Chicken behavior before laying first egg.
How to tell when a hen is about to start laying eggs.
A hen is about to start laying eggs when it gets to the age of about nine months. This date, however, will depend on your breed of chicken. There are different types of breeds of chicken, all of which have different laying abilities. In order to find the best breed for your laying business, you need to find out what you would like to achieve at the end of the day and how much of your resources you are willing to spend.
Typically, when a hen is about to lay eggs, it makes a sound called the egg siren. It is a loud repetitive sound that hens make that acts as a way of communicating with the rooster or farmer that it is about to lay an egg. This sound may be noisy for the farmer at first, but with time, you get used to it.
What to do when you hear the egg siren in your flock?
- Create a nest for your hen immediately.
- Provide your hens with a constant supply of freshwater.
- Keep feeding your hen properly.
- Watch out in case the hen lays somewhere different from the nest you made.
When do chickens start laying eggs?
Chickens typically start laying eggs at the age of nine months. They need a number of things in order for them to successfully start laying. For those doing it as a business and for those doing it as a hobby, there are different ways of ensuring the success of each venture.
When your chicken starts laying, you will be able to determine the best feed to give them consistently depending on their rate of laying. However, it is best to stick to the best quality feeds, especially layers mash, and provide your hens with enough space to move around.
If it is possible create perches for your hens so that they are much more comfortable.
What to give your chicken to promote egg laying?
How do I get my chicken to start laying eggs?
- Multivitamins
Give your hens some multivitamins either in their feed or in their water. Multivitamins act as a way to reduce the stress that is caused by either vaccine, antibiotics, loud noises or a fluctuation in temperature. These vaccines also accelerate the egg-laying trait that chickens exhibit once they come of age.
Other things are;
- High-Quality Feed (Layers Mash)
- Access to a frequent supply of freshwater.
These are just some of the things that I think will aid your campaign for laying hens. Pay attention not to change any of the conditions set for the chickens when they start laying and after they continuously lay for a week or so.
Changing their conditions will cause a significant drop in their egg-laying. Changing conditions like location feeds and even a change in temperature will cause a drop in eg laying.
Best egg-laying chicken breed?
- Rhode Island Red
- Plymouth Rock Chicken
- Leghorn Chicken
- Australorp
- Orpington Chicken
- Sussex
These are by far the best egg-laying chickens that I know of. These breeds may or may not be found in your area. But when you find one or two of them, do not shy away from experimenting with them to understand their laying habits.
What to do with the first chicken egg?
The first chicken egg that a hen lays is very important to the chicken as well as the farmer. Did you know that the first chicken egg that a hen lays serves as a way to just test out their internal egg-laying system?
So, the first egg that a chicken lays cannot be used for incubation. But it can make a great omelet because of the excitement of knowing your hen laid its very first egg!
