Getting my Pullets to LAY!

[cluckcluckluke]

Having an automatic light come on early in the am (5am) is a great way to stimulate the girls hormones into production. I also use ceramic eggs rather than golf balls or plastic Easter eggs. They are heavier and don't pop open under their weight .

hmm... I have gone through this already with a number of adds and threads.lol.

I am not able to get electricity down to my coop. So I can't get lighting down their on a timer.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I don't allow point of lay pullets to wander around. I want them well trained. As I said earlier, the monkey see - monkey do pressure means they usually follow the hens lead. Still, keeping pullets in the coop and run until 3 pm reinforces the "where to lay" training. Turning them loose after 3 pm to free range allows plenty of free time and greatly reduces the concern about laying offsite. Since the birds awake at 6 am this time of year, at first light, their laying cycle is normally finished up noon. 3 pm just about assures that everyone has finished for the day.

 

[TXchickmum]

Our POL pullets began wandering up to the nest boxes on their own. We already had 5 laying hens at the time. The "younger" four gals just seemed to know where to go. (We had three coops: one for the two bantam hens, one for the three standard hens, and one for the pullets. The pullets discovered the nest boxes in their own coop without any help, and began laying there. They would leave the lawn or run and migrate to the boxes without any prompting. -never used any faux eggs, and they didn't utilize the nests of the older hens.) We just let nature dictate and the gals "did their thing" when they were ready.

 

[Bill Matthews]

I may be totally wrong about this but laying eggs is a natural physiological process that can be influenced by lighting, stress, watering and feeding routines, and hormonal secretions but NOT EVER BY ATTEMPTS TO TRAIN OR TEACH PULLETS WHEN OR HOW TO LAY. I have seen people claim success by use of fake eggs, etc, and placing pullets in nesting areas, but I wonder if the positive results would not have occurred anyway. The beginning of the laying cycle is more determined by the strain of pullet and the poultry keeper's management of the environment. Clearly some keepers know how to either delay or speed up the commence of lay cycle. I'm not really good at it . But some comments I've seen here are worth researching. A few weeks back someone addressed this with some very cogent suggestions. Not sure, but I think it way the guy from Silverhill AL, Mr. Blosl.. Good luck.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I don't allow point of lay pullets to wander around. I want them well trained. As I said earlier, the monkey see - monkey do pressure means they usually follow the hens lead. Still, keeping pullets in the coop and run until 3 pm reinforces the "where to lay" training. Turning them loose after 3 pm to free range allows plenty of free time and greatly reduces the concern about laying offsite. Since the birds awake at 6 am this time of year, at first light, their laying cycle is normally finished up noon. 3 pm just about assures that everyone has finished for the day.

Thank you. I am going to start letting them out at 3pm. All my Leader hens lay in the nest boxes so the pullets should to soon get the idea.

Our POL pullets began wandering up to the nest boxes on their own. We already had 5 laying hens at the time. The "younger" four gals just seemed to know where to go. (We had three coops: one for the two bantam hens, one for the three standard hens, and one for the pullets. The pullets discovered the nest boxes in their own coop without any help, and began laying there. They would leave the lawn or run and migrate to the boxes without any prompting. -never used any faux eggs, and they didn't utilize the nests of the older hens.) We just let nature dictate and the gals "did their thing" when they were ready.

Thanks. Yes I think waiting with patience is the key.lol. Sounds like you have a nice set up. All my pullet, bantams and hens lay in the same shed.

I may be totally wrong about this but laying eggs is a natural physiological process that can be influenced by lighting, stress, watering and feeding routines, and hormonal secretions but NOT EVER BY ATTEMPTS TO TRAIN OR TEACH PULLETS WHEN OR HOW TO LAY. I have seen people claim success by use of fake eggs, etc, and placing pullets in nesting areas, but I wonder if the positive results would not have occurred anyway. The beginning of the laying cycle is more determined by the strain of pullet and the poultry keeper's management of the environment. Clearly some keepers know how to either delay or speed up the commence of lay cycle. I'm not really good at it . But some comments I've seen here are worth researching. A few weeks back someone addressed this with some very cogent suggestions. Not sure, but I think it way the guy from Silverhill AL, Mr. Blosl.. Good luck.

Yes, well at the moment we are going into Winter. So we get about 12 hrs of light here. They shouldn't be stressed although they are going into a light moult ( my Maran pullets ) and It depends on the breed and individual for hormonal change.
I don't think you can necessarily "train" a pullet to lay but obviously you can push somethings to perhaps increase their will to lay.



My nest are not in plain sight for the chickens. the nests are in a separate shed to my roosting shed.
My pullets should know by now that there are nests in their and that there are eggs in those nests. 2 of my pullets like to roost in the nesting shed so they defiantly know.

It is just a waiting game now I suppose. I just thought there were ways that you could make them lay, guess not.

I know that you can feel near the vent area to see if a chicken in laying by the amount of figures you can fit between 2 certain bones. ( this is done externally, not internally BTW. )

 

[Bill Matthews]

To CluckCluckLuke: I am not trying to belabor the point..Am I correct in assuming that NONE of these pullets have ever laid? Very strange that they are starting to molt without ever having laid. I am NOT being insulting, but did something unusual happen: Like an emergency and the chickens had no water or feed for 48 hours or more? Are there dogs running around? Neighborhood kids pestering them when no one is around? Good luck and very best wishes.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

To CluckCluckLuke: I am not trying to belabor the point..Am I correct in assuming that NONE of these pullets have ever laid? Very strange that they are starting to molt without ever having laid. I am NOT being insulting, but did something unusual happen: Like an emergency and the chickens had no water or feed for 48 hours or more? Are there dogs running around? Neighborhood kids pestering them when no one is around? Good luck and very best wishes.

Yeah these pullets have never laid. I to thought that pullets that have never laid didn't moult their first year either.

Maybe The person who told me thought my pullets were already laying. As a pullet is a hen under 1 year, right? I usually call my pullets, pullets if they are not laying. So maybe there has been a mix up.

They are not exactly moulting, they have just lost a few feathers from a bit of stress perhaps as I have just recently fought with mites.

Thanks for fixing that up

. I have to get used to calling pullets ( under one year ) and hens ( over 1 year ).

 

[Bill Matthews]

To CluckCluckLuke: I hate to say this but some chickens simply won't lay for whatever reason. I had two beautiful hens--a Legshire and a Red Rock Sex Link which never laid a single time in 15-20 months before the foxes got them. I have been told by show breeders that show stock sometimes lays very few eggs due to their having been selected for color and form rather than fecundity. What did you give them or do to treatment them for mites? I once treated a flock for mites by spreading a liquid killer--been thirty five years so don't remember brand or chemical--on the roosting poles. Shut down laying for a few weeks I remember...Best Wishes.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

To CluckCluckLuke: I hate to say this but some chickens simply won't lay for whatever reason. I had two beautiful hens--a Legshire and a Red Rock Sex Link which never laid a single time in 15-20 months before the foxes got them. I have been told by show breeders that show stock sometimes lays very few eggs due to their having been selected for color and form rather than fecundity. What did you give them or do to treatment them for mites? I once treated a flock for mites by spreading a liquid killer--been thirty five years so don't remember brand or chemical--on the roosting poles. Shut down laying for a few weeks I remember...Best Wishes.

Yeah. Well I will just wait and see. I don't think my dusting would have put them off the lay as my hens are still laying and it was all organic. I used DE, Sulfur and Lime. I don't think any of these would stop laying!

Will just have to wait. Maybe get some eggs after Winter.