Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us! - Page 632  

I posted this elsewhere, in answering a question.  Thought I'd share it here as well.  

Everyone has their own methods and there is no one, precise, correct method.  What we know is that where to lay must be developed as a learned, flock behavior.  I'd rather spend a little more time at POL with young pullets than fuss with this for a couple of years.  

If you have an older hen in the pullet flock, my goodness, does she often do a great job of pointing the way.  But in any case, with young pullets at point of lay, I keep them in the coop, focused on what they are to do, until 3 in the afternoon, let's say.  That still gives them 5 or 6 hours of outside time each day.   Once they master this laying where I prefer, for my convenience, ie, the box provided, they usually never abandon it for a nest of their own making somewhere on the property.  All we're really doing here is applying the chicken's own instinct to claim a nest and the social pressure of "follow the leader", ie the superior hens.  

I'm too old for Easter egg hunts and don't enjoy them.  I had a "trainer" hen in with my POL pullets this year and I had 100% laid in the nest from 100% of the pullets.  Not one laid in the corner, or off the roost or dropped outside, zip, none of that.   I didn't have to use golf balls or wooden eggs, nothing.  As they had watched the older hen, through the netting for months and months, I suspect they became very interested in watching her lay her egg as their own time approached.  Before POL, I took down the netting and integrated.  Since she was a solitary hen, integration went very smoothly.   Two weeks later, whenever the lead hen entered the nest, all the young pullets watched.  It was a hoot. It looked like a concert on the lawn, where folks all sit around an watch a performance. They couldn't wait to "monkey see, monkey do".   

Chicken social dynamics are a hoot.  Still so much to learn about their behavior structures. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by galanie 

Interesting note on bowel flora. My avatar hen has bumblefoot and is in a dog crate since it's muddy and I dont' want her getting out in it. Her poos got to be nothing but water with stuff in it. Fed her a good helping of Kefir with raw oatmeal stirred in, and within a couple hours her poo was back to normal.
Next day, noticed them loosening up again, gave her another round, and nice perfect poo again. So I recon I'd better start making some more kefir and giving her a dose every day for at least a week. No idea how she got like that except perhaps too much pond water from the extreme heat.

What is kefir?  And oats for the hens.... what kind from the store can I use? I assume not the quick oats but are the old fashion kind ok?

Thank you

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickachee 

 

 

yep it is the coating on they're feathers that comes off when they preen and groom themselves, i've seen it too mostly under roosts where they groom and preen the most. It looks like little white flecks or shavings or pieces of plastic

Quote:

Originally Posted by armorfirelady 

oats for the hens.... what kind from the store can I use? I assume not the quick oats but are the old fashion kind ok?

Thank you

Chickens like oats, but remember that oats shouldn't constitute an enormous portion of their diet, like all things, moderation.

They'll eat any kind of oat you want to give them  Whole, rolled, cut, quick, etc. To be affordable, rolled oats can be purchased in huge bags at the feed store.  Whole oats as well.  Some birds simply do not care for whole oats and may balk.  They are very high in fiber.  What if you've purchased an expensive bag of whole oats just to find they balk?  Rolled oats will never be looked at side ways.  Just sayin.   I've had to use up whole oats before by soaking them for 24 hours in a feed bucket.  That's too much fussing for my taste.  I watch the flock.  If they eat whole oats, great. If they balk, that's it, I'm done with them and I feed them to the other flock that doesn't care.   Whole millet can sometimes be the same way.  Even cracked corn or whole corn isn't wildly popular with some of them.  

Smaller flock keepers should test the waters on some of this stuff before investing in huge bags of various things, I suspect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred's Hens 

 

Chickens like oats, but remember that oats shouldn't constitute an enormous portion of their diet, like all things, moderation.

 

They'll eat any kind of oat you want to give them  Whole, rolled, cut, quick, etc. To be affordable, rolled oats can be purchased in huge bags at the feed store.  Whole oats as well.  Some birds simply do not care for whole oats and may balk.  They are very high in fiber.  What if you've purchased an expensive bag of whole oats just to find they balk?  Rolled oats will never be looked at side ways.  Just sayin.   I've had to use up whole oats before by soaking them for 24 hours in a feed bucket.  That's too much fussing for my taste.  I watch the flock.  If they eat whole oats, great. If they balk, that's it, I'm done with them and I feed them to the other flock that doesn't care.   Whole millet can sometimes be the same way.  Even cracked corn or whole corn isn't wildly popular with some of them.  

 

Smaller flock keepers should test the waters on some of this stuff before investing in huge bags of various things, I suspect.

Boy that's the truth.  My younger birds (12 weeks) stripped the oats straight off the stalk and love the bag of whole oats I bought as a result.  My older laying flock kicked it all out on the ground and refused to eat it.  I refused to feed them crumbles until they cleaned it up.  After this round all of the whole oats will go to the flock that appreciate them.