I am still very new to this chicken thing and I have found that I have a few questions. I am thankful for any help at all. I have three ~17 week olds. One is a pearl while leghorn, one buff minorca and one beautiful and gregarious Delaware. 1. When I built the coop and run for our girls a nest box area was built into it. Was I supposed to keep them out of this area until they were ready to lay? Because they sleep in there and it gets full of poop and now I am not sure if I should provide some other place or block this one off for a while or what. 2. I live in southern Arizona where it is quite warm. At what point should I close the coop door and windows at night? How cold is too cold for chickens? 3. It seems that my leghorn has a bit of what I would call a booboo on her beak. It is a little hole but it doesn't go through her beak. I assume that she was pecked by one of her sisters- is this normal? 4. How long does it take for them to establish the pecking order? Should that be done by now? and last but not least.... 5. WHEN AM I GOING TO GET AN EGG??? Thanks for all of your help.
Block off the nest box and don't let them sleep there. If they are not broken of the habit, you will have a lot of very dirty eggs when they start laying. They usually start laying somewhere around 19-20 weeks, depending on the individual and breed. HTH! Susan
I too, let my girls sleep in the nests... whoops, who knew? So I blocked them out with blown up bags... they popped them, then I blocked them with paper, they broke through, then I stapled dish rags over, they moved to the floor, I changed my roosts from Closet poles to branches and up they went and now they are sleeping on the roosts. I took the rags off the same day one started laying (pheew). Before I blocked the boxes I tried moving them at night but it was so hard and they would just go back by morning. I live in Vermont, very cold, I have a totally predator proof run so I just make sure they get to the run at night and shut them in the run, but leave the coop open so they can get out in the morning. I leave the windows closed this time of year but the coop chicken door open, until it gets below freezing, then I shut it up at night. they are pretty hardy little animals. Eggs, ahh the waiting game sucks, I think the average is 18-22 weeks. I had 2 lay at 18 weeks , one at 22, waiting on the rest at 24... it depends on the bird.