egg count at 2 weeks

[Marli]

2 weeks ago I got 17 hens (about a year and a half old), and I just wanted some opinions on how they're laying. I'm getting between 5-7 eggs a day from them right now. To me, that seems low for that many chickens of that age, but maybe my bar is set too high.

After two weeks to settle in, should they be laying about that? More?

 

[justusnak]

Well...at a year and a half..they should be laying pretty well. What breed are they? It may take another week or so for them to settle in. Are they healthy looking? Good feathering...red combs..pooo looking normal??

 

[Marli]

They are white rock, barred rock, and RIR/NHR (I think there is one partridge rock in there as well). The white rocks I have been keeping a close eye on, because they had some feather loss on their bottoms. They get picked on by the others, so I wasn't sure if that feather loss was from pecking (I've seen a couple of the other hens peck at them in that area) or something else. But the rest look very healthy. Same with the droppings. All look healthy but the white rocks, which are a bit too runny. But all the combs look good, and all the other chickens look very healthy.

I've thought about separating the white rocks for awhile, to see if they improve away from the others, but at the moment I'm not sure where I'd put them.

I guess I should mention that they have gotten better since they came to us (some feathers are coming back, the poop has firmed up a bit). I don't think they were in the best environment where they were, so I'm pretty sure they have better feed and a cleaner pen and such here.

 

[justusnak]

Well.....if they were not in a healthy environment before....it may take a while longer for them to get the nutrition up in them. If they are pecking the white rocks bottoms...I would get some blue coat...and spray thier little bums. It help keep the others from picking. Good luck...and let us know how they are doing. You might want to try a higher percentage protiene feed.