Preparation for first eggs

[Montellopnds]

I am new to BYC and love the community. I have 8 chickens and they're 18 weeks old. They are doing great and the raising part seemed to go real good. Now that we are getting closer to our first eggs I wanted to know what prep I need to do for that. I do not have the nesting boxes open yet. Should I open them now? Also is it OK to line the nest boxes with straw? They are on Dumor Poultry Layer crumble. Thanks in advance for any tips on this stage of the process.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Personally I would open the nests. When pullets first start laying they might drop their first eggs about anywhere, from the roosts or just walking around. Most have control from the start but some don’t. When a pullet lays her first controlled egg that becomes her nest. If the nests are not open for that event you are forcing her to make her nest somewhere else so you have a habit to break.

Some people advise you to leave the nests locked up until they start to lay because they might possibly want to sleep in the nests. They probably won’t but they might. If they are going to sleep in the nests I want to know that before they start laying so I can fix the problem before I get poopy eggs if I can get them to lay in the nests to start with.

Often about a week before they start to lay they start looking for a good nest. They might examine your nests and scratch around in there. If they scratch the bedding and any fake eggs out you need to fix that before they start to lay. That usually means you need to raise the lip on your nest.

Chickens normally like to lay where other chickens are laying so I use fake eggs to show them where a good place to lay is. I use golf balls but others use ceramic or wooden eggs or plastic Easter eggs. For bantams some people use ping pong balls. How important that is was recently reinforced to me. A snake ate the golf balls out of the nests and the hens started laying in a corner of the coop instead of the nests. As soon as I put new golf balls in they moved back to the nests. These were established hens, not pullets just starting to lay.

Even with everything perfect they still might not lay in the nests. They are living animals and you just don’t know for sure how they will behave. Their bird brains don’t always use the same logic we do. They will look for a safe place to lay. Hopefully that is your nests but it can be anywhere. Even shadows on the coop floor might make a place look hidden and safe. But by having the nest open and fake eggs in the nest you greatly improve your chances.

Straw works fine for nesting material. People get hung up on what is “best”, but different people use straw, wood shavings, hay, carpet, cloth feed bags, Spanish moss, shredded paper (no newspaper, it stains the eggs), or many other things and are quite happy. I cut and dry long pieces of grass around my fruit trees where I don’t weed eat or mow so I guess technically I use hay. To me whatever you use should be readily available and in expensive. You’ll find that people care about this a lot more than the chickens do.

Good luck!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'd open them now.
When their combs and wattles start getting darker red they're getting close.
How long have they been on layer feed?

Straw is fine. I've used anything from dried grass, straw, pine shavings, excelsior pads to plastic nest pads.

 

[Montellopnds]

Thanks so much for the details. I will get the nesting boxes open and get ready for the first egg.

 

[Montellopnds]

They have been on layer for a couple weeks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO, 16 weeks is a bit early because no one knows for sure when backyard birds will start laying but they'll probably be OK.
They do check the nests out for a few days or so before they start laying so yes, open them up.

 

[Montellopnds]

Yesterday I opened up the nesting boxes and put a wooden egg or 2 in each nest box. Today I found an egg from one of my chickens. It was a small brown egg and it was laying on the bottom of the coop not in a nest. Should I be concerned or not? Not sure having a wooden egg in each nest box in the right thing to do or not. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Blooie]

Cartons!!! Buy, borrow or steal, but get lots of cartons! At first I saved cartons from buying eggs at the store. I started hoarding them, as well as cartons from everyone else who remembered to save them for me rather than pitch them. When the girls started laying, I figured I had plenty stacked on the back porch. Um, I was wrong! When all 8 of your chickens start laying consistently, you can estimate 42 eggs per week - and that's conservatively based on 6 eggs a day. And around here, It seems to be a given that if 4 filled egg cartons go out, 3 empty cartons will come back! .

 

[aart]

Yesterday I opened up the nesting boxes and put a wooden egg or 2 in each nest box. Today I found an egg from one of my chickens. It was a small brown egg and it was laying on the bottom of the coop not in a nest. Should I be concerned or not? Not sure having a wooden egg in each nest box in the right thing to do or not. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your help

They might not figure out the nests at first.....or the control needed to get to the nest before the egg is ready to emerge.

Give them time.

Might leave one nest empty of fake eggs, one of my pullets hated them at first and refused to use the nest until I removed the fakie.

New layers can be quite goofy acting, they don't know what they are doing at first and can be confused and anxious, it can take up to a month or so before they get it all figured out. Putting some fake eggs or golf balls in the nest might help show them where to lay. They may scratch around in the nests for weeks before laying. Meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.

 

[Montellopnds]

Thank you for the tips and information. I found 1 egg yesterday in one of the nests that does not have a fake egg. Both eggs I found so far were small but normal shape. One of my chickens comb is very red and I am thinking that might be the one doing the laying so far.