LAYING or NOT LAYING ... THEY CAN'T MAKE THEIR MIND

[ninjadryden]

I have 7 Hens (1 cuckoo Maran, 1 Australorp, 1 Easter Eggs, 1 White Rock, 1 Orington Buff, 2 Barred Rocks) and a couple ( the cuckoo maran and another one) are starting to lay eggs. They are all around 20 weeks old. They are starting to get their comb and have a bright pink or red face.

About 10 days ago I found my first egg. It was one of the smallest eggs i have ever seen maybe a same volume of a golf ball if not a little smaller. The next 3 days I have found 4 more. It has been a week and I have not found another egg. They are not molting.

They have 2 nesting boxes (milk crates) inside their coop and one outside the coop where i found the first egg. The maran has used it twice but recently I found a dark brown egg in the corner of the coop under a mound of feather, far away from the nesting boxes.

The weather was sunny around the low 90's when I found the eggs. Recently in the last 4 days it has sprinkled and been in the mid 75's. NORMAL KENTUCKY weather.

ANY IDEAS?

Why are the others not laying? Why 5 eggs and then no more?

 

[Percheron chick]

That's normal pullet laying behavior. Just give it some time. Pretty soon you will have to eat eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner to keep up.

 

[aart]

Do they free range?

If so, you might want to keep them cooped up for a few days and put some fake eggs or golf balls in the nests to encourage them to lay there. That can help to habituate them to laying in the nests.

 

[ninjadryden]

They are free ranging!

 

[Percheron chick]

They might have found a quieter place to lay outside the coop. Watch them after you let them out and see if they settle down under some bushes or other out of the way place. If you hear one singing, run out there and see where they are coming from. My dog knows the drill (and the magpies) and he'll find the eggs and steal them.

 

[ninjadryden]

Excellent Idea. my hens are located in my backyard and it is a little less than a 1/2 acre. In the back of the yard are some over grown vines / brushes. The spend alot of their time roosting on that back fence or in the bushes. I will try to get pictures. A few times a day, I walk around the yard looking around the A/C unit , bushes, and anywhere it is hard to see. No EGGS. I do not think they are eating them nor predators are get them either.

I put a couple of grocery bought egg in the milk crate nesting boxes after "aart" suggested it. I found one in the middle of the coop, out of the box. What does that mean?

 

[michael1003]

Meens they dont like store bought any more than we do

 

[ninjadryden]

HAHAHAHAHAHA well they need to produce something better.

 

[ninjadryden]

Still nothing. I have not kept them in there coop for the a couple of days because it is so hot (91 degrees F) plus I do not think they are laying. I don't see how cooping them up will produce eggs. I just find it so weird that I had 5 eggs in 3 days from 1 or 2 hens and now nothing. I agree with Percheron chick I will just need to give them some more time to develope.

Could their food have anything to do with this? I use Southern States Layer meal / crumbs I think medicated.

Is there a better option? Someone suggested I just feed them scratch in the morning and late evening and leave them alone. They would feed themselves. Sounds too easy. I read to consider Scratch as candy and Scratch will make you chickens fat.

Should I make my own food?

 

[michael1003]

I just use regular flock feed from cal stores and have oyster ahells in an old small watering tray. Any mine are laying fine been 90s locked in coop