My 4 hens have now been laying regularly for about 3 months, as far as I can
tell they are fully grown and not getting any larger. They all lay almost
every day but the eggs are smallish, close to 50g each. Two of the girls
are (mostly) Australorps and a fair size the other two are somewhat smaller
but all the eggs are the same size. Will their eggs get any bigger from now
on?

Secondly, how do I stop one of them (only one particular hen) from laying
outside the nest provided? The others all happily use it and the odd one
used to use it but she has taken to going elsewhere the last few weeks. She
has decided that an old lounge we have on the verandah is the place which is
inconvenient for several reasons but at least it isn't out on the paddock
somewhere.

David

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
My 4 hens have now been laying regularly for about 3 months, as far as I
can tell they are fully grown and not getting any larger. They all lay
almost every day but the eggs are smallish, close to 50g each. Two of the
girls are (mostly) Australorps and a fair size the other two are somewhat
smaller but all the eggs are the same size. Will their eggs get any
bigger from now on?

They usually get bigger in the second year and stay that way till the girls
die or are dispatched. Occasionally you'll get a seriously big egg as the
chooks age, but that strains the system so you don't want those.

Secondly, how do I stop one of them (only one particular hen) from laying
outside the nest provided? The others all happily use it and the odd one
used to use it but she has taken to going elsewhere the last few weeks.
She has decided that an old lounge we have on the verandah is the place
which is inconvenient for several reasons but at least it isn't out on the
paddock somewhere.

You can't really stop them laying elsewhere but try leaving them in the pen
till later in the day. If you can figure out when the miscreant is laying
her eggs on the sofa then you leave all of them in till that one has laid
and then let them out afterwards.

On 28/03/11 10:51, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Secondly, how do I stop one of them (only one particular hen) from
laying outside the nest provided?

I'll just add to what others said. If you add a second nest, try leaving
some fake eggs in their, that encourages them to lay where you want. As
mentioned, you can keep them in the pen longer. But I don't believe you
need to figure out what time she is laying as they won't lay past
mid-day, so let them out at 1pm and you should be fine.

As an aside, chickens lay one hour later every day and so should skip a
day of laying about every 5 days. This is all from memory from a long
time ago so I hope it is accurate and I wasn't fed bullshit .

Lionel.

"Lionel" wrote in message
...
On 28/03/11 10:51, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Secondly, how do I stop one of them (only one particular hen) from
laying outside the nest provided?

I'll just add to what others said. If you add a second nest, try leaving
some fake eggs in their, that encourages them to lay where you want. As
mentioned, you can keep them in the pen longer. But I don't believe you
need to figure out what time she is laying as they won't lay past mid-day,
so let them out at 1pm and you should be fine.

As an aside, chickens lay one hour later every day and so should skip a
day of laying about every 5 days. This is all from memory from a long time
ago so I hope it is accurate and I wasn't fed bullshit .

Lionel.
I was taught they laid every 22 hours, that gives an idea. Yes the skipping
a day is right.