs we were used to!
Hi,
Can you please tell me how long it takes for young sussex chickens to start laying eggs.
Hi,
I purchased 3 Warren POL hens on the 10th of June 2011, we have had 1 egg (sometime towards the end of June, but not sure which hen layed the egg) to date and I am getting a little inpatient waiting for more eggs! I feed them a mixture of Layers pellets and corn and household scraps, they are also free range and seem to be happy hens! Is it just more time they need or what???!!!
You might all be better off posting these questions on the forum try this link:
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/forum/chickens
Good luck!
Stressed Chickens need your help!!!
I have 16 chickens and seven days ago a strange dog came on our farm and chased my chickens. Since then we have only been getting 6 to 8 eggs a day. Does this mean my chickens will not ever lay eggs again?
Hi Lois
Don’t worry, they have been severely rattled by a ‘wolf’. You will get eggs eventually when the hens settle down.
one of my new chickens is sleeping all the time it will only walk a few steps then lays down and goes back to sleep, she is only about 6 months, and not not started laying yet, she is a Warren chicken
Hi Amanda
We had a chicken like this. He didn’t grow properly and he was always odd – we named him Baby. He appeared to be sleeping but in the end I reckoned that it was some kind of epilepsy. He died after a year and during that year he crept into my heart so is sadly missed. Sometimes chickens are not the full six pack – just give her loads of cuddles as she probably won’t last very long.
hi everyone,
we have 6 chickens about 18wks old, an had our very first eggs this morning, as i found out when i noticed hubby dancing round the garden lol the eggs are very small and i was wondering if they will get bigger?
we have 2 blackrocks, 1 magpie, 1 leghorn, 1 sussex pont and 1 rhondda blue
hi,
my family and i are very new to keeping hens. we have 1 rhode isl red, 1 speckled sussex, 1 buff orpington and 1 cuckoo maran. the last two i know are only about 20 wks and so not laying yet but the first two are older maybe 8mths or older and not laying at all. is it too late for them to lay now this year or can i still live in hope. we got all four of them 3/4 wks ago.all have been wormed. thay live in a very spacious run most of the day and are let out in the garden when we are with them most afternoons.
We are new to raising hens. We have 5 Speckled Suxxes that hatched July 15th. I know that it takes a few month for them to start laying. Which will be around November or December(I think). My questions is We live in Washington state will the cold weather hinder their laying or will they still lay?
oops I meant Sussex
HI NICOLE HERE AGAIN. ASWELL AS HELPING WITH MY QUESTION ABOVE WE ARE THINKING OF GETTING A COCKREL NOT FOR BREEDING BUT TO HELP KEEP THE FOUR GIRLS SAFE FROM PREDATORS.IS THERE A GOOD AGE TO LOOK FOR WHEN INTRODUCING ONE TO EXISTING YOUNGISH HENS AND DOES IT MATTER IF IS A DIFFERENT BREED TO ANY OF THEM ie:GOLDEN BRAMHA?
Hi, We have just got 6 more chickens to add to the 2 that we had already, These 6 are about
16-18 weeks old, the women we got them of didnt say if they were laying yet? Should they be laying, If not how long would we have to wait? Thanks
I got 3 pullets that hatched around Easter. I live in a subtropical climate and it has been a hot summer. I don’t have any roosters. They are about 20 weeks old. A couple weeks ago I noticed feathers in the coop. Are they moulting? Can you tell me when my hens will lay?
I have a dozen or so chickens varying types. I bought them all in the two weeks before Easter. I’m feeding them laying pellets, oyster shell, grapes, blue berries, cabbage lettuce, and lots of fresh corn. They have two coops and they free range, but still no eggs. When should I expect them. I live in south Georgia so it’s hot
I just bought 4 golden comets, 2 brown leghorns, 1 barred rock, and 2 young buff orpingtons. I have them set up in a dog kennel in the back yard with a modified large wooden dog house. I put a roost in the top of it and 2 milk crates on the floor. I bought all these girls from the same place who raise free ranged chickens. Its been a week now and no eggs. I put a golf ball in one of the crates but all they do is bury it. I haven’t seen any of them sitting or in the boxes. Why haven’t I gotten any eggs? Also I noticed that the barred is blowing snot bubbles and sneezing alot. I have them on straw and am feeding them a mixture of chicken feed and table scraps, along with a few mealworms here and there. We are really wanting to try and stay antibiotic free. Please help.
Hi Amy
Chickens are very senseitive to change so the move to their new home would have rattled them. You don’t mention how old they are – did you buy them at point of lay. It might be worth giving the breeder a call as to there ages and also the sneezing of the barred. She could be allergic to straw – we have our chickens on woodchips (the sort used for horses and rabbits). They need to be fed layers pellets – kitchen scraps should be kept to a minimum.
All the hens are laying age except the Buff’s. They are fed laying crumbles chicken scaps are only used as a treat and usually isn’t much. I have Pine flakes so I guess I change the litter. Also I am planning on building nesting boxed the milk crates were just easy at the time.
Sometimes when they are laying age in the autumn they just don’t lay until the spring. Egg laying starts to fall of with older hens as the day shortens. We got our first POL hens one August and it was January before we got the first egg. You may be lucky but I’d prepare to be patient, just in case. You are not doing anything wrong!
Hello, I too have garden pet chickens. They have put life into my garden here in the UK and I now spend much of my time keeping them company. I have had them since the start of this summer,(2011). I now have six eggs every morning,but one brown hen has not started. She is a loner and very quiet. Her crown is still very small and a pale pink. Should I take her to the vet? She does eat, but not as much as the other 6 chickens. Thank you.
Hi Gillian
Sometimes hens take quite a lot longer to mature and lay eggs. The fact that her comb is pink indicates this. As the days are shortening I reckon that she might not lay until the days start to lengthen again. No need to worry – just be patient.
I have bought three pol chickens, a bovas nera, a speckled sussex and a columbine. The speckled is the only one to lay and she has laid an egg every day for us. We have had one other egg but not sure who has laid that one. Should i be worried that the other two are not laying?
Also can you help with ideas as to what we can put on the ground in the run. We have a cosy hen house and an enclosed run we have put down wood chippings and straw but it is getting wet with all the rain we are having. Any other suggestions would be helpful.
I have 5 Silver laced wyandottes which are about 27 weeks old now, they have a pen to do what they want in and a Cockerel which has finally started to crow. Can anyone tell me when do they start to lay eggs. I have been told the saxony ducks we have about the same age will not lay till Feb but with the chucks its very dis-heartening checking the box and there been nothing there.
Hi can anyone tell me when my hen will lay again? She has hatched three chicks one hen and two cockerels. They hatched on 23rd July and up until the point of broodiness she lay every day. Her comb is bright red and Shea back to fighting weight but no sign of her laying again….
Hello Fn (and what a wise old bird you are, on the subject of chickens at least),
I bought my two black, quite small hens in Aug this year (I reckon they were born in spring), I have not got any eggs yet but now see from your site that I may have at least another month to wait. The hens are free range and all I feed them is corn. Should I start feeding them the laying pellots yet? Also I was told to leave the nesting area clear, would the hay encourage them more? I have just placed into the area a dummy egg and the 1st night they slept elsewhere! Im just soo excited, maybe they’re waiting to give me a wee xmas pressie. Finger crossed
Your chickens should be laying- our chickens lay 1 a day each day even now in winter
if they are brooding then they’ll be sitting on the eggs and you have to be a bit mean and kick them off every single day, maybe even lock them out of the hen house so they can actually get some exercise, food, water etc. otherwise you’ll have a scrawny chicken….one of our chickens went broody and even after kicking her off everyday it still took over a month for her to behave 
she went from top hen to bottom of the pecking order during this time
@leeane – they’re normally 18 weeks old when they lay….we’ve been keeping hens since I was little and fake eggs don’t really work. They will lay where they want to sometimes until they work out for themselves where the nesting box is…we’ve always had a little straw in ours to make it comfortable and in regards to their sleep, ours sleep on perches or even on the floor in the sawdust. We feed our hens laying pellots, leafy veggies, grass cuttings and salad leaves (kitchen scraps mainly but never feed them potato!!!) mealworms as a treat (Can get from pet shops) and corn as a definate treat
Hannah, our birds love a wee bit of mashed potato! Why shouldnt I feed them it? Still no eggs but I have read they will lay when the days start to get a bit longer!? I reckon they are 6 or 7 mths old and I am feeding them 2 thirds corn and 1 third laying pellets. They also eat what they find around the garden. Fingers crossed I get an egg soon.
what wrong with potatoes for my girls??
There is some interesting information about how many eggs you can expect per month over the lifetime of chickens at this site:
http://sites.google.com/site/egglayingstats/
You can see that for these bantam breeds (Bearded Belgian and Silver Dutch), the number that they lay increases quickly in the spring and then decreases slowly after peaking in early summer. Some of the hens died after a year or two, but others carried on laying until their eighth year!
I have 2 -1st year Austalorps and they are off laying now, but want to add 2 more (the max allowed in my little world) in Spring. How do you introduce newbies?
I am just waiting here for them to notice that the days are getting longer!!
And why don’t my girls like salad greens as everyone seems to think? They ate all of my strawberry plants and peices of cucumber, but don’t like the soft lettuce I throw next to it. What’s with that?
Liz, I’d introduce new hens slowly. Perhaps but two runs next to each other to start with if you use runs.
Chickens can be a bit fussy when it comes to food. You may find that they only eat certain foods when they are laying. They seem to ‘know’ what they need.