Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Phionex Man]

my 6 chickens stopped laying eggs! what happend?

 

[cheeka]

probably nothing PM, how many days have you gotten zero eggs? they're too young to have a heavy molt, but they'll have a juvenile molt, some you may notice, some not... when mine were your girls age, only one shed enough tail feathers to be noticeable... next thing to look at is the feed. is it fresh? feed does not have a long shelf life... make sure it's always less than 3 months old. considering how long it may have sat at the feed store you bought it from... I only buy 1 month at a time. I remember you were feeding layer feed, correct?

 

[cheeka]

#4

#5

and #1 having some of Mama's sardine beak and loving it! while #2 watches with interest. #1 chick is a Silkie mix. the rest will be Peachy mixes. I looked up back when I got her and she is a bantam Cochin mixed with Salmon Faverolle = EE, she lays a nice somewhat dark green-blue egg Peach is a larger bantam than the Silkie (by maybe 20%), and it looks like her chicks that are not yet 1 day old are as large as the #1 chick who is 5 days old.

now, I pulled 3 and a half eggshells out from underneath, that was all she would tolerate, and she didn't really tolerate it at all... but I felt several dampish, tiny, warm wigglers smack under her. and only one more egg that I could (very gently) find and it felt "hollowish" but I didn't want to move it so, who knows...

 

[ronott1]

my 6 chickens stopped laying eggs! what happend?

We are moving into the low light time of year. Leghorn based chickens are more sensitive to light.

They will also stop for a day or two if they are stressed. Longer if they are moved. Wind, lighteneing and etc. in your area recently?

 

[topdycke]

YAY! First egg ever today for my March 26th Wyandotte hatch.
30 grams

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Congrats on the first egg!

 

[Scrambles55]

THREE!! Nugget, Jemma and Penny. Nugget seems to be getting bossy. She kicked and bit Minnie Pearl today over food. All of her egg laying is turning her into Miss Diva.

 

[Scrambles55]

@cheeka ... Woo Hoo!!

Good job Gossy!!!!! Now that is one bada$$ broody MoMMa!! More pictures please!!

 

[lindz8504]

I am ready to put about 1/3 of my birds in the freezer! No one seems to be getting along at roost time anymore! I know that flock dynamics are changing since the younger ones are getting bigger and moving up the ranks but geez! Birds that have always been ok and roosted together are knocking each other off and pecking mercilessly. There is PLENTY of roost space, and we added the ladder roost last weekend. There are a couple that try to roost in the nest boxes, so I tend to stay down there when I lock up until everyone gets settled on a roost. There are about 3 groups of 2-4 birds that you can guarantee are going to be together in roughly the same spot every night. All the others fight and peck until it gets too dark to see who is beside them.... There is 2 hens that won't let ANYONE beside them.... on either side, for at least a foot! Right there takes up 6 ft of roost space! There is roughly 30 ft of roost space in there! The drama is driving me CR@ZY!

LOL.... on a brighter note, we added a window to the coop to let in a little bit more light! I can also raise it during the summer days to allow for more ventilation. Harriet and the babies spent several hours free ranging while we were down there! She took them on the outskirts of the flock several times. It is adorable to see them following her out in the yard! She is very protective and chases most of the others away from the babies. The other babies aren't chicks anymore.... they are actually mini-chickens! I think there may possibly be 2 pullets out of 8! In the new group, about half of them are feathering in a lot faster than the other half... I hope that means that they are pullets!

With all the hustle and bustle of the day, I didn't even think about getting pictures.... SORRY! Oh, and we got 6 eggs today, 3 brown and 3 green.

 

[cheeka]

we ended today with 10 eggs and 5 confirmed chicks. I think there is a 6th, as there was what felt like an empty shell under her, but it was so close to the one definite unhatched egg... and she really is being obnoxious about letting me see... anyway, near to roost time, all 5 were peeking out from under her so I went to get a quick photo only to discover the memory card was in the house - grumble grumble!

I'll be home early tomorrow afternoon, which I'm so happy about, - I'll be able to get lots of pics!