The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: terryh on April 14, 2010, 11:43:18 am
-
hi guys
a few will remember i bought 4 x 30 supposedly? week old chickens from an auction last Wednesday 7th april
how long do they take to settle in and start laying again we have had 1 egg every day except yesterday ?
terry
-
Hi Terry, settling in can vary. I find my ex batts settle very quickly and start laying regularly after about a week (usually have a few eggs first two days but they are already 'in the pipeline' ;) you might say), but I've had others that took a few weeks to settle down into a regular laying pattern. They may well be 30 weeks as not all breeds come to point of lay at 20 weeks.
-
My first 3 settled in quite quickly but I think they were older than the breeder said ::) my latest batch of 8 took at least a fortnight and I agree, not all birds start to lay at that time its just an average I guess. and my newest girls have laid some right diddy eggs to start with!! only recently have they started to lay ones that I can sell at the farm gate :)
-
thanks guys
guess what all 4 hens laid an egg today im very happy now
they have a choice of 2 nest boxes but all laid in one box they must have been queuing up :yum:
-
;D mine do that! they all seem to favour one box. they have a choice of 4 but literally queue on a perch waiting - sometimes you find them piled on top of each other trying to all squeeze in ::)
glad to hear you got a full quote today :chook:
-
Mine all pile into together, but I guess they can't always wait!
-
I had a few boxes at my last place - a huge barn - but here I just have one next box, and guess what sometimes there are 5 eggs in it, sometimes only 2 or 3 but the shed floor is covered in straw so I usually find more there when i'm cleaning.