How do I get my chickens to start laying again?
It's probably not because of stress from introducing a new chicken. It's fall, and that's the time of year when chickens go into molt. Chickens WILL molt regardless of whether or not they have artificial light. And any change in weather can be enough to cause a decrease in production...it's common when it's very hot or very cold out. Or they could be stressed due to a predator (or percieved predator) hanging around, perhaps when you aren't watching. So, a light may help but it can only do so much. The only cure for lack of egg production due to molting is to wait it out. You can try offering them more protein either through a high protein diet (Nutrena makes a high protein diet inteded to be fed during molting or you could use an "all flock" or meat bird diet) or by offering high protein treats (like eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, kefir, table scraps of meat) in addition to their regular diet.
Help With Building A Chicken Run?
I have one Chicken and one Rooster, they are currently in a small area and I wanted to build them a nice area on the ground with alot of room and enough room that I can get another Chicken or two (I love my Chicken and Rooster and I would love more) If I was going to build them an area what would be the best setup and the best way to go? I would love to just put up some posts and put chicken wire around it (secure it and chicken proof it of course) I have a few ideas of what I would like but I just dont want them flying out of it and getting eaten by my attack Dachshund (she weighs 25 lbs so she could easily hurt one of them) How tall would the fencing need to be or would I be better off with an enclosed space or maybe clipping their wings? And if I was to build a run for them what would be the best way to go for a house for them? Space is not an issue for me because I live on over 30 acres of land so I plan on making it a pretty good size. If anyone has any suggestions or links to examples I would greatly appreciate it :) I want to get started on something for them very soon.
I like my chickens, but feed is expensive. I’ve seen birds live ten years, and they don’t lay enough after about four in my experience.There is a really large livestock sales barn close by, so I take them there and let them go. They all survive well on what they can glean from the manure and feed. Some survive the raccoons and skunks for years.Another alternative is to turn them loose in rural pastureland close to water and trees. They still fend for themselves pretty well. They certainly don’t starve. But the cycle of life catches up with them pretty quickly because some predators climb the trees they will roost in.Either way they get a new adventure and seem to enjoy their new freedom. On rare occasions an old hen will hatch a brood and the chicks that live are more wary and survive better than the parents.
They don't always; often a hen just submits. A hen runs because she doesn't want to be mated. The rooster doesn't care about what the hen wants; he'll chase her down, hold her down, and mate her whether she wants to or not.Chickens don't think of things in human terms, but if they did, you'd say there was a lot of rape in a chicken flock.
My chicken wont lay eggs. ?
I've had my chicken for 5 months. The chicken used to live in my schools AG department at my high school. But I had to leave the school for health reasons and if I didn't take the chicken they would kill it. So I took her home, she is a bantom, and is only 6 or 7 in tall. She lives in a huge rabbit cage in my room with plenty of water and food. And everyday I let her out to roam around so shes happy. The chickens she used to live with have been laying eggs for a month now, she doesn't have a nesting box, she doesn't like them so I took it out. I even put a fake egg inside about the size of the eggs she's to lay to get her to try to nest, nothing, she kicks it away. What do I do? This is my first chicken I've taken care of. And it is a hen, if it was a rooster it would have been rooing already.
How do u make chickens lay more eggs?
If they are young hens (pullets) they are just starting to lay, and their eggs may be either smaller or larger than average until they reach maturity. If they have just finished molting, their eggs may not be of average size for a few weeks. Age and molting can also affect how many they are laying. My dad had a 10,000 bird laying house at one time, and during peak production, we would get about 8,000 eggs a day. Not every chicken lays an egg a day. You are right that both fright and being in a new place can also affect production. Let them get used to the new place, and you, and try to keep them calm, and you should see an increase in their egg laying. Try to keep pets and other people away from them until they get used to their new home to help them calm down and lose their fear. Another thing to keep in mind is that they do molt about once a year (which means that they lose their old feathers and grow new ones) and egg production and quality will both go down during that time.
There are several reasons why your hens may stop laying eggs. #4 deals with age, but there are other factors to consider as well.Declining day lengthHens are sensitive to day light length,Particularly when the day length is getting longer, when it comes to laying eggs.Shortening day lengths means lower egg productionImproper nutritionhttp://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/94/feeding-chickens-for-best-health-and-performance/BroodinessSome breeds of hens are prone to becoming broody, meaning that they will try to incubate eggs to make them hatch.Image: How Can I Stop a Hen From Being Broody?When this happens, they stop laying eggs.AgeOn average, pullets, or juvenile hens, start laying eggs at about 6 months of age, depending on the breed.Larger birds like Wyandottes, Plymouth Rocks and Orpingtons will lay on the later sideImage: Orpington pictures, video, information and chicks.Smaller birds like Leghorns, Stars, and Australorps will start laying sooner.Image: Leghorn pictures, video, information and chicks.That said, most laying of them will lay more or less productively in your backyard for five to seven years.MoltingAfter a hen has been producing eggs for several months, she is increasingly likely to molt.Molting and egg production don’t mix, when molting occurs, egg production ceases.Image: Molting- What is it & How to Help Chickens Get Through itDiseaseMany poultry diseases will affect egg production.Often the birds will show symptoms of illness, but sometimes they will not.Egg production drops and you can’t figure out why, check with your Vet.I don’t know any of this stuff. I had to ask my wife the chicken hobbyist. Me I just like the fresh eggs.Have productive (as in eggs) fun.Regards
This is a good question, as most people haven’t seen what chickens are capable of, and quite a lot of people will never have seen a chicken at all.When you see them in an open farm or country environment, chickens are really quite astounding creatures. I have had chickens often in the past, they’re smarter than they look.They can and will perform “high energy” short range flights into the trees, or to avoid local squabbles in the chicken run. Into the trees to avoid predators, or short range flight either for the same, or to arrive at the food trough first.These two links will tell it better than I can,Question: "Can chickens fly?" Answer: "Can a duck swim?". Find out why.and here on Quora;-If chicken jumped off skyscraper, would it fly in controlled manner and land unharmed?Which is a fun idea. (don’t worry, it would survive)To which I will add, that once the chicken is in the tree, they are actually excellent gliders, they’re funny to watch as fliers going up or along, as it takes a huge amount of effort for them to move their heavy bodies with stunted wings, but gliding they do with charm.
Help taking care of my chickens!!!?
You may want to hang boards around any open area that lets in mass amounts of cold ( like plywood shutters that you can open or close up depending on the weather and hooks to keep them open). The deeper the straw bed on the floor ( and the bird droppings mixed in from the birds living on it) will generate a lot of heat also from the decomposing matter- just make sure the ammonia smell is no worse than one foot from the ground (muck out twice a year). I have read that in very cold countries the people will stuff a lot of straw into the lay box and around the box- for insulation( the picture looked like the lay box was in a pile of hay that was almost one and a half foot thick. There is no reason to keep the run open at night - in fact that would let things like rats into the hen house- a bad thing if you leave food out all night. Rats and mice are disease carriers and they can get in through all but the smallest gauge wire( if you can stick a pencil into the cage wire it is too big and mice can get in) and they will chew holes into wooden boards. A light will keep them from panic if they get upset at night from falling (yes they can fall) and a light will encourage more laying of eggs. The hens need time to feel safe in the lay boxes and that may take a little time before they are relaxed and not stressed out. I even have heard of birds that were upset because the water tasted differently than where they were raised. About you waking them up - I think that is for places that have extreme difference of sunrise in spring/winter and they turn on lights only in the morning. Most birds like a set schedule especially if it affects when they will be fed only at certain times. And yes most birds and animals can tell time and they will definitely let you know very loudly if they think you are late with their food. Your library most likely has many books on raising chickens and so will your better feed stores. You should know that chickens that by the time a chicken is 8 months old -their egg production drops down to 65% and most stop laying by 2 years. Most serious egg production people will start culling low producers -one's that don't lay one egg a day. You said you painted the coop- what kind of paint did you use? Did you use a low emission non toxic paint?
Can chickens lay eggs without the use of "laying mesh"?
You mention that you have hens, but you don't say anything about a rooster - you also don't mention what kind of chickens you have. Some chickens are good brooders (meaning they will sit and hatch fertilized eggs for chicks), but many popular chickens are not good brooders. They will lay the eggs, but you will need an incubator to hatch them. I have buff orpingtons - 18 hens and two roosters. I average about 11 or so eggs a day and my chickens are only almost 7 months old. I was told that they are more likely to brood at about a year old. It really depends on the breed of chickens you have and what you are feeding them - mine get scratch, layer crumbles and kitchen leftovers (veggies and fruit, egg shells). Good luck!