LynnTXchickenmom
Chirping
- Aug 22, 2022
- 36
- 38
- 56
Hi there,
This is our first time farming chickens. We have 18 Rhode Island Red hens and one rooster. We live in the Dallas area, Texas. In December, we have 10 hours between sunrise and sunset with about 30 min more of light in the sky (twilight).
Our chickens just turned 18 weeks old. We are of course looking for eggs—the cheapest store eggs are now $4.03 doz, so naturally we’d like a return on our investment as soon as possible. No eggs yet. (We consume 5-7 dozen eggs per week!)
In your experience, will first year RIRs begin laying in the winter? Also, l filled the nesting boxes with straw and put in decoy eggs. We just gave the chickens access to the nesting boxes two weeks ago (so they’d learn to sleep on the roosts. It worked for all but 3. There’s a ton of roost space left, but 3 hens sleep huddled in a corner.). The hens haven’t been exploring the nesting boxes; they just ignore them. Of course there are plenty of more interesting places outside in the large run, where they spend all daylight hours—our winter weather is mild. High of 60 today. Will the hens naturally take an interest in the nesting boxes when the urge to lay comes upon them and go there?
Thanks for your advice.
This is our first time farming chickens. We have 18 Rhode Island Red hens and one rooster. We live in the Dallas area, Texas. In December, we have 10 hours between sunrise and sunset with about 30 min more of light in the sky (twilight).
Our chickens just turned 18 weeks old. We are of course looking for eggs—the cheapest store eggs are now $4.03 doz, so naturally we’d like a return on our investment as soon as possible. No eggs yet. (We consume 5-7 dozen eggs per week!)
In your experience, will first year RIRs begin laying in the winter? Also, l filled the nesting boxes with straw and put in decoy eggs. We just gave the chickens access to the nesting boxes two weeks ago (so they’d learn to sleep on the roosts. It worked for all but 3. There’s a ton of roost space left, but 3 hens sleep huddled in a corner.). The hens haven’t been exploring the nesting boxes; they just ignore them. Of course there are plenty of more interesting places outside in the large run, where they spend all daylight hours—our winter weather is mild. High of 60 today. Will the hens naturally take an interest in the nesting boxes when the urge to lay comes upon them and go there?
Thanks for your advice.