My girls are just not getting to the point were they should all start laying. I live in WI and the temps have been up and down. 20- 30 at night and 40 - 50 during the day.
We will start with nest boxes. I was letting all of my girls range all day long every day until I saw one of my birds taken from my yard by a fox. After that I put them in the run and let them out for about 2 hours before sundown now. Seems as they are not as active. Spend a lot of time the coop compared to the run. But what I have noticed is I have 3 birds laying now. And they are laying in the middle of the coop.
I have added golf balls and lots of hay to the nest boxes and all they do is roll the eggs out and scratch out all the hay. How do I get the to lay in the boxes. With them laying in the middle of the coop we loose at least 4 eggs a week due to crushing.
Next light and heat. I have seen that the light at night is not good. I started adding light at night about a week ago to keep them a little more active and hoping to entice the others to start laying. But I the more I read it is suggested to get them light in the A.M. I have 11 girls in a 4 x 8 sized coop. If the light goes on in the coop they won't go out side because it is still dark will they? Not that I am worried as their run is fully enclosed. I just never see them out until they can see outside and see above them.
As for the heat I also heard they really don't need any heat until it drops below zero. Will the light only help to produce eggs? Or is it a good idea to add an infra heat lamp for part of the day / night?
Thanks for any advice.
We will start with nest boxes. I was letting all of my girls range all day long every day until I saw one of my birds taken from my yard by a fox. After that I put them in the run and let them out for about 2 hours before sundown now. Seems as they are not as active. Spend a lot of time the coop compared to the run. But what I have noticed is I have 3 birds laying now. And they are laying in the middle of the coop.
I have added golf balls and lots of hay to the nest boxes and all they do is roll the eggs out and scratch out all the hay. How do I get the to lay in the boxes. With them laying in the middle of the coop we loose at least 4 eggs a week due to crushing.
Next light and heat. I have seen that the light at night is not good. I started adding light at night about a week ago to keep them a little more active and hoping to entice the others to start laying. But I the more I read it is suggested to get them light in the A.M. I have 11 girls in a 4 x 8 sized coop. If the light goes on in the coop they won't go out side because it is still dark will they? Not that I am worried as their run is fully enclosed. I just never see them out until they can see outside and see above them.
As for the heat I also heard they really don't need any heat until it drops below zero. Will the light only help to produce eggs? Or is it a good idea to add an infra heat lamp for part of the day / night?
Thanks for any advice.