- May 26, 2010
- 161
- 3
- 103
Hi everyone,
Without going in to too much detail - I have a few questions about my little flock of three (Wyandotte, Red Star, and Cochin). These girls are about 3 years old and haven't laid probably since last summer. The reason I am finally asking is because my mom doesn't know how to use forums.
Anyway, I got the hens and raised them up where I was attending college for about the first 2 years of their life. They laid almost daily, had access to a little yard and coop with a run. Then I had to move them to my parents "farm," way more space but they eventually had goats live with them. We also have a bad problem of magpies coming in to the nest boxes and stealing the eggs and breaking them. We thought and may be the goats were reason they stopped laying as the goats were so young and rambunctious and possibly stressing out the chickens? Anyway, they have plenty of access to food, water, etc. We recently upgraded their coop to give them more privacy to hopefully help with the goats and lessen the nasty magpie thieves. We even started locking the goats in another pen to give the girls a more stress free place.
It has been about 2 weeks now since we've made a new coop and kept the goats separate from the girls and still no eggs (almost a year in total). The girls go out in the day and have access to about 4 acres of free range. They are not laying anywhere and they generally stay in the same area. I have placed them in the nest box to hopefully encourage some instinct and they do build a nest and turn circles but a couple hours later no eggs. They also prefer to roost on the ground... ugh
Thank you for your help!!
Mak
Without going in to too much detail - I have a few questions about my little flock of three (Wyandotte, Red Star, and Cochin). These girls are about 3 years old and haven't laid probably since last summer. The reason I am finally asking is because my mom doesn't know how to use forums.
Anyway, I got the hens and raised them up where I was attending college for about the first 2 years of their life. They laid almost daily, had access to a little yard and coop with a run. Then I had to move them to my parents "farm," way more space but they eventually had goats live with them. We also have a bad problem of magpies coming in to the nest boxes and stealing the eggs and breaking them. We thought and may be the goats were reason they stopped laying as the goats were so young and rambunctious and possibly stressing out the chickens? Anyway, they have plenty of access to food, water, etc. We recently upgraded their coop to give them more privacy to hopefully help with the goats and lessen the nasty magpie thieves. We even started locking the goats in another pen to give the girls a more stress free place.
It has been about 2 weeks now since we've made a new coop and kept the goats separate from the girls and still no eggs (almost a year in total). The girls go out in the day and have access to about 4 acres of free range. They are not laying anywhere and they generally stay in the same area. I have placed them in the nest box to hopefully encourage some instinct and they do build a nest and turn circles but a couple hours later no eggs. They also prefer to roost on the ground... ugh
Thank you for your help!!
Mak
Last edited:
