My chickens just turned a year old at the end of March. I live in NE Ohio and ever since the time change, things have been unsettled in the coop. I'm not sure what's going on or if this is normal. Egg production has dropped to half of what it was all winter. I have only had 2 out of 11 go broody...
One of my year old Buff Orpingtons is having some serious issues laying eggs. I was regularly finding a soft shelled egg under the roost, but hadn't for a few weeks until a few days ago. Now today, for the 2nd time in the last 2-3 weeks, I find one of the girls standing up in the nest box and...
We are in the midst of our first winter with chickens. It has been a learning experience for sure. Winter has proven the most nerve-wracking so far as new chicken owners. We have had some really bad days and some really miserable chickens a couple of times, but we are learning a lot and...
My EE's first egg looked like that!! It had 2 yolks. Here is a really good read on the whole process of how the eggs are formed and why they can sometimes be weird like that.
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/01/how-hen-makes-egg-egg-oddities.html
After my EE laid an egg like that, she...
Yes, maybe if the others start, she will follow suit. I have read that they like to lay where others have, so that might just be the ticket. I was really shocked that mine took to the nests right away. I wasn't expecting that. Especially since we added the boxes to the coop after they had...
We are back in business today. It was our biggest day yet - 8 eggs!! And one was green - yay!! No soft shells, no broken eggs. We obviously have some more that have started laying which may explain all the oddities this week. So relieved they're not eating them!
cfischer, I hope your girl...
Oh, good. Thank you so much! I forgot to mention, one of yesterday's eggs had a small dimple/crack in the narrow end of it, so that also had me wondering if someone tried, unsuccessfully, to eat that one. Thanks so much for your reply!
Some of my chickens started laying a couple of weeks ago. Things seemed to be going great, but this week isn't going very well and I'm not sure if what we are experiencing is normal or if I'm doing something wrong. My EE laid her first egg Saturday and not one since. That has me concerned. Then...
Do I need to be worried? My EE laid her first egg Saturday, at about 19-20 weeks of age. It was a little misshapen and kinda big and had two yolks. It was a greenish gray in color. In the last 3 days, there have not been any green eggs in the nests. She is acting fine, eating and drinking and...
Congrats on your first egg!! I got mine this week, too. Super exciting!! Some tips I saw online to get them to lay in the nests might be to try putting some wooden eggs or golf balls in the nest boxes. I have read that they like to lay their eggs among others, so I put golf balls in my nests...
Also a first time chicken owner, and super excited that some of our girls have started laying. They just turned 19 weeks yesterday! We have 10 Buff Orpingtons, 1 golden laced Wyandotte and 1 Easter Egger. I think they are all Buffs that are laying so far.
We got our first egg 5 days ago...
These are my first chickens. I got 10 buff orpingtons out of the "all pullet" bin at the farm store when they were a week old. This one looks and acts differently than the others. It is very outgoing, slimmer or maybe less "fluffy" than the others, and the comb and waddle is so big and bright...
Oh, thank you!! I did notice mine trying out their wings right off the bat, too. Someone even found their way up to the roosts because there was poo on the poop board we put beneath them! I definitely think they are happier and enjoying the extra space, even if they have to snuggle on the floor...
This is my first time with chicks, too. I just moved mine out to the coop today. I'm on Ohio, so it's still chilly here, too. My chicks are 6 weeks and have been off the heat lamp for probably 2 weeks already. They have been in our unheated garage the entire time. We used an Ecoglow during the...
I have 2, and I've only had chickens for a month. Bigger brooder, and don't get chick so early in the spring. Mine are 5 weeks old and could probably go out to the coop, but it's still dipping down into the 30 at night, so I'm not sure. Oh - one more...what came first, the chicken or the egg...