Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

Wisher1000 said:

Sweetpea - I was cleaning my coop one day and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a chicken run out the door with something in her mouth! I followed to see what was going on and found that the 'something' was an EGG! At first it looked like she had her beak opened wide enough to hold the egg in it, but I soon realized that she had speared it with the top of her beak and was supporting it with the lower part. She ran around the shop and stopped on the far side to eat her egg alone. I took it away from her, collected the rest of the eggs, and bought ceramic eggs for each nest box. For months after that, I collected eggs as often as I could (several times a day) and made sure the ceramic eggs stayed in prominent spots in the boxes. Eventually, the egg eating stopped, but not before I would find half hearted peck marks on some of the eggs I collected for several weeks. I think I caught her early........

Click to expand...

perchie.girl said:

Point of lay or pullets can have a couple of soft eggs thier first ones out.... Still getting that whole egg laying mechanism going. The other clue is the fact that they layed them on the ground.... As in Surprise..... that wasnt a poo.

Lay mash has calcium in it already. So to supplement you can either buy some Oyster shell, Or you can save your eggshells and roast them till they are dry and smush them up so they are unrecogniseable as egg shells. Then feed the shells back to them.

If your curious about the different kinds of eggs that can happen key in the words "Fart Eggs" There is a site out there that is very very informative on the subject. The fellow has retired from chicken keeping but he keeps the site open so you cant ask questions but you can read.

http://www.poultryhelp.com/oddeggs.html

deb

Click to expand...

Sweetpea3829 said:

LOL, that's my biggest fear! I hear they're very difficult to break once they start eating eggs.


It's funny you said that about because that was my first thought, too. Both eggs were right underneath the roosting bar, right where the hens huddle up. But then I didn't think that I'd have TWO birds in one day make that same mistake, so I don't know. The first egg that was laid earlier this week (the very first one any of them gave) was laid on the ground next to the indoor ramp. But they were pretty good about laying in the nestbox after that.

I'm still not entirely sure who is laying what, either. We had the first two green eggs and then the blue and then Sally Strutter's brown egg (she's our only brown-laying hen). Both of today's were blue. So where'd the green layer go? Or were the greens a fluke and now the greenie is laying me blues? LOL!

And have all four hens laid an egg yet, or do I have a hold out??? The mystery deepens, LOL!

I'm off to go check on Sally Strutters...she laid her egg late yesterday afternoon so I'm wondering if she might lay late again today.

Click to expand...

Sweetpea3829 said:

Quote: I wasn't trying to jinx you! I was just saying that they can carry eggs and maybe those two were laid in the nest box but moved by somebody. I've heard it is nearly impossible, but it wasn't too bad for me, but like I said, I think I caught it early.

If you are REALLY curious, I hear you can look at the vents and tell the difference in the ones that are laying and the ones that have not started, yet.

Click to expand...

MistyMountain said:

Oz, awesome to hear that Analou's phone is working. Your wife definitely is a trooper taking that bus trip with no AC! I'm that way about the cold, but if it is hot, no way!! Sounds like things are moving right along! Very exciting! You may have said it a million times, but what are your plans with the goats? Milking? Meat?

Click to expand...

ozexpat said:

My goal is to get a couple of Boer goats that I will cross with the Nubian Buck as well as two Nubian does.

I will milk the dairy goats and try and get a few meaties per year.

Dairy and cheese for personal/family use is the ultimate goal. 4-6 meat goats in the freezer per year in the long long term

Click to expand...

MistyMountain said:

Very cool. I am about a year and a half from having both of my boys in school. I hope to get a couple goats around that time for milking. I'll need something to keep me busy… if I don't keep getting new chickens! I don't know how well the milk and cheese will go over with my boys, but being from WI, cheese has a way of finding a place in every meal for me! I kind of like the smaller scale idea of the nigerian dwarf goats. I have much more reading to do, but plenty of time to prepare. Thanks again for sharing with us!

Click to expand...

Wisher1000 said:

What about sweet milk to drink!?! We go through 4 gallons of milk a week and we don't make any butter or cheese! I don't even use it in tea or coffee!

Click to expand...

Wisher1000 said:

What about sweet milk to drink!?! We go through 4 gallons of milk a week and we don't make any butter or cheese! I don't even use it in tea or coffee!

Click to expand...