By Suefletcher
United Kingdom
how can i teach my new recuse hens to lay in nest boxes? i have put fake eggs in but they just scratch about in them.
- 23 Feb, 2010
Answers
Hens like to lay their eggs in relatively dark nest boxes and may take some time settling in. We used to keep them and found that if we wanted them to lay for longer we prolonged their daylight by putting in a light to come on early and go out later (a bit like British summer time during the winter)! wouldn't worry about fake eggs unless you have a broody hen who insists on sitting on them - a bit of a waste of time unless you have a cockerel. Perhaps they need a little longer to settle in. Just a thought - they weren't battery hens were they? In which case they probably have no idea where to lay their eggs.
23 Feb, 2010
Are they laying their eggs somewhere else? If not, they are probably on winter break! Just give them lots of layers pellets and love and wait for spring. Ahh, lovely chooks!
24 Feb, 2010
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Assuming you mean rescued from a battery farm the poor things have no idea of where to lay. I trust you have a nice hen house for them? Confine them to this for a week or so and feed them in the house. This will get them used to laying in the house. Then just let them out during the day. Do make sure you shut them up at night or the foxes are likely to get them. Look at the Eve Balfour method of rearing hens - it is what we used when we kept them and we found it worked extremely well.
23 Feb, 2010