How to know when my chickens are going to lay

[Kaybug137]

Aweeee Poor chickens D: I hope she gets better fast </3

 

[GoDSpeeD]

Well from 13 chickens im down to 5 but i found the animal that got into the coop and solved the problem. I stayed up all night waiting but now i know how it got in and hopefully its done.

 

[Kaybug137]

Show that animal who hurt, and took lives of your chickens, your grrr face D< Hopefully nothing'll try to get in there again D: R.I.P to the lovely chickens who didn't make it D':

I almost lost my girls ( And Roo) in a tornado, still got to fix the coop but it's not to bad. Banged up the barn but not the coop.




Good luck with your chickies :>

 

[Angie8eggs]

Glad you took care of that evil animal! I would have stayed up the next night to What kind was it?

 

[GoDSpeeD]

A tornado. Wow. Well im glad that didn't happen. I'd have the biggest sad face ever!

The animal that got in there was part of the racoon family. Not anymore. I've spent all day looking for holes bigger than an inch and patching them. Lots of work. Now back to the topic. Iwonder of they will lay eggs in there after the stuff they saw. I think I seen one of the hens giving me a 1000 yard stare.

 

[Tropical Chick]

I am so sorry to hear about your chickens. It might take them a while to settle down after that scary experience and lay eggs. You just have to make sure everything is really secure. I built my run and coop with hardware mesh that was welded - half inch holes only, top, bottom and sides before I attached it to my coop which is wood. I put hasp closures with locks on all the doors because raccoons can even get into a carbiner type of lock put through the loop. I also put a baby monitor in the ceiling of the coop so I can see the temperature and hear the hens if they are disturbed. The baby monitor has a feature that allows me to not hear everything by setting a level, but if they start making lots of noise then I can hear them. I had a friend whose hens were attacked and did not want to repeat that experience. We are in Florida, so I wanted to know what the temperature was in the coop. My husband installed a fan in the window of the coop to have a fan moving the air around and it brought the temperature down about 5 degrees. They won't lay if it is too hot either. I would make sure you have cleaned the coop well after the attack too and put the antibiotic cream on the one with the gash and separate just like the other person suggested.

 

[Tropical Chick]

Here are some pictures of my coop and runs. I bought my backyard chicken parlor coop, but had to modify it because it was not built to withstand a raccoon or weasel attack. The floor was not secured down in either the nesting box or the main part of the coop. There were only two hasps on the roof which the raccoon could of lifted the one side and helped himself to my hens too. It had barrel hasps that a raccoon could easily have opened too on the doors. I polyurethaned the heck out of it for cleaning ease. I made a mistake and made the permanent run 4 feet high so I have to crawl into the run if I need to get in there. I can rake out the deep litter though without too much problems because it is 8x4 feet long. However, I should of made the run 6 feet high with a taller door. I have a 4x8 yard run that is mobile and does not have the welded hardware mesh and a bottom because this is just to keep my hens safe during the day from the hawks and lets them have some grass. The yard run has a little ladder built in and I push it up against their coop and they come out and I push it to an area of the yard they have not been in and let them scratch to their hearts content. I do let them free range in the evening when I sit on my back porch because the hawks do not seem to be very active at this time of day. I made feeders and waterers out of PVC piping and use the chicken nipples which I don't have a problem with them freezing here in Florida. I do put ice in the water pipe for their water because it has been through the water purifier and gives them cold water to drink during the day. That way I also don't have a problem with build-up of sediment from water deposits on the chicken nipples. The nesting box is easy to reach into and collect my eggs. I had two eggs in there the past two mornings too! The only hen that is not laying still has a pink comb and wattle, so I think she is just maturing slower than the other two.

 

[Kaybug137]

I believe my only laying hen at this moment has gone broody o.o that or she just don't want to get up at the moment lol. Still waiting for the other's to start their laying~


By the way, Which kind's of chickens are most likely to go broody??

 

[Tropical Chick]

Under the breed types on this web site you will find the kinds of hens that make the best mothers. I don't know what kind of chickens you have, but check that resource. Also, if your hen that is not moving is not sitting on a lot of eggs trying to hatch them, there may be something wrong with her??? Mine only sit for less than an hour in the nest to produce an egg and then they get up and do the egg song and go about their business.

 

[Kaybug137]

She got off after a few moments lol, She still wont sing the egg song. Maybe cause shes the only girl laying so far.
I was thinkin that she was like ''I'm going to sit on this egg until it hatches'' few moments later ''UHhhmmm no'' Rofl.
She seems like a happy hen to me Doesn't seem sick, but my Brahma ( I believe that's how it is spelled.) sneezes a good bit though.