- Feb 15, 2010
- 11
- 0
- 22
First I want to thank you all for all of your postings. I'm new to the chicken world and I have been learning quite a bit.
Now, I have a few questions.
#1 How do you know if a hen is egg bound? How could I help her?
#2 I have 5 20 week pullets and 3 17 week pullets. Our RSL (Jasmine) started laying at 18 weeks, our RIR (Mary) started laying shortly afterward. My son found the nest out in the yard where they free range. We kept them in their pen and coop for a few days to try to get them to lay in their nesting boxes. Mary caught on, but Jasmine seemed to hold on to her egg until finally after 2 days she went out to the nest in the yard and layed a double yolker. OK, I don't want to do that to her again. Now, another hen is laying an egg from the roost and when I let them out, they have eaten it. And, today, we found an egg in the coop that was shell less. I think the BR (we have 2) are producing these. Should I be concerned?
#3 How do I get them to lay in their nests? They have 3 in the coop and I am resigned to living with the one in the yard (hard to get to, we live on a hillside, but the kids retreive them). I put wooden eggs in their nesting boxes.
#4 I also feed them crushed egg shells (rinsed off), and oyster to prevent the shell problem. What else should I try?
Thanks for you help!
Sandra
Now, I have a few questions.
#1 How do you know if a hen is egg bound? How could I help her?
#2 I have 5 20 week pullets and 3 17 week pullets. Our RSL (Jasmine) started laying at 18 weeks, our RIR (Mary) started laying shortly afterward. My son found the nest out in the yard where they free range. We kept them in their pen and coop for a few days to try to get them to lay in their nesting boxes. Mary caught on, but Jasmine seemed to hold on to her egg until finally after 2 days she went out to the nest in the yard and layed a double yolker. OK, I don't want to do that to her again. Now, another hen is laying an egg from the roost and when I let them out, they have eaten it. And, today, we found an egg in the coop that was shell less. I think the BR (we have 2) are producing these. Should I be concerned?
#3 How do I get them to lay in their nests? They have 3 in the coop and I am resigned to living with the one in the yard (hard to get to, we live on a hillside, but the kids retreive them). I put wooden eggs in their nesting boxes.
#4 I also feed them crushed egg shells (rinsed off), and oyster to prevent the shell problem. What else should I try?
Thanks for you help!
Sandra
