Rae my red star laid an egg at exavtly 20 weeks -- the day after I gave the group oatmeal.no eggs from the other chicks though although they are the same ages. Other chicks are buff orpingtons, black Australorp, barred rock, easter egger, and one gray polish.
How old are your Australorps? I have 4 that are going on 26 weeks and 10 that are going 24 weeks....I'm getting really tired of waiting...Rae
The Wait Is Over!!! Not sure which of our girls laid these, but it happened in the last couple of days. Why so unsure of when? They didn't lay in the nesting box! They laid in the cavity under a huge log in the chicken pen! No way to tell if they are from the same hen or two different ones. but we are just SOOOOOOOO excited! (My wife, who's chickens these are, said "Hooray! No more freeloaders!" LOL!!!)
NOW, how to get them to lay in the nesting boxes?
The boxes are about the same size as the cavity under the log. We keep them nice with fresh straw and pine shavings, we even have a ceramic egg in each to show them where to lay. Unfortunately, one of the younger girls has been sitting on the lip at the front of the boxes when they go in to roost at night and she has done her business in the box. How do we stop her from doing this and how do we get the elders to use the boxes for laying?
ANy help would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, PS. I don't think we can eat these because they may have frozen (could have been out there for 1 to 3 nights) and the last few days have been somewhat warm until last night. Should we chance it?
