How To Keep Laying Hens

If you are going to keep laying hens, best to secure yourself a good strain of laying hens. Something like Rhode Island Red, like Sussex, a traditional laying hen, you can go for hybrid layers, although they tend to not live as long, though they lay eggs early on. But they won't have the length of life as a Rhode Island Red or like Sussex would have.

You'd find these birds advertised in local papers and local poultry magazines, in poultry magazines, probably in stores and local feed stores and such like. Local papers have a lot of advertisements for laying hens and always make sure the hens are in good order, they always look well and bright, are well feathered. Low feathers pick too much.

I'm just telling you look happy hens, really. Feed them mainly on the layer's pellet if that's what you are going for. You are going to get them at any country store anywhere that sells horse stuff like hay, straw.

They usually deploy a good range of poultry feed. Feed them on the layer's pellet. And after that, 19-20 weeks 18 weeks also perhaps, they should start to come into lay.

Most hens lay throughout the year, taking a break off wintertime just to recharge their battery. So, the daylight has to increase so therefore they are not so inclined to lay eggs. And they will have a molt once a year when they will stop laying eggs for about a month.

Complete molt new set of feathers and then come back into lay again. It's best to have a nice well-ventilated shade. Cleaning those boxes is essential.

Clean out all the hay and straw and such like, I should say at least every fortnight and twice a month. But if you don't, you will start getting problems with things like red mite and lice and things and what have u in the nest boxes. So clean them out.

Even if it is the last powder in the bottom of the boxes just to eradicate any eggs or anything that is in the dust that's left in the bottom of the nest boxes. Suitable sized run should also be provided. It's not essential but the hens are a lot happier if they can actually scratch in the soil and do their own thing or so to an extent.

As I said, to feed them on layers, pellets but also any household scrap, any extra tidbits always go well. With the layer, also you'll have to make sure they have a ready supply of oyster shell. Not grit because it cannot be ground up and made into calcium.

It has to be an oyster shell. It's ground up in the gizzard and that will contribute towards producing a good strong shell on the eggs that the hens lay. If they don't have this, they'll draw calcium out of the bones of itself in an effort to put a cover on the eggs.

And it won't do the birds any good at all. It will run them down and some birds will eventually suffer, almost go lame with brittle bones. Because it is so, oyster shell is essential if you are having a flock of birds.

And this is how to keep laying hens. .