Problems w egg laying and mean guinea

[joni1986]

Hi I'm new to this site an haven't had a chance to read all the threads but wanted to make my own!!! The main problem I'm having right now is that I'm not getting very many eggs from my chickens. I have 11 adult hens in which I'm getting 2-3 eggs a day. I think they may be having some out in the field!! How do I teach them to have them in the nesting box? What are some tips to help egg production? I've read stress can cause bad egg production. How do I tell if they are stressed it not? Also I'm trying to introduce my almost 3 mo old baby hens and one rooster to the flock and they all seem to be on except the guinea. Is this normal behavior an if so what do I do? Any advice would help a lot

 

[Chickenman10101]

You could get eggs that you collect and mark each with big a big x with vivid (instead of buying fake eggs) and put these eggs where you want the hens to lay. The chickens should hopefully lay where you want. Collect the eggs without any x on them and leave the marked ones. If you have broody breeds then you don't want to leave the marked eggs there too long or they might decide to hatch some chicks (which is only possible if the hens are with a rooster. You could also lock the hens in the house until about 11 am and then let them out after they have finished laying to save you having to search everywhere.

Hens that are laying generally have bright red combs and wattles. Your chickens could just be moulting when all the hens energy goes into growing new feathers so they stop laying eggs for a bit. Also the temperature and time of month could just be too hot or cold. The chickens age also could be affecting egg production (older birds slow laying).

 

[Blammmo]

I put golf balls in my nest boxes to encourage my new pullets to use them, they can't tell the difference, I've even had broody hens fussing over them and turning them.

 

[joni1986]

Ok thank you guys. Also about how old are they when they start laying? My babies are about 10 weeks old now.

 

[TheEggCollecter]

Golf Balls or wooden eggs for sure

 

[chickkrzi]

Most will start laying at about 25-28 weeks more or less. (6 month old) but that also depends on the breed. If you have 11 month old hens at this time of year free ranging, I'm willing to bet they are hiding a nest. How much room do they free range on? What I would do is keep them pen up for a few weeks, put some golf balls (2-3) in each nesting box. That should change there laying habits. If you want to find the nest in the field. Just keep them in there coop a little later that normal (say 2-3 hrs) . Then keeping some distance, follow one of the hens that seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere. Wish you luck.

 

[joni1986]

They have 7 acres to free range on but they usually keep a good distance from the coop and don't venture farther then that. My baby roo fell in my horses water trough yesterday and drown. So they are all locked up for a week or so and I have branches in all the waters now. . He was gonna be beautiful

 

[donrae]

Sorry about your rooster

. Water troughs have been where I've lost most of my birds. They just don't seem to know any better....

Did you lock up your entire flock? That would be my suggestion, for getting more eggs. Confine them to the coop for a week or so, that way you'll know how many are really laying. It will also help re-train them to lay in the nesting boxes.