Should our chicken be laying by now?

[ashephe2]

Hi everyone,

We have two araucana (crossed with another unknown breed) chickens, the same age, approximately 8 - 9 months old (?).

One of them started laying eggs a bit over a month ago, which we thought was pretty amazing, since it's been winter here (Australia) for nearly 3 months. She is now laying an egg almost everyday.

I'm a little bit concerned about the other chicken though as she hasn't laid any eggs yet. Is this OK? She is also much more timid and easily frightened than the chicken who is laying. I'll post a picture - the one on the left is the one who is laying.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks for your help,
Anne

 

[terryg]

Some hens never lay. But, perhaps your timid hen is laying elsewhere. That's a small coop you have. I wonder if she isn't intimidated by the other hen. Also, hens have very poor eye sight in the dark, so she might not want to go inside to lay. Have you checked possible nest sites elsewhere in your yard?

 

[ashephe2]

Hi Terry, thanks for the ideas. It definitely isn't too dark in the coop because there is a window on the other side which lets in a lot of light.

Do chickens not like to lay in the same space? They both seem very happy in the coop, and go straight in as soon as it gets dark or if the weather is bad. If anything, I think the timid one goes in there sometimes during the day because she feels so comfortable there. I'll have a bit of a look around their favourite places in the yard though, to see if there might be any eggs hiding there.

The timid hen seems mostly to be intimidated by us, and other loud noises and movement. She seems to be reasonably comfortable with the other hen, although the other is definitely dominant. Is there anything that we can do to make her feel more comfortable and confident?

I'm a bit concerned about your comment about the coop being small - we built it after doing quite a lot of research into the best way to build chicken houses, and how much space they need. It is movable and we move it to fresh ground every week. It also has a roosting pole inside and a door at the end that opens up so that they can free range during the day, and which we close every night to keep them safe. Should we be concerned that they don't have enough room inside?

 

[Mac14]

It looks fine to me, actually it is very cute!

 

[ashephe2]

Thanks Mac14! We had a lot of fun making it

 

[terryg]

Glad to hear there is a window Sometimes the fewer the hens, the more space you need. As a rule of thumb, you need only 1 box for 5 hens. But, fewer than 5 hens and you need more boxes! I have a feeling that the timid hen needs her own nesting box. Can you fit in two, with a wall between them? Take a look at the boxes on my HenCam to get an idea. There's a lip in the front to keep the shavings in and a wall between them. I like to see 4 square feet minimum of floor space per hen, and another 3 to 4 square feet of air space. It's great that you're moving the run weekly. Where I live, that's not possible in the winter.

 

[ashephe2]

Hi again Terry, thanks again for this info. We started planning how we could incorporate another nesting box inside the coop - and still may do that, but just yesterday, something uncanny happened. The second hen laid her FIRST EGG! I can't believe it, the timing is so unlikely. Just as I start to become concerned and ask for advice she decides to lay her first egg! It was definitely hers because when I checked in the nest in the morning, there were no eggs - then I checked an hour later and there were 2! And one is much smaller than the other one so I think it's definitely her first egg. Interestingly they both laid their eggs in the same nest. Hopefully this means that they're happy to do this. We'll keep an eye on them though and watch out for any signs of distress or discomfort.

Thanks again for the help