- Jul 28, 2012
- 7
- 0
- 7
Since every situation and hen will vary I hope to get help with my situation and hens. I recently traded 2 young BRH hens for 2 (supposedly) egg laying Barred Rocks about 2 weeks ago which I was told were around 1 1/2 to 2 years old and laid about 2-4 eggs each per week. So far I haven't gotten any. My coop is 8'x8' with 2 nest boxes for just the two hens and a male Mini Rex rabbit lives in the coop with them. He can't get to the nest boxes and isn't mean, but suppect he's a stress factor for the hens. I noticed right away that my old roost was too high for the larger birds who can't fly as good as the young BRH's so I've adjusted it lower and even added another lower roost that they've shown no interest in. I started them with no artificial light for a few days then turned on a light for warmth and light turning it off for several hours at night and now leave it on 24 hours most days. Since the rabbit shares their water and eats their food when he doesn't want his I added another water supply and food source up high opposite of the original. They're on laying crumble and seem to eat very well and have solid waste's. The smaller of the two likes to roost on the edge of the nest box and sometimes faces outwards causing waste to drop in, but I go out regularly at night to check on her and close a door to that box until she uses the roost. She is getting used to the lower roost now and hasn't used the box for a few days. Inside the boxes I've tried 2 ping pong balls, 1 ball and no balls, but think that's more or less to get them to lay where I want, not to lay period. I clean the coop every morning to make sure it's clean. There's no way any rodents or predators can or have gotten in so I know that's not it. I'm in central California where the temperatures have just started to drop so I don't expect them to lay every day and understand that they've just moved into their new home, but isn't 2 weeks a bit long to not see any eggs from hens that were supposedly laying before I got them? This morning my hopes were high as when I went to clean the coop I found the bigger hen (who never goes into the nest boxes) in a nest box nesting on the ping pong ball, but still no egg. Does this mean that she could be getting closer? Also I've seperated the rabbit into a hutch built into the coop, but can't remove him completely until I build him a new hutch because my female rabbit is expecting so has the hutch to herself. I also don't expect the hens or male rabbit for that matter are eating the eggs because I go out there at least every couple of hours to check and haven't found any signs of shells, whites or yolk anywhere. Sorry for the long post, but I want to try and get my situation clear so I can get any help I can. To end I will say the hens seem to have gotten comfy in their new coop and seem to know where everything is now and don't seem stressed, but my guess would be the rabbit would be causing it if they were. Please help!
