Yeah. I accidentally got a rooster. That was an oops. I meant to get all hens and they didn’t quite get that right. So my laying hens are now six months old. They started laying about a month ago, and it has been so fun getting our own farm fresh eggs. It is great.
And so I wanted to walk you through a little bit of what I do to prepare for my hens to start laying eggs. Hopefully I won’t have any photo bombers out here. Like I said, our chickens have been laying for about a month now, and it just got me thinking about some of the important things that you need to be prepared for when your chickens start to lay. So I wanted to walk through a few of the steps that you can take to make sure that your hens have a comfortable place to lay and that they’re going to have the nutrition that they need to lay amazing healthy eggs.
How to Prepare Before Your Hens Start Laying
Encourage Laying in the Nest Boxes
So the first thing is nest boxes. You want the chickens laying in the nest boxes. You don’t want them laying on the floor for a variety of different reasons. But number one being you’re able to find the eggs easily. And number two, being your eggs are going to stay much cleaner if they’re not being laid all over the place.
So we have our nest boxes here. And as you can see, there’s not a lot of bedding in these nest boxes right now. Unfortunately, all these young hens have been scratching out most of the bedding as they try to nest. Now, that’s annoying. I have tried using hay, I’ve tried using shavings and they like fling it out all over the floor.
Add a Border on the Nest Boxes to Keep the Bedding
So one of the things that I’m going to do today that I should have done a while ago was add another strip of wood to the nest boxes so that it keeps the bedding in better. So I just took a one by three board and put it up there and hopefully this helps keep the bedding in a lot better.
Now I like having bedded nest boxes. I think they’re comfy, they’re cozy, and they help keep the eggs clean.
And also if your chickens are laying eggs onto a hard substance like this is wood, you’re going to have cracked eggs. That’s something we have struggled with as they have been scratching bedding all over the place.
I personally don’t have any experience with roll away nest boxes. If you want to try experimenting with those, that might be sort of something interesting to try in the future. But for now I’m just adding this strip of ones that are bedding stays in place.
Bait with Fake Eggs
The second thing you can do to encourage them to lay in the nest boxes is to bait them there with fake eggs. Now you can buy fake eggs that are made of wood or like ceramic fake eggs, but you can also just use golf balls.
So my dad likes to golf. He had some old golf balls on hand. And so I’m just putting a few of those in the nest boxes to try to encourage them to lay there.
Make Every Other Area Uncomfortable
And the third and final thing that you can do to encourage your hens to lay in the nest boxes is to discourage them and make every other area uncomfortable.
So my chickens have been liking to lay in the corners of the coop by piling bedding really, really high and steep. That discourages them. Or I can put different blockades up or try to prevent them from even getting there. So step one to great eggs is to make sure that your nest boxes are welcoming to your chickens.
Nutrition
Laying Hens Have Higher Calcium Needs
The second thing that you really have to be aware of is nutrition. So as your chickens start to lay, they’re going to have increased requirements for calcium. Calcium is what the egg shells are made of. So now the chickens are having to use a lot of calcium to put out those eggs.
So I start feeding my egg layers calcium shells alongside with their grit to give them a source of calcium that they can free choice feed and you can get this at pretty much any feed store. They’re going to have it. They’re not expensive.
How to Tell that Your Hens are Calcium Deficient
One really great way to tell if your hens are calcium deficient is by the strength of their egg shells. So if you’re cracking open your eggs and they have really weak shells, or if you’re finding a lot of cracked broken eggs, that could indicate that your birds are not getting enough calcium in their diet.
Switch Your Hens from Their Grower Feed to Layer Feed
And the second thing you’re going to want to do is switch your layers from a grower feed to a layer feed, which is going to slightly change the nutritional value of the feed to something that is better for laying instead of growing.
Now, some layer feed say that you don’t need to provide additional calcium, but I have always fed additional calcium free choice because in my opinion the birds know when they need it and they will eat it when they need it.
Final Thoughts
So those are a few steps that I like to take when my birds are transitioning from pullet into full fledged laying hens.
1. Make sure your nest boxes are prepped with a deep bedding.
2. Encourage them to lay there with golf balls or fake eggs.
3. Discourage them from laying elsewhere by making it uncomfortable.
4. Make sure that their feed has been adjusted for their new nutritional requirements- switching them from a grower to a layer feed and providing them with an additional calcium supplements.
So your chickens lay well and have nice healthy eggs. We’ll see you again soon.
