My hens are not laying yet, why is this?
A. Most breeds will start to lay at 5-8 months of age. If not you can check several things; you need to feed them at this age with "egg pellets or crumble," it has everything they need. Maybe throw a hand full of scratch a day for a treat and make them scratch for exercise. Stay away from corn, there is already the right amount of corn in the egg pellets.
. Make sure the chickens are not sick, light weight, pale faced, wormy, lice and mite infested. Make sure the hens get some sunlight and some fresh air each day. Make sure they have dry ground, wind breaks and a place to roost at night. Hens need full water and feed available all day to produce eggs. If it is fall, winter or early spring you can put one light on the birds at night with an automatic timer to turn on at 5:00 a.m. and go off at 10:00 a.m. Do not keep the light on all night, it will stress the birds and they will pick feathers, stress and get sick. Have their nest in the darker area of the coop so the hens feel good about laying in the nest. Make sure the hens are not too crowded in the pen or coop and if you have roosters with the hens don't have more than 1 rooster to every 10 hens. Sometimes the hens are laying, except you may have a black snake eating your eggs. Also, you may have a hen that is eating eggs and the shell. If you think this is happening watch for hens pecking at eggs. If you find one hen that you suspect, put her up and see if your egg numbers increase. Once a hen starts to eat eggs you very seldom can break her and it is best to get rid of her. She will also teach the other hens to break eggs and it is best to get rid of her. Generally a 7 month old pullet will start to sing, comb turn red and the vent bones become more spread apart for egg production. For a standard size pullet, 2 ½ or 3 fingers width placement between the 2 bones on the side of the vent will mean she is laying or will soon be laying. If it is 1-2 width figures then she is not laying.
*******There is not enough nutrition within corn to keep chickens healthy*******
A. Most breeds will start to lay at 5-8 months of age. If not you can check several things; you need to feed them at this age with "egg pellets or crumble," it has everything they need. Maybe throw a hand full of scratch a day for a treat and make them scratch for exercise. Stay away from corn, there is already the right amount of corn in the egg pellets.
. Make sure the chickens are not sick, light weight, pale faced, wormy, lice and mite infested. Make sure the hens get some sunlight and some fresh air each day. Make sure they have dry ground, wind breaks and a place to roost at night. Hens need full water and feed available all day to produce eggs. If it is fall, winter or early spring you can put one light on the birds at night with an automatic timer to turn on at 5:00 a.m. and go off at 10:00 a.m. Do not keep the light on all night, it will stress the birds and they will pick feathers, stress and get sick. Have their nest in the darker area of the coop so the hens feel good about laying in the nest. Make sure the hens are not too crowded in the pen or coop and if you have roosters with the hens don't have more than 1 rooster to every 10 hens. Sometimes the hens are laying, except you may have a black snake eating your eggs. Also, you may have a hen that is eating eggs and the shell. If you think this is happening watch for hens pecking at eggs. If you find one hen that you suspect, put her up and see if your egg numbers increase. Once a hen starts to eat eggs you very seldom can break her and it is best to get rid of her. She will also teach the other hens to break eggs and it is best to get rid of her. Generally a 7 month old pullet will start to sing, comb turn red and the vent bones become more spread apart for egg production. For a standard size pullet, 2 ½ or 3 fingers width placement between the 2 bones on the side of the vent will mean she is laying or will soon be laying. If it is 1-2 width figures then she is not laying.
*******There is not enough nutrition within corn to keep chickens healthy*******
