hens and laying

[dustponds10]

Well I recently bought a trio of chickens. I have found that one hen is laying pretty regularily and the other doesnt appear to be laying at all. Is there a chance that they could be laying eggs in the same nest? How would be an effective way to tell if both hens are laying? I am only getting around 4 eggs a week from the two hens and they are only 1 year old. I am feeding a laying mesh pellet as well as some scratch and they do free run a little as well. Any ideas?

 

[Mahonri]

You are probably only getting eggs from one hen, best way to tell is to take food coloring and q tips out to the roost at night.

Paint around one vent with one color, paint around the other's vent with another color. Then watch for color streaks on the eggs and you'll know who is laying what...

But you'd probably have to do it every night for a week, but you'd know!

 

[dustponds10]

Great idea, that is something that I can figure out. It seems that my hen is laying around mid day. Any ideas on what I can do for the other hen to get her to start to lay again?

 

[dustponds10]

also probably a dumb question but there is only one vent right? I am pretty new at the chicken thing and i am learning alot every day. For sure.