The Front Porch Swing

[sarahsunshine]

Latest question! Tonight when we went to close the coop, we found a shelters, soft rubber egg! My 3yo decided that the chickens were playing a trick on us, and popped it in the wood chips ... Lol

I noticed that we have had a couple eggs with stripes or weird shape, or bumps. I give them all their own shells back, and even threw in a couple oyster shells (we live on the coast). We also have had 6,6,and 5 eggs the last 3 days, and today we were down to 2... Any guess to the cause?

My guess:
Yesterday and the day before they got ton of some scraps and so I held back a bit on their mush. That imbalance, combined with a chicken with a wonkey shell gland caused a shelless egg. What do think?

 

[Loc20chick]

One of the tree is Neem tree, it was isvery bitter so my parents used Honey but it did little to sweeten it. We used it to prevent Malaria and boost immunity to other stuff.

 

[Loc20chick]

Eating the placenta is awesome for vitamin K and all sorts of things. No some who swear by a raw placenta milk shake. I can attest to the fact that I bled less long, had fewer cramps, and healed faster the time I tried it. May be a coincidence. Definitely not tasty. One of those plug (your nose) and chug items...

I have heard of that too but Kudos to you for trying it, I would not be able to

 

[bruceha2000]

Okay, gang, family is waiting for me to get in the hot tub but got a couple of quick questions....Little Diane, Dustin, and Ken can all keep standing around laughing at me for posting while I'm sitting in my swim suit and I really don't care!

Clearly they do not understand that we NEED to visit the porch swing just as a broody hen MUST go to the nest!!

A few pages back (well, okay, MANY pages back) I asked about how soon some of the girls would be laying if their combs and wattles were turning red, and I was advised that "squatting" is the behavior most of you rely on.

Just before supper I went out to add some PDZ to the poop board, and Matilda was acting weird. She is usually one of my flightier chickens - managing to stay as far from me as possible while not missing out on any goodies, and she wasn't one of the ones I'd asked about before. I just stood still and watched her as she came right up to me, then she flew onto the roost making this oddly pleasant kind of "churring" noise. When she got closer I could see that her comb seems to be a little darker all of a sudden. I slowly reached out to pet her and the soft noise got a little more intense, but it was still pleasant - almost like a cat purring. She not only let me pet her, she gently moved over closer to me and then she looked like she was trying to sit on the roost. Is this what I've been watching for? Does this means a first egg sometime in the next week or so? And what do I do about the boys? (I think we are up to 4 roos in this little chicken family, and frankly I was beginning to suspect Matilda was a Maurice until tonight.) Do I need to separate them if I have no plans for a breeding program or do the hens usually start laying before the boys are truly mature enough to mate? Do I need to get the nest boxes prepped? Anybody got a cigar?

Some of mine were similar in that they seemed to get more "clingy" when they got close to laying their first egg, including those that would not get close enough to eat out of my hand. They would hang fairly close while I was working on stuff down by the coop. Sort of like "I'm feeling WIERD" and looking for "comfort" from the "big chicken" that provides for them. But not "Hey, here I am, come pet me". NONE of my girls come to get petted. Echo will find me if I'm pulling weeds or ripping grass and weeds out of the garden but she isn't there for pets. She's looking for bugs

She's kind of a lazy forager, I get the dirt loosened, she looks for bugs and worms. She will scratch around, I don't have to unearth them all. Maybe she is just an efficient forager!

But that is not "the squat". You will know it when you see it. Bird flattens down on the ground, wings out some and "shoulder" slightly lifted. Think Wile E Coyote after the ACME safe lands on him, just without the depression in the ground.

Nests yes, but I don't think you should give the chickens cigars!

I wouldn't count on any eggs until you see them in the nest....but you can get your nest ready as it sounds like it will be soon enough. You need to get rid of the boys altogether unless you are keeping them to eat because soon you will have sexually mature girls and boys and they will be doing nothing but breeding the hide right off the hens. It can also upset them enough to disturb laying if they are being bred too often and too roughly by a bunch of young cockerels they can't escape.

If the girls are old enough to lay, it's likely the boys are old enough for eating....I'd say it's time for a BBQ.

I NEVER count my eggs until they are laid

but I don't think Clemence (first of mine to lay) ever went in the nest before laying her first egg.
Ohh, I just remembered, I hadn't cut the hole in the wall to the nests until she laid her egg by the water, I didn't think they were ready.
DOH

(can we get a face palm emoticon in the default list? I really need one for this reply!)

I do recall many of the other birds checking out the nest after I opened it. They would go in and out several times, scratch around, leave. I don't recall how many days they did that before they laid though.

Yep. I've never had a hen squat unless a rooster was getting ready to breed her....my hens are not that tame that I can just walk up and pet them on the back to see if they squat. They would look at me like I had three eyes if I even tried!

We have a mutually respectful relationship....they don't squat for me and I don't do diddly squat for them either.

Really?? Many of mine squat and I have no rooster. Could be the Anconas do because I have kicked both their butts for jumping the other girls, might be a submissive pose for them. If Yue comes running around the corner and sees me RIGHT THERE, she will drop, squat and stamp her feet. But I don't recall the moulting birds squatting until they were close to laying again and that includes the Anconas.

I posted the recipe site for everyone. I was afraid the chick would stick to it. That is kinda why I didn't want to use tape. I might not use it. I only have 3 maran hens. I get 1 one day, then 2 the next. Wanted to have about 8-9. I know you can keep the eggs at room temp for about 5 days and they are still good, but can someone tell me do they all have to be put under the hen at the same time, or can you add some for a few more days? I want to use wax, but I'm afraid it will come off when it gets warm. Will it or is the candle wax hard enough it won't melt at the temps of the hen?

I've not hatched any eggs so I'm thinking out loud here. If the shell is not intact, wouldn't the growing chick cause it to break, thus losing its "womb"?

Latest question! Tonight when we went to close the coop, we found a shelters, soft rubber egg! My 3yo decided that the chickens were playing a trick on us, and popped it in the wood chips ... Lol

I noticed that we have had a couple eggs with stripes or weird shape, or bumps. I give them all their own shells back, and even threw in a couple oyster shells (we live on the coast). We also have had 6,6,and 5 eggs the last 3 days, and today we were down to 2... Any guess to the cause?

My guess:
Yesterday and the day before they got ton of some scraps and so I held back a bit on their mush. That imbalance, combined with a chicken with a wonkey shell gland caused a shelless egg. What do think?

I get weird eggs from my girls occasionally, it just happens sometimes. An odd egg one day and usually a perfectly normal one from the same hen the next time she lays which could be the next day. I've not gotten more than 2 odd ones in a row and even that is rare. I think they sometimes get their "schedule" mixed up and maybe ovulate earlier than normal so they are working two at the same time. I have gotten 2 eggs from the same girl in 24 hours on occasion and frequently one is odd.

I've had a shell-less eggs.

Sometimes one will look like a partially deflated balloon - normal on one half then kind of like a ring of wrinkly then smooth and flattened. The "ring" separating the normal from "odd" is always end to end, not around the middle.

I've gotten some that are 99% normal but just a BIT wrinkly on the end.

My Partridge Chantecler moulted last summer (she was early) and her eggs have had little creases running in the end to end direction, not long, maybe 1/2" since she resumed laying,. Don't know what would have changed in "the factory" to create that since they were smooth last year.

Bruce

 

[bruceha2000]

One of the tree is Neem tree, it was isvery bitter so my parents used Honey but it did little to sweeten it. We used it to prevent Malaria and boost immunity to other stuff.

Neem oil is used to combat powdery mildew and other fungi in vining plants.

 

[OHhappychicks]

Good Morning everyone!!!

I got up this morn and the chipped egg had a small drop of egg white,(I know there is probably a technical name for it, but I don't know it!) popping out, so I probably shouldn't use it, right? You are right Bee, when I don't get the egg shells cleaned out, and they get stuck together, I can not get them apart. So that is a great tip for next time!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Good Morning everyone!!!
I got up this morn and the chipped egg had a small drop of egg white,(I know there is probably a technical name for it, but I don't know it!) popping out, so I probably shouldn't use it, right? You are right Bee, when I don't get the egg shells cleaned out, and they get stuck together,  I can not get them apart. So that is a great tip for next time!

The technical name is "goo".

 

[OHhappychicks]

The technical name is "goo".

Thanks for clearing that up for me!!!!

 

[sarahsunshine]

Neem oil is used to combat powdery mildew and other fungi in vining plants.

Need oil I think, is also used for lice (put it in your hair).

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Facebook discussion of the day was about what kinds of things can you forage this time of year to make chai tea like beverages. It's June. It's Oregon. That means one thing: ROSES! So I started looking up how to eat roses. Now I want some!

Rose Juice made like sun tea:
http://thebigamerican.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/rose-juice-our-summer-drink/

Some practical tips about selecting roses for eating (Hint: if it smells good, it tastes good, but beware chemicals):
http://herboftheyear.blogspot.com/2011/06/are-all-roses-edible.html

Mother Earth News writes about adding roses to your edible landscape:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/orga...s-to-your-edible-landscape.aspx#axzz33rzmbmz2

Now I want some rose ice cream and some of that rose juice, too!

ETA -- This article is nicely written:
http://robbwalsh.com/2012/02/recipe-for-romance/