Hen house corner

sarah1

Hi we've had our 3 chooks for two weeks on thursday and they were 18 weeks old when we bought them but the problem is that we have'nt seen an egg yet.
They have got their laying boxes and they are always in them in the morning when i go to let them out, i go down really keen and nothing, nowt, zilch! :mad:
Am i being a bit to keen or am i doing something wrong
Please help

Ted_Hutchinson

Point of Lay is a variable term. Some people say 16 weeks while others 20.
So if yours were nearer the 16 weeks they may still have a week or so to go. They generally will take a few days to settle in but while our last lot took ages to actually come into lay the previous batch were laying from the moment they arrived.

Shona_3

Don't be downheartened, we have two lovely chickens who lay every day. It took at least 4 weeks for them to settle in and start laying when we got them in december. One (Isabel) started 10 days before the other (Esme). They are an absolute scream, totally addictive. We live in a completely suburban area and the neighbours think we are mad. They totally hold their own against our cat too. Wouldn't be without them now.

Sarahsaver

leonie wrote:

Just a quick note to say that my poorly hen perked up after pooing out the plastic and is nearly back to normal now hooray!!

She's still not started laying eggs again but she's looking so much happier so I dont think it will be too long.

Buuuut my biggest hen has finally started laying and the eggs are a brilliant size, infact yesterday's was enormous and it turned out to be a double yolker! I havent seen these for years but I remember my mother used to buy them as treats sometimes.

Havent been so great for the garden though, and yesterday they ate all the red strawberries!

I couldnt go back to shop bought eggs now!

Great news. one of mine laid a HUGE egg too! I had some lovely spinach growing in the garden, all fenced off. The hens got it.

littlereddevil

I buy my free range eggs from my farmer neighbour[if he can keep the foxes away from them][the hens that is not the eggs]
And for the first time in my life last week I got an egg with no yolk only white.never seen this before.

leonie_2

Anneg isnt that something to do with the hen just starting to lay (or just finishing) and her system being a bit iffy.

Well im getting two eggs a day now so hopefully soon I shall have enough to start giving them to my mother so she can enjoy them as well.... I'll give it a month before she gets her own hens!

littlereddevil

It was a small egg so maybe just starting

sarah1

W..hey, got our first egg today. :j It brought a tear to my eye.
It was only a very little one and i don't know which one of the three hens has laid it. I have broken it to make sure it had a yolk, the yolk was a very rich yellow.
I still can't believe one of our chickens has laid an egg, isn't nature a fantastic thing ? (i'm getting all sentimental now)
Thanks all for your help and advice and i will keep you posted. :beer:

Shona_3

Our two have suddenly got much noisier. Esme stands at the door to the run and does her laying squawk until she gets some attention. Usually this means letting them out for a scratch round the garden. I am a bit worried our tolerant neighbours are going to start complaining. We are thinking of building a bigger run which will hopefully return them to their previous quiet habits. Is this spoiling them? Anyone else had similar problems?

beadysam

Hiya
I've not got my hens yet - my hatching eggs only arrived this morning :T ! If I were you I'd join the forum at https://www.practicalpoultry.co.uk as they have a wonderful crowd of really helpful people over there who can answer questions on all things chicken :dance: .
Best wishes
SAM xx