The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Sudanpan on February 09, 2016, 08:06:34 pm
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We have our little flock in a fenced run with 2 x coups but then during the day we let them free range to their hearts' content.
This was all well and good until these last 3 weeks or so, when they basically gave up laying in the coups and decided to hide their eggs up on the top of the hay stacked in the barn at the top of the field.
I found one set of eggs (there were 6 in the clutch) so marked and left 3 and have collected new eggs ever since. However I hadn't realised that there was another laying set going on and today, when clambering over the soaking wet hay stack (see other post about our barn that got destroyed by Imogen :rant: ) I found it with 20 beautiful brown eggs nestled amongst the hay - what a waste!
So, we've had the hens in the run for the last couple of days because of the weather - no eggs yesterday but 4 today. One of the hens was really wanting to get out of the run to lay but we kept them all in and she presumably couldn't delay any longer.
So - we do prefer them having the run of the field but how can I persuade them to continue to lay in the run?
Thanks :thumbsup:
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Exactly the same problem we have ::) We try keeping them in all morning, but then whenever we do let them out they can be seen hurtling up to the hay shed looking desperate, and we rarely see any eggs. We found a clutch today, but they should be ok to eat, although obviously not to sell. As long as they haven't started sitting the eggs will have stayed cool. To check, try putting them in a bowl of water - fresh eggs should sit on the bottom, and definitely not float. But once you know where they are laying you can, as you are doing, let them continue to lay there and collect the eggs every day, but watch out for them going broody.
We have this problem every year in the breeding season and have never solved in completely.
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I have this too, in the summer, once the cover is up.
No answer, only tips:
make nest boxes more attractive, clean, extra straw, etc?
Find nests outside and collect eggs from them.
Or provide dedicated nesting shed as well as their hen house?
Mine loved laying in a couple of fruit boxes on the top shelf of an old wardrobe last year (it's under a roof), it worked fine, quite happy for this to happen again this year if they choose it again.
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High up and out of the way, hidden type places - but put hay in instead of straw, it's softer - make sure you have enough peaking out so they can still see the hidden away place and put in some pot eggs (marked or false eggs) so it looks a popular spot. We use the plywood boxes you get at any fruit monger for free and put them on shelves or ledges. You will still get the odd one laying somewhere else but they will mostly lay where you put the boxes. Make sure you have quite a few or you will end up having hens sitting on top of one another to lay.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one then :eyelashes: Thanks for the pointers - I'll see what I can do. We let them out today and yound darkie went hell for leather up to the 'top barn' but after having a good look everywhere she was obviously not impressed with the lack of roof and walls (!) so she came back to the coup!
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Have you checked the coops for red mite recently?
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Yes MF I do try to keep an eye on the red mite situation and give the coups a good clearout and liberal dusting with diatom powder regularly.
However I will have another check to make sure :thumbsup:
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When mine do this, after checking there isn't an obvious reason, like parasites or vermin, I put in clean nesting material (hay) and shut them in for a few days to a week, leaving all eggs that are laid and disturbing the nests as little as possible. I find that after a few days, they start laying where they should, even when let out, but be sure to leave a few marked eggs behind when you collect so they don't get discouraged again.
If a nest isn't in a daft place outside the coop, I'll often leave a couple of marked eggs in there as well and check for new ones regularly. At least you know where they are laying.
I also try to collect the eggs when the hens are busy elsewhere so they don't see my thievery!
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I've just sent off for some dummy rubber eggs to see if that encourages them to lay where they're meant to. I don't fancy using marked eggs in case they break and are off.
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I've tried keeping our girls in until late morning but i still have one or two who wait and then lay behind a straw bale. Sometimes i think the older hens lead them astray. Clean laying boxes do seem to encourage most of them though. I know it can be a waste but there's a part of me that likes the fact they've looked around and picked their own spot. They must feel safe enough to do it and I like them to free range so why not free lay.
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They are nearly always OK when they start to sit behind a bale or in a hedge, but we have lost some to the fox that way. Once the chicks hatch though is when the disaster begins. For example, we had a Scots Grey walk out of a hedge with a dozen day old chicks noisily following her. As soon as they saw us they all scattered, and next time we saw her she had only 6. We did eventually persuade her to come in and raise them in safer conditions, but by then there were only 5 chicks. Similar end results have happened with various other hens over the years. It's not just foxes which get them, but stoats, weasels, gulls, crows, jackdaws and rooks, birds of prey, cats - they're all out for a tasty snack.
So while I agree that it's a lovely idea to let your free range hens fulfil another of their natural behaviours, the practicalities are not so rosy. I've ended up raising many clutches of chicks and Muscovey ducklings in the polytunnel, as an emergency solution - they destroy the crops but have a whale of a time ::)
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I agree that once they start to sit on the eggs there are not safe and when they don't return to the house at their usual time i look for them and do my best to find them, (doesn't always work though). I don't really want too many surprise chicks. We have also lost chickens to a fox and stoat before now overnight, but also in broad daylight when they were just out as they normally are.
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My rubber eggs have just arrived so I'll see how that works. The hens are just starting their week of Flubenvet so will be inside all morning anyway. Will double check for red mite (haven't had them :fc: for ages now since we started using the flame wand plus a wood preserver) and make sure their nest boxes are immaculate.
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Well the hens seem to have decided to return to laying in the coop - seeing as the Top Barn is no more we have wrapped the hay stack in the plastic from the polytunnel which means the hens can't get access to the stack anymore and the hens don't seem to like anywhere else so they went back to the coop.
We will see how long it lasts :fc:
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Why not make a huge pen with electric poultry fencing surround the coops, so quite a big pen, and electrify it until you want to feed them; It should make them stay in and they will have a large surrounding area to free range, plus you can rotate the pen around the field with the houses, are they movable houses? That way you get the eggs and the hens stay safe from foxes and other predators.
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It's not just foxes which get them, but stoats, weasels, gulls, crows, jackdaws and rooks, birds of prey, cats - they're all out for a tasty snack.
And hedgehogs. :rant: And after all my kindnesses to them, too. :huff:
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Our hens are totally free range. Or, as I call them, freeloading. ::)
Luckily we have a neighbour with hens in a lovely large run, who loves her hens but doesn't eat eggs ;)
It's definitely important that the hens don't see you raid the nest - once they know you've discovered it, they'll stop laying in it.
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As long as they haven't started sitting the eggs will have stayed cool. To check, try putting them in a bowl of water - fresh eggs should sit on the bottom, and definitely not float.
I've always been frightened to do this, as I understand that the shell is porous and you can end up forcing germs from the outside through to the inside. Do you use warm water, Fleecewife, so that this doesn't happen?
So my tactic is to break eggs of unknown age into a saucer; you can soon see if there's a problem. But occasionally you get one that's so old you can smell that there's a problem :yuck: :surrender:
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I found 18 in the goat house, then 12 in hubbys workshop (where we keep the hay) the other day. I wondered why they had stopped laying in their house, now I know!!!
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Keep your hens locked in the coop (is it with a run) for a day or two or maybe even three and they will get used to laying inside again.
Last year I was walking in a forest behind my house and found three chicken eggs behind next to a large tree.
Now one hen started laying in the duck house nest box.
My chickens and ducks are so used to their routine that they always go to sleep to their own house.
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If you can't find to buy the rubber eggs, right now since Easter is close ,in the stores they sell hollow plastic eggs. We have put those in the nests and sometimes it fools them into thinking it must be a good spot. Although they must be color blind because some are pink and blue ;D