Do you have any tricks to jump start the egg laying process? Yes, I know nature will truly decide.

[donrae]

MMM does consider Cochins exotic, so I think you're right there. He's going to be a stunning boy when he matures!

My Faverolles rooster is also very calm, almost to the point of "I wonder if he's normal"

He's so huge, though! The hen that came with him was called Fluffy, so we named the rooster Gabriel---after The Fluffy Movie

. Plus the personality sure fits!

 

[Rich55016]

Where are the nests?
Are they easy to get up and down from?

Ping pong balls maybe too light and get kicked out of nest.....better to go with golf balls, heavy, solid fake eggs or sand filled hollow plastic 'easter eggs'.


Sometimes first year layers will lay all winter without supplemental lighting, sometimes they won't. Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting. Some folks think that using lighting shortens the years a hen will lay, I don't agree with that theory but I also plan to cull my older hens for soup at about 3 years old.


Signs of onset of lay---I've found the pelvic points to be the most accurate.
Squatting:
If you touch their back they will hunker down on the ground, then shake their tail feathers when they get back up.
This shows they are sexually mature and egg laying is close at hand.

Combs and Wattles:
Plump, shiny red - usually means laying.
Shriveled, dryish looking and pale - usually means not laying.
Tho I have found that the combs and wattles can look full and red one minute then pale back out the next due to exertion or excitement, can drive ya nuts when waiting for a pullet to lay!

2 bony points(pelvic bones) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.

ETA: Oh one good trick is to start a thread here complaining about no eggs, they'll lay the next day!!
JK really, but I have seen it happen numerous times..haha.

If you look at the 7th picture, with my BR i believe. You can see part of a box in the picture. They are all along the front of the coop just above the roost. They sit about 3' off the floor of the coop. They are indeed easy for them to get into, and i think just as easy to get out of. When i get off work I will take a couple pictures of the inside of my coop, you can tell me what you think. Thanks again for the advise. This site has been really helpful. I have tried asking questions on existing threads, but never really get any good responses that way though. Being that I live in the frozen tundra we call Minnesota, winter brings challenges that most of the country doesn't have to deal with. For us 0 is a normal winter temperature, That's about the temp I start wearing a jacket. It is not uncommon to be in negative temperatures for weeks on end. That being said I am trying to get my chickens to start using a nipple watering system right now. I have come to the conclusion that could be my best way to keep them from frost bite. I just started building an automatic watering system that is recirculated heated water, I will be using horizontal water nipples because I have heard they don't freeze up near as easy. I guess time will tell.

 

[aart]

Ahh I see.
Would be good to drop the nests down lower than the roosts, they often try to sleep in nests instead of on the roosts, making for poopy eggs.
The perches on those nests are often modified with a larger piece of wood across them, just more stable for landing on.

Gets pretty cold here too and last winter, my third, I finally came up with a frost free waterer.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples
Worked great, just carry out a gallon of warm water to top off everyday!
Then I let a broody hatch out some chicks and was back to toting liquid water every few hours.

 

[Rich55016]

Ahh I see.
Would be good to drop the nests down lower than the roosts, they often try to sleep in nests instead of on the roosts, making for poopy eggs.
The perches on those nests are often modified with a larger piece of wood across them, just more stable for landing on.

Gets pretty cold here too and last winter, my third, I finally came up with a frost free waterer.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples
Worked great, just carry out a gallon of warm water to top off everyday!
Then I let a broody hatch out some chicks and was back to toting liquid water every few hours.

I don't think they have slept in the boxes, but I may lower them to see if it helps. I was actually thinking about adding wood in front of them because I thought it looked like a small landing spot myself. Glad to know you think that is a good idea as well, I will do it this weekend. I actually looked at your page when I was researching heated waterers. Have you had good luck with the horizontal nipples? last question. I see you have trays under your roost, does that make it a lot easier to keep the coop clean? Are yours removeable? I have been thinking about adding them as well.

 

[aart]

The waterer worked great, once I got a good heater.
There are still some drips from when they drink, which form icicles below.
Drips onto wattles, and maybe wattles touching icicles, caused some minor frostbite.
Minor freezing of water in 'lip' of a couple nipples when temps got below zero,
but never totally froze up so they didn't have any water access.
I still put a bowl of snow in the coop for the nights where it was forecast to go below -10F...just in case.


The 'trays' ( called roost boards or poop boards) under the roosts are not really 'removable' for regular maintenance,
but just a half dozen screws holding them in place makes them pretty easy to remove if necessary.
I sift the poops out every 2-3 days, poops go to a friends compost.
Here's a post I made long ago that I think covers everything about how I do roost boards...except I only go about 1/2" deep with sand/PDZ now.
I really like them as they get the moist droppings out of the coop and my floor bedding lasts much longer.

 

[Rich55016]

The waterer worked great, once I got a good heater.
There are still some drips from when they drink, which form icicles below.
Drips onto wattles, and maybe wattles touching icicles, caused some minor frostbite.
Minor freezing of water in 'lip' of a couple nipples when temps got below zero,
but never totally froze up so they didn't have any water access.
I still put a bowl of snow in the coop for the nights where it was forecast to go below -10F...just in case.


The 'trays' ( called roost boards or poop boards) under the roosts are not really 'removable' for regular maintenance,
but just a half dozen screws holding them in place makes them pretty easy to remove if necessary.
I sift the poops out every 2-3 days, poops go to a friends compost.
Here's a post I made long ago that I think covers everything about how I do roost boards...except I only go about 1/2" deep with sand/PDZ now.
I really like them as they get the moist droppings out of the coop and my floor bedding lasts much longer.

I guess I would have never thought about putting a bowl of snow in the coop, do they use it? I have really been thinking about a roost board, I will just have to figure out how to adapt it to what I already have going. As we were talking about cold, got me to think about eggs in the cold. What do you do to keep them from freezing? I will be able to check for eggs before i go to work, but that could leave eggs in the boxes for 8-12 hours.

 

[aart]

They do eat snow, they'll eat it even if they have warm water in the coop.
They nosh on the snow banks in the run all the time.
Think about it, most wild birds only have snow for hydration.

I'm home all day so just gather eggs frequently.....
RonP had heated his nests with seedling mats..https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/heated-nesting-boxes-help-stop-frozen-eggs

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

MMM does consider Cochins exotic, so I think you're right there. He's going to be a stunning boy when he matures!

My Faverolles rooster is also very calm, almost to the point of "I wonder if he's normal"

He's so huge, though! The hen that came with him was called Fluffy, so we named the rooster Gabriel---after The Fluffy Movie

. Plus the personality sure fits!

FLUFFY!!!!!! (I was listening to my Gabriel Iglesias channel on Pandora today)

 

[Rich55016]

This is the height of the nesting boxes, the roost sits at 36". Do you think they are ok, or should I move them down?

 

[aart]

Boy, I don't know.
Rule of thumb(which are by no means carved in stone) is that nests should be lower than roosts, so they don't roost(sleep) and poop in the nests.
You could leave them there and add a 2x4 or 1x3 across the perches for easier access to the nests...and if they do sleep in them, move them then.

Personally I'd move the nests down and/or the roost up.
I made my nests at a height easy for me to reach, (bottom of nests are about 24") with a perch and ramp for the birds ease of access.
Then made roosts about a foot higher, which actually made the roost board an easy height for me clean also(board about 36" roost 8" over that).

Hopefully you used screws to install your roosts and nests...I use deck/drywall screws for everything, easy to drive and easy to change things.
I did a lot of planning before building and still had to change stuff after coop was in use and I saw some issues.