It has to do with the extra calcium in layer feed. They don't need as much until they start producing egg shells every day. I don't think being on layer feed a little early will harm anyone, especially if you supplement some high protein treats. But it's probably simpler to just keep them on...
I'd say she's a prairie bluebell egger. Definitely some type of easter egger with those green feet, and the gray and salmon parts of her look just like my prairie bluebell. Her coloring is really unusual and pretty.
What do you think about Lavender? S(he) is a wyandotte, 5 or 6 weeks old. Bought as a sexed pullet. So far overall she looks like a pullet to me, but the comb looks very wide and puffy, and I'm not sure about this comb type. I'd love to see your comparison pictures.
That sounds awful. Shipping is always hard on chicks, but that should never happen. You need to contact the hatchery and let them know so they can figure out what went so wrong with shipping. I have gotten chicks in the mail twice, and only lost one once. They were never in transit for more...
When I integrate chicks, I use a rabbit hutch with no bottom that's raised a few inches off the ground. (Any sort of cage up on blocks would work.) Little chickens can run underneath if they want, and big chickens can't fit through. I also put the little chickens' food and water in there, which...
Do you have an update on the egg color from these two? I have an olive egger pullet now who looks very similar to this, and I'm trying to guess if she could be a BCM x CCL mix.
I wondered about that because of the name. She has 4 toes, not 5. And her skin is very white, not black. But mystic onyx can have a little crest like hers. Supposing she IS half mystic onyx, and supposing she really is an olive egger, what blue egg breed would explain the leg feathering?
I bought this chick labeled as an "Onyx Olive Egger" from a farm store in Colorado. She has white black washed legs with two or three feathers on a couple of her toes. Single comb that is black in color so far. Plumage is coming in mostly black with faint flecks of copper brown here and there...
That BCM still looks like a girl to me. I've raised 6 or 7 of them and had one cockerel of that breed. He was a REALLY obvious boy by 8 or 9 weeks. The females always make me wonder with the early comb growth. I have a 6 week old that I go back and forth on every day right now. I'd actually...
When I had this happen, my two hens tried to "co-parent" for about a day, and then the bossier of the two hens took over both chicks (there were only two) and the second hen lost interest and was broken of broodiness.
I would be more concerned about them breaking the eggs by accident than...
There's my whole post above. I will also add that my broody hen was an experienced mom already. She hatched and raised two by herself last year, so I was fairly sure that she would take care of these if I did a good job transferring them to her. If your hen is inexperienced, I would probably...
I don't think it's worth tearing your hair out over. :) It's pretty common for my younger pullets to like to sleep in a box, and for the the older adult hens to sleep on the roosts or the shelf above the nests. I find mine will go to the highest available roosting space, so the bar you added...