23 Weeks Old - First Eggs HIDDEN!

[tweetysvoice]

Congrats!!!! My thought on why they aren't laying in the nest boxes - if the buckets are your boxes, it might not be dark enough for them to want to lay. Mine prefer the darkest box to lay in - otherwise if that one is occupied, they'll lay in the coop house under the roosts cuz it's dark in there. Just a thought

 

[6littlechicks]

Wait?! A table?!

oh, maybe that's why some of us aren't getting eggs, the chicks want tables to put their eggs on. Maybe even if we just put a skillet in the coop they'd lay some eggs in there. Those smart girls!

 

[kellypepperk]

they ARE spoiled!

 

[Choco Maran]

It looks to me that the buckets might be to high. I have read that chickens prefer to lay close to he ground for cover and security. Are boxes are only about 24-36 inches off the ground and the hens lay under the boxes a lot of the time. Just my thought. Any way Congrats on the eggs. I'm waiting for my to start laying I have 45 14 week old chicks and 4 older hens( about three years old ) that are still laying every day

 

[kellypepperk]

Today we did a brief grounds search... we found one clutch of 12 eggs and then a second of 5! Late in the afternoon we did find one single egg in a bucket...
We'll be working on this - but at least we know our girls are laying!

 

[kellypepperk]

I've given up trying to count eggs at this point!! Wow!
But, today I did get to watch one of our girls actually pop one out! I guess it is exactly how I expected it to be - but a thrill nonetheless!

 

[kellypepperk]

I've got to get some pix, but we cut the legs off the table and pushed the buckets back - the morning after we made these changes we had NINE (out of 16 hens) eggs in the buckets!!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I've got to get some pix, but we cut the legs off the table and pushed the buckets back - the morning after we made these changes we had NINE (out of 16 hens) eggs in the buckets!!

That's awesome!

I also wanted to answer your question about locking them in until noon. What we do when we have new birds is lock everyone in for at least a week until they have gotten the message that the coop is their home and the nest boxes the place for eggs. We lock them in 24-7 for that week--no one goes out. Then we can let everyone out and they'll all coop up at night and lay their eggs in the boxes.

At my Dad's, they have a terrible time with hens laying in the mows, the calving pens, all over the farm. Locking the birds in for a week seems to help them reset, but birds that have started to lay in the mows seem to never get the message. The mow is just such a perfect place to lay eggs that it's hard to convince them otherwise. He's had to sell birds that he just couldn't break of that bad habit. I'd lock your birds in and break this habit ASAP! One week of confinement in such a nice, airy coop won't hurt them one bit. If they still don't get the hint and you find eggs in the mow after you let them out, you might have to lock them in again for another week or so.

 

[kellypepperk]

The girls LOVE their new set up!

 

[ibarbidahl]

That does look like a much more secure place to lay an egg... if'n I was lookin' for a place to lay an egg that is.

Glad they are getting the hang of it!