Where Are The Eggs?

We were newbies to chicken just 17 short days ago.  During the first five days, we were blessed with five eggs.  And after that?  A big fat zero. What in the world is going on here?  We talk nicely to them.  We compliment them. We gave them a nice ladder up to the nesting boxes.  We change out all the bedding in the coop once a week (which is more than we do in our own home.) We feed them their crumbles, plus a few treats. They have their own coop, run, and yard. What more could modern chickens want?

So after doing some more reading about what chickens like, (yes, you read that right) I made some revisions to the chicken coop.  I admit I didn't understand initially about the whole roosting situation (in my ignorance I thought that the ladder rungs would be serviceable).  So the first night that they were in the coop, they looked the situation over (sighed with disgust) and decided the 2x4 above the door would have to due.  I didn't see any problemo with that until I started doing more in depth chicken reading.  So now the chickens have a tried and true branch-roost.  Whether they will use it or not is yet to be decided.

Their water was also a problem.  We had a large metal waterer to start with.  It leaked.  So we started using the small one that we bought when nursing the sick rooster back to life.  It was ok, but even when elevated got so much hay in it that I had to change the water a couple times a day.  Now it is hanging, and they seem to like that quite a lot.

Light.  Newsflash - chickens need 14 hours of daylight to lay eggs.  (And I am not talking about per week.)  Does partly cloudy even count?  In April we are probably lucky to get 12 hours of sunlight.  And the darn chickens put themselves to bed about 6:30 pm. We are going to try putting a light on a timer in their coop from 6-9 pm.  

One of the blogs I read suggested putting dried herbs in her hens nesting boxes.  Yep, I ran right outside and cut some oregano, sage and bee balm to start the drying process.  AND went to a local greenhouse and purchased some orange mint.  I may even plant a box of herbs next to their run so that they can nibble on the their fave herb leaves through the fence.  

Lastly (although I am sure it won't really be the last thing, just the last today) I bought some egg layer concoction to put in their water.  What spoiled chickens.   I was telling a friend recently -- so far each of those five eggs cost me about $50.  The bantam hens that layed the golden eggs.