Transfer and onset of lay: preparing the house, managing the rise in lay without losses
Between week 16 and week 25, the pullet becomes a hen: she changes house, discovers nests, receives her first extra hours of light, changes feed twice and goes from zero to over 90% lay. It is the densest period of the whole flock, and the one where you lose the most when you improvise: hens dead from prolapse, floor eggs that become a habit, a missed peak. This lesson gives the technician the calendar, the equipment quantities and the benchmarks of the rise in lay, with the actions that avoid losses.
14 min read · 5-question quiz at the end
By Abdul Hussein ChoumanFounder of NEXTEKCI · Agnibilékrou hatchery since 2006This lesson is part of Laying hens, expert level specialisation. It opens to every registered student, from free registration. Levels 1 to 5 and the tracks remain readable by everyone.
Between week 16 and week 25, the pullet becomes a hen: she changes house, discovers nests, receives her first extra hours of light, changes feed twice and goes from zero to over 90% lay. It is the densest period of the whole flock, and the one where you lose the most when you improvise: hens dead from prolapse, floor eggs that become a habit, a missed peak. This lesson gives the technician the calendar, the equipment quantities and the benchmarks of the rise in lay, with the actions that avoid losses.
- ✓Size the laying house for a given flock: floor area, nests, feeders, drinkers, perches
- ✓Organise the transfer at 16-17 weeks without loss of weight or time
- ✓Read the rise in lay week by week (5%, 50%, 90%) and set light, feed and weighings on it
- ✓Recognise and prevent the losses of the onset of lay: prolapse, mortality, floor eggs, weight loss
- Why the transfer is a moment apart
- Sizing the laying house: the example of 2,000 hens on the floor
- Transfer day: the procedure
- The rise in lay: reading the three steps
- The losses of the onset of lay: seeing them coming, preventing them
- Going further
- •Transfer at 16-17 weeks, never after 18: the hen must know nests, water and light 2 to 3 weeks before the first egg.
- •For 2,000 hens on the floor (about 5 per m²): 400 m², 1 nest for 5 to 6 (400 nests) or 20 m² of colony nests, 10 to 12 cm of feeder per hen, 1 nipple for 8 to 10, 15 cm of perch per hen.
- •Day D: catching at night by both legs, crates of 10 to 12, water first, nests closed, no light added during the adaptation week.
- •Steps of the rise: 5% → 50% in 2 weeks, 50% → 90% in 2 to 3 weeks; layer feed 1 from 2 to 5%; weekly weighing until 30 weeks.
- •Losses to watch: prolapse (stimulate on weight, dark nests), sudden death, floor eggs (under 3% at 25 weeks), weight loss (feed not following).