Due to start laying

C

cherrycoop

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My RIRs are approaching 22 weeks now. They free range over a large garden. At night they put themselves to bed in a run which has a nest box in it, I close the door when I go to bed and usually let them out about 6.30 every morning. They never use their run during the day. Where will they lay their eggs? Should I close them in their run until they start laying? Appreciate any feed back on this - would hate to miss out on the first eggs.
 
Presume these are hybrid RIR's as Pedigrees will be another month until they lay. Is their feed and water in the run? Presume you have a coop and run and the nest box is either internal in the coop or external attached to the coop. It all depends whether the garden contains any nice private areas to lay. If the nestbox isn't obvious they may not use it. Our Orchard has no little private corners to lay in as we have blocked off underneath the food store and the sheep ate all the bushes. Also we keep them in the run in the morning so they eat proper food (Smallholder layers) and that's when they lay generally. Then we let them out in the Orchard and they come back to the coop to lay.
 
Chris they are pedigree. Feed and water in the run but there are so many bugs to eat they don't eat much. Loads of shady spots to hide in plus I live on the equator on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean so summer+ all year round with 12 hour daylight. Should I expect them to start laying at 26 weeks? I think I will feed them early in their run but not let them out until much later in the day and make the nest box more inviting - going to be a bit tough for a couple of weeks because they cannot wait to get out and about in the morning with so many tempting bugs about - this morning they found a 6 inch lizard and were playing tug of war with the poor thing! The winner got the tail which was still twitching for quite a while! What I would not give to be able to get some proper food but there is no animal feed factory at the moment so the chickens get loads of greens, rice, crushed corn, kitchen scraps and whatever protein in the form of insects, They love chopped raw onion.
 
6" lizard sounds yummy for a chicken Cherrycoop. Forgot you were in the Tropics, can you add your location on the user id page to remind me next time ? I would say 26 -30 weeks and they will lay all over the place unless they are trained to use the nest box. Think you will always have that problem because some will find a better place or the nest box will be occupied when they want it. I wouldn't keep them in until the first start laying because the stress may have the opposite effect and delay the lay. Signs are red comb and large poos in the morning at which time keep them in for a few hours maybe. If they do lay away they will keep going to the same place so you will have to collect the eggs from there. But of course the predators will want the eggs as well and they will be waiting there.
 
I too wouldn't change their routine now as it's so close to laying. Keep an eye for any potential nesting sites and if they seem reasonably safe, let them use them as it's the most natural thing. You could put their feed and water in the pen if you don't already which will encourage them back towards the coop. That's about as far as I'd go re. changes.
 
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