Eglu Cube Mk2 with autodoor for sale near Inverness

[heddy]

Hello from Portland, Oregon. I bought an Eglu and have 3 hens. I bought the chicks the 1st week of March and they are now outside in the Eglu - growing fast. I have 2 questions. When should I see my first egg and what material should I put in the nesting box? I put in shredded newspaper, but they pecked it out of the box into the run. Should I use straw? Will they share the box? I'm totally new at this and would appreciate help. The girls seem happy and love noodles, carrot tops and fresh spinach. Thanks for any advice. Helen

[Blackrocksrock]

HI Helen - welcome to the forum - how old are the girls - I bought point of lay girls at 20 weeks and still had to wait a few weeks for some of them to lay and it really varies, They will all lay in the nest box in turns and I line it with newspaper and then use shredded paper which is my preference but others use aubiose etc to line it.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hi Heddy and welcome to the forum . I've no experience of chicks, I'm afraid, just wanted to say hello .

[moochoo]

Hi and welcome to the forum Chickens start to lay at around 22-24 weeks if they're hybrids and up to 30 weeks old if they're pure breeds. I wouldn't put anything in the nest box until closer to that time as they don't know what to do with it.

When they are closer to point of lay shredded paper is just fine.

[Patricia W]

The other thing to remember is to change them from growers pellets to layers pellets (someone will know the magic age- but I think I did it about 18 weeks ).

 

It's the layers pellets or mash which has the goodies to help them make eggs. Restrict the treats to later in the day when they've stocked up on the pellets.

 

From my experience, at this stage, you think that you will be the only chicken keeper in the universe to have non-laying chickens! ( Actually one of mine is - but he is a cockerel so he has an excuse).

 

Tricia