- May 2, 2013
- 1
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Hi, I am new to keeping chickens, as well as the BYC website....I got my girls, 4 of them, a month ago. The farmer said 3 of them had been laying for a few weeks, even told us what colors they were laying. The 4th is a baby and won't be laying for a couple more months. One of the 3 "layers" died a week ago, don't know why.
Their food and water are in their coop area. I started with crumble, have switched to layer feed 2 weeks ago. It's always full, I refill it when ever it gets low. I have a waterer, I fill it every 2 or 3 days, never empty. The 3 seemed very quiet after the 1 died, so I got 3 additional hens last weekend, atleast 2 of them are laying already. I thought maybe it was not enough of them, for them to chicken with. They have a grassy/leafy run and just started to free range this week. Their coop has light in it, stays on from 5am to 10pm. There are 2 nesting boxes. I am using pine mulch for nesting bedding as well as on the floor.
My question is, why have none of the original girls laid any eggs? I am very, very new at all of this and it just weighs heavily on me that 1 died, neither of the original girls have laid eggs, and I think now I'm over thinking everything. My husband feels as though they are younger than the farmer said, and had not actually laid yet. He had over 150 chickens, so I think it make sense that he didn't know for sure if they are actually laying?? They seem to be doing everything the new girls are doing, but they look smaller, and feel lighter than the others. I have also taken into consideration how much change they have had, and think this may be part of it, but why would the 2 new ones already be laying, but not the original 2??
Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.
Their food and water are in their coop area. I started with crumble, have switched to layer feed 2 weeks ago. It's always full, I refill it when ever it gets low. I have a waterer, I fill it every 2 or 3 days, never empty. The 3 seemed very quiet after the 1 died, so I got 3 additional hens last weekend, atleast 2 of them are laying already. I thought maybe it was not enough of them, for them to chicken with. They have a grassy/leafy run and just started to free range this week. Their coop has light in it, stays on from 5am to 10pm. There are 2 nesting boxes. I am using pine mulch for nesting bedding as well as on the floor.
My question is, why have none of the original girls laid any eggs? I am very, very new at all of this and it just weighs heavily on me that 1 died, neither of the original girls have laid eggs, and I think now I'm over thinking everything. My husband feels as though they are younger than the farmer said, and had not actually laid yet. He had over 150 chickens, so I think it make sense that he didn't know for sure if they are actually laying?? They seem to be doing everything the new girls are doing, but they look smaller, and feel lighter than the others. I have also taken into consideration how much change they have had, and think this may be part of it, but why would the 2 new ones already be laying, but not the original 2??
