New chickens in a new environment.. no eggs? :(

[MrsCadenhead]

I'm wondering, will new chickens take time to adjust to new surroundings before laying? We've had unseasonably warm weather lately, so I hoped for at least one egg. I might sound silly, but I'm new at this :/ it's been almost a week, and they all still insist on sleeping on the ground at night.. I've never seen them on their roost or in nesting boxes! I've got three laying hens and two roosters.

 

[Judy]

What is your roost made of? They need a fairly large area to be comfortable, such as a fat branch or the wide side of a 2x4, as their toes don't curl around a narrow pole or branch like may birds' do. If the roost is OK, they might respond well to being set on it by hand just before dark every night, hopefully only a few days before they get the idea.

It's hard to say about the laying. They will feel some stress due to the move. It can take a few weeks for them to fully recover. Stress can trigger a molt, so if they haven't recently molted, it's possible that it will happen now. Chickens normally lay less in winter; I'm currently lucky to get one a day from my 9, but they are older. That's another consideration: sometimes when you buy mature chickens, they are older than they were sold as, and if they are 1.5 or 2 years, they may start slowing down in the number of eggs they lay now.

You also really have one too many roosters. One for four hens is a lot; the usual recommendation is one for 19 hens. Some flocks do fine at 1:4 and others not, but two will compete and cause more stress, plus most likely damage your hens with overmating, again increasing stress.

Or they may start laying well tomorrow. Time will tell, in the end. Good luck to you!

 

[MrsCadenhead]

Thanks! The roost is a fat fence post, it's at LEAST four inches in diameter. There is a little chicken poop on it today, so I guess someone has checked it out and deemed it unworthy
The second rooster was an accident at the auction, the auctioneer said three chickens and we couldn't see the chickens well enough to know otherwise.. It was funny unloading them all and seeing what we had done! Oops! it definitely was a lesson learned. I'm hoping to get at least three Orpington hens this week, we'll see how it goes maybe more hens will help balance the flock out!