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How long to confine hen to see if she's laying

post #1 of 7
8/2/12 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 

Long and short of it is, we have 13 hens and most of them are not laying... I know two of them who are, but we are only getting 2 or usually 3 eggs a day. Birds are healthy, not molting (3 of them did molt about 2 or 3 months ago), have been dewormed recently, and are free ranging within an area confined by electric netting that gets moved every few weeks.  They are fed Purina Layena and occasionally get cracked corn when the kids are interested in throwing it out to them.  I'm going to systematically go through and confine particular hens to see if they are laying, but because my only place to confine them is a small dog kennel approx. 4ft x 6ft, I don't want to confine them longer than necessary.  How long would you confine them before deeming them "non-layers" and getting rid of them?  We can't keep nonproductive hens around, so this has become a serious issue recently.  I was thinking of maybe 3 days or possibly 4 at the most but want to hear input on it.  Thanks in advance!

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post #2 of 7
8/2/12 at 7:49pm

how old are they and what breed?

 

Where do you live, I live in Oklahoma and the heat stress is causing my girls to slow down. Yesterday I got 9, today 3 (unless they are hiding them again).

 

Larger breeds age slower and usually start to lay around 20 weeks but sometime they take longer.  Their combs and wattles will be bright red before they start laying.

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post #3 of 7
8/2/12 at 10:08pm

This post sounds exactly like mine! I have 25 hens and none are laying. So I purchased two Blue Laced Red Wyandottes that were already laying and when they arrived, they have never laid an egg. I asked the previous owner (NPIP certified and Greenfire Farms purchased) and he said he had moved them to a different rooster before they left and that might be why. That was over a month ago. No eggs. They have no respect for my my Crested Cream Legbar Rooster- they bully him and so does the guinea.

 

Is there something- anything- that I could be doing or not doing to make an entire flock of various breeds and various ages NOT lay eggs?

 

All of my hens were bought as chicks from reputable dealers from Greenfire to Mcmurray. They are all ages ranging from 18 weeks to one year old.

 

They free range and have feed from Modesto Mills. They have oyster shell laid out for them and grit. They are BEAUTIFUL and happy and relatively stress free (except for the recent heat).

 

When I cooped them up for longer than usual to see if they would lay, not one egg. I've searched their area with a stick everyday and don't see any eggs... they can't be hiding 25 eggs a day that well.

 

So the only answer is that I have met the Guiness Book of World's Records as the largest flock of rare, beautiful and non-producing hens...

 

 

it's a mystery.

I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives called into question...

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I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives called into question...

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post #4 of 7
8/2/12 at 11:54pm

Just a thought about the eggs, could something be eating them or taking them?

 

And yes you would be surprised how many eggs can be hidden in a place you never thought of. Someone posted on here that their guineas stopped laying only to find over 200 eggs hidden behind a log.
 

I had something similar happen just this week. My leghorns stopped laying eggs, so I thought, but as I was working in the yard I saw one of them jump up 4 feet to get inside an old crate. Her and the other leghorn decided that was the place to be and I found 5 eggs, 2 eggs per day over the days I though they stopped laying.

 

Another person posted that one of his hens disappeared only to be found a month later in the rafters with a bunch of newly hatched chicks.

 

Even one of my ducks found a small gap in the fence, went out and made a nest in the tall grass, laid her egg and then would come back inside the fence. I thought she had stopped laying because I too searched the run that I kept them in.  I found out about it only because we were finally able to get out and clean the fence line during a break in the heat.

 

So when you've looked in all the possible spots, start looking in all the impossible spots.

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post #5 of 7
8/3/12 at 4:46am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the input, I've tried figuring out why they're slowing down on eggs, and it's just been nothing but frustrating, so I'm sort of giving up on them- I just can't justify in my situation, feeding hens that aren't producing for us, so if they aren't laying regularly then they go to someone else who just wants to have friendly chickens to eat bugs and scratch and be cute... lol  The area they are confined to is about 80 ft x 40ft, and is just grass pasture, they fertilize for us.  Right now they have a small tree, but usually it's nothing but grass.  They have a coop that we move and it's just high enough off the ground that they can get under it, and a small trailer that provides another shade spot for them.  So there really is nowhere to hide eggs, and even if they were laying outside of the nests, it would be very easy to spot them.  We did have a heat wave for about a week a month ago but the last few weeks it has been mid 80's and we have a constant breeze, we live in the mountains of VA.  All the birds are adults and the youngest are 2 years old, some are around 3-4 years, and I have 1 Americauna who is 6 years old and she still lays an egg about every 2 days, and one 1 1/2 yo Black Australorp I know is laying because she just raised chicks and had started to lay eggs in the "nursery" before I put her back out with the flock.  So everyone else is "suspect."  I've got 3 partridge rocks in the test area, I suspect these three have not laid since we got them 3 months ago.  So basically I'm trying to decide how long to give them inside this kennel before I dub them non-layers, find them a new home, and put some more hens in the kennel for "testing." Do you think 3 or 4 days would be enough?  Surely if they were one of the hens still producing an egg for us, they would lay one within 3 or 4 days??  I just need to figure out if 3 or 4 days is long enough to give them a chance to prove that they are laying or not.  Just frustrating, but I've decided to move on and eliminate the non-layers from the flock... :(

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post #6 of 7
8/3/12 at 6:07am

have you checked their vents?

A small tight dry vent is a sure sign of not laying.
 

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post #7 of 7
8/3/12 at 9:13am
Thread Starter 

Hmmmm, haven't checked vents, didn't know that was a sure sign of whether or not they are laying, I'll have to peek and see, and compare to the two I know for a fact are laying... thanks for the advice

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BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying › How long to confine hen to see if she's laying