How to tell if a hen is laying or not: 3 best methods to increase egg production

The maintenance of laying hens in the household is profitable, provided that the bird's egg production is good. Under the same feeding and housing conditions, not all chickens show consistently high egg production. The poultry farmer must be able to determine whether the chicken is rushing at the height of the season or not in order to remove the unsuitable bird from the herd in time. Inspection (bonitation) and culling of poultry is carried out 3-4 times a year.

What determines productivity?

Egg production of chickens rests on three "pillars":

• genetic "sourdough";
• complete feeding;
• correct content.

To get a large number of eggs, you should start egg breeds or crosses: Leggorn, Rhodonite, Dominant, Russian White.

Representatives of these breeds can carry up to 300 large eggs a year, but you can’t get meat from them. Meat-and-egg chickens (Kuchinskaya, Adlerskaya, Amroks) are especially popular in private farms, laying about 200 eggs a year, but also giving a weighty carcass.

Balanced feeding of livestock allows you to unleash the full potential of the bird. You can feed the hens with a complete factory compound feed for laying hens or prepare the mixture yourself. In addition to grain, the poultry diet includes greens and vegetables, animal feed (dairy products, meat and fish). Be sure to give mineral supplements (chalk, limestone, shell) for the strength of the shell.

To maintain egg production, especially in winter, chickens are kept in warm and bright chicken coops. Comfortable temperature for a bird is from +15 to +25 degrees.

In order for the laying hen to continue laying eggs in winter, she is satisfied with daylight hours, 12-14 hours long.

When a he althy laying hen starts laying

Normally, pullets of egg or meat-egg breeds begin to lay their first eggs at the age of 5-6 months. Record holders in this regard are leghorn, they begin to rush as early as 4.5 months.

The age of onset of lay is affected by environmental conditions. If the hen matures in autumn, and the poultry farmer did not place the bird in a warm barn with additional lighting on time, the bird will come in later.

How do you know if a chicken is laying eggs or not?

On average, a laying hen is at her peak, laying 1 egg daily for 3-4 days, then taking a break of 1-2 days. A bad laying hen can lay only 1-2 eggs per week, which does not justify even feeding her, not to mention the profit.

Identification of laying hens by palpation

The surest way, but requires some practice. It is possible to determine a chicken that is in a state of active oviposition by the distance between the ends of the pubic bones. These are semicircular bones extending from the ischium. In a good laying hen, the distance between the tips of the pubic bones is 4-5 cm, and in a bad one, no more than 2 cm.

To feel the chicken, they take it in their hands and put their palm on her stomach, fingers towards the cloaca. Immediately under the cloaca, under the skin, the pubic bones are well felt. In order not to run after the ruler, the distance is measured with fingers. In a he althy laying hen, 3-4 fingers, folded together, will fit between these bones.

External signs of laying hens

An active laying hen may not look like a picture, she spends all her energy and nutrients on the formation of an egg. The plumage of the laying hen may be "disheveled", with a minimum of fat deposits.

Exact signs of a hen actively laying eggs:

• the scallop of a chicken is bright red, in egg breeds it is large and hangs to one side;
• legs bright yellow, wide apart;
• belly voluminous, slightly hanging;
• back straight and level;
• body shape resembles a triangle with an extension to the hips.

The cesspool of a rushing chicken is slightly swollen, a small amount of clear mucus may be released from it. In a non-rushing bird, the cloaca is dry, the hole is tightly compressed and has a small size.

Other ways to determine

If free time allows, you can often go into the barn at a certain period of time (for example, during the week) and mark the chickens sitting on the nest with green paint.

The bulk of laying hens rush from 8 am to 2 pm, therefore, with a small population, it is not difficult to track the best hens.

By the number of marks on the plumage, you can even determine how many times the bird has been laid down in a week.

How to increase egg production?

A hen lays the maximum number of eggs in the first and second year of life, then egg production decreases. This means that the herd must be formed from birds of this age. The presence of a rooster in the chicken coop is not necessary (if there is no desire to breed chickens), but with the owner of the farmstead, the chicken feels protected. It has been observed that the presence of a rooster (1 for 12-15 hens) has a positive effect on egg production.

During the winter, when the bird is locked in the barn, the right diet has a huge impact on productivity.

If chickens are fed with home-made compound feed, it is necessary to add the premix Zdravur Laying hen or Ryabushka to the grain mixture. The premix contains all vitamins and microelements necessary for the bird.

Laying hens need to be fed well, but not overfed. The daily norm of grain feed for 1 chicken is 140-150 g. It is better to exclude boiled potatoes from the chicken menu, as the bird gets fat from it.

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