So sorry for your loss!
Yeah, no luck here either to let them "put themselves up" at night. Have to make sure everyone is in - sometimes they oblige, sometimes it is a chase to get the last one in. When teenagers I had the experience, too, that they get belligerent, like human teenagers, and suddenly decide the roof or trees are more fun to spend the night. Have had to use a fishing net (small openings, so the head does not get through and stuck) from Walmart to get them all in on occasions - wait until after dark and stay with them to keep owls away - if you chase them with a net before dark, they fly up into high trees and become unreachable quickly - after dark they cannot see very well and are easier to catch, especially if it is just one.
Young ones can start laying eggs at 6 months old and then quit again - obviously yours did not do that. After that they lay in the summer only and the first 3-4 weeks ours have low fertility rates. In the summer it goes up to where almost all are fertile. You can't tell and neither can the hens. They sit on wooden eggs or even egg shaped rocks if they go broody.
You need to add CALCIUM once they start laying - free choice in a little rabbit feeder or flower pot or some such dish and make it accessible to all hens - if you have bullies you may want to make several calcium piles or dishes for them and keep them filled. Oyster shell is about 10.- for 50 lbs and should last all summer. We almost lost a hen the first year due to Calcium deficiency when they started laying.
you can keep them locked up for a few days (if possible) to make them establish nests inside - ours come back to lay in side, thank God, once they got a big nest going - if they lay outside it will be hidden - we lost two hens that started sitting on outside nests one year - I could not find them! and they got eaten by predators
I think it takes them 25 hours to produce an egg, so laying times will shift
I also would avoid being seen messing with the nest when the hens are out, but have been seen and "cussed out" and when I left they went back to the nest ok
taking eggs from a broody is dangerous - they will attack - we had a keet injured that way because I was trying to get the eggs and keets into a brooder (our coop is not safe for hens with keets) and she ran over the keet to attack me - he was fine but had a scar under one eye - called him Pirate - and it took two weeks of saline to wash out the eye a couple of times a day before it healed
we had no luck introducing new keets to the flock but started with a rather large flock of 16 - added 9 the next year and it took about 5 years and some losses in the original flock for the two groups to become one
our new keets always have to go through a long period of being securely visible but not peckable by the old flock members - I use green plastic chicken wire to separate keets from the flock inside a secure area (not! safe for predator protection!) - it works eventually but sometimes the new members form a sub-flock - you have only 6, so probably more luck in adding more
again, so sorry for your loss - that is a hard hit the first night out - and best of luck with the flock and new keets!!
example: (note that the keet enclosure is INSIDE a safe enclosure for all Guineas so that predators do not get to the green plastic - predators are stopped by hard wire cloth in the outside of the run)
Yeah, no luck here either to let them "put themselves up" at night. Have to make sure everyone is in - sometimes they oblige, sometimes it is a chase to get the last one in. When teenagers I had the experience, too, that they get belligerent, like human teenagers, and suddenly decide the roof or trees are more fun to spend the night. Have had to use a fishing net (small openings, so the head does not get through and stuck) from Walmart to get them all in on occasions - wait until after dark and stay with them to keep owls away - if you chase them with a net before dark, they fly up into high trees and become unreachable quickly - after dark they cannot see very well and are easier to catch, especially if it is just one.
Young ones can start laying eggs at 6 months old and then quit again - obviously yours did not do that. After that they lay in the summer only and the first 3-4 weeks ours have low fertility rates. In the summer it goes up to where almost all are fertile. You can't tell and neither can the hens. They sit on wooden eggs or even egg shaped rocks if they go broody.
You need to add CALCIUM once they start laying - free choice in a little rabbit feeder or flower pot or some such dish and make it accessible to all hens - if you have bullies you may want to make several calcium piles or dishes for them and keep them filled. Oyster shell is about 10.- for 50 lbs and should last all summer. We almost lost a hen the first year due to Calcium deficiency when they started laying.
you can keep them locked up for a few days (if possible) to make them establish nests inside - ours come back to lay in side, thank God, once they got a big nest going - if they lay outside it will be hidden - we lost two hens that started sitting on outside nests one year - I could not find them! and they got eaten by predators
I think it takes them 25 hours to produce an egg, so laying times will shift
I also would avoid being seen messing with the nest when the hens are out, but have been seen and "cussed out" and when I left they went back to the nest ok
taking eggs from a broody is dangerous - they will attack - we had a keet injured that way because I was trying to get the eggs and keets into a brooder (our coop is not safe for hens with keets) and she ran over the keet to attack me - he was fine but had a scar under one eye - called him Pirate - and it took two weeks of saline to wash out the eye a couple of times a day before it healed
we had no luck introducing new keets to the flock but started with a rather large flock of 16 - added 9 the next year and it took about 5 years and some losses in the original flock for the two groups to become one
our new keets always have to go through a long period of being securely visible but not peckable by the old flock members - I use green plastic chicken wire to separate keets from the flock inside a secure area (not! safe for predator protection!) - it works eventually but sometimes the new members form a sub-flock - you have only 6, so probably more luck in adding more
again, so sorry for your loss - that is a hard hit the first night out - and best of luck with the flock and new keets!!
example: (note that the keet enclosure is INSIDE a safe enclosure for all Guineas so that predators do not get to the green plastic - predators are stopped by hard wire cloth in the outside of the run)
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