I have a total of four hens and they have all been laying for about a year. All of the others lay perfectly fine eggs - no soft or thin shells. They have a very large coop with a sizable run. They also spend a good part of each day out of the coop and run, free ranging and doing what chickens...
My Salmon Faverolles has been laying for about a year. About 80% of her eggs have such soft shells that they are broken when I find them. The shells are almost like water balloons. If she does lay an egg that stays in tact, the shell is incredibly thin, especially in comparison to my other...
I live in Charlotte, North Carolina and currently have four chickens which we've since April of 2012. I want to add 4 or 5 to our flock (the coop has ample room and they free range most of the day). I was going to wait until next spring but I started wondering about getting chicks in September...
A happy update. Chicken Little made it through the weekend and I took her to the avian vet first thing this morning. After a brief surgery to close her wounds with some staples, and $260 later, it seems she will recover just fine. She is segregated from my other three chickens for the next...
A hawk attacked my sweet silkie today and there are no avian vets in my city that are on call this weekend so I'll have to help her and hope she makes it through until Monday. She definitely has wounds under one wings and on the head but I can't tell how deep and I haven't tried to really...
I have a 32 week old Buff Orpington that has become very aggressive. It started this summer with my then 18 month old and Peep, the BO, would peck her for no reason at all. She then started going after my 4 year old and now she will run 20 or 40 feet across the yard anytime she sees any...
Thanks all. Seems like I should not be concerned. My four girls are very well cared for - fresh food and water daily, calcium supplement available, and they free range for about 3 to 5 hours a day. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day she'll be back to more "normal" eggs.
Yes, I am feeding them layer feed and have been since August. The Salmon Favorelles has been laying have been laying for about a month now, maybe 3 weeks. I suppose the other possibility is that this egg could actually be the first egg from the Buff Orpington hen, but it was laid in the same...
Right now my only two girls that are laying are my EE and my Salmon Favorelles. I've noticed that the eggs/eggshells from the Salmon Favroelles are much thinner than those of my EE. Two times within the past couple of weeks I've gotten an egg from her with a crack in it. Then, today I found...
I am a first time chicken owner and have 4 urban backyard chickens that hatched on April 9th. Our one silkie laid for about 3 to 4 weeks and has now gone broody. She has been broody for about a week now and I force her to have mandatory fun (i.e. eat and drink) twice daily. Once a day I take...
And I just thought of one more question. Our weather here had been cooling down - lows in the 40s or low 50s and highs in the 60s and then we got a warm snap where the highs have been in the 80s and lows in the 60s. This warm snap seems to correspond with the beginning of the broodiness. Is...
Thanks to all who have responded. One more question - do I need to separate her or can she sit on her eggs in the nesting box and raise any chicks in the coop? I have three other hens, not bantams, and it is starting to get chilly here. I think the lows next week are in the 30s and the highs...
I have a Buff Orpington that is also not yet laying and is 28 weeks old. For months she has been aggressive towards my 23 month old daughter, so much so that my daughter is now afraid of all of our chickens (we only have 4). Yesterday the BO came after me, pecking me and she even actually took...
I've found some silkie and bantam eggs in my area that I can buy. If I get her an egg or two to hatch, will this solve the problem indefinitely or will she become broody again at some other time? Or, if I choose to break her of the broodiness, will she again become broody at a later date...
Yes, she hisses at me and puffs up when I open the nesting box. She did not lay today and I would have expected her to do so. She did not peck me, though, when I picked her up to make her go in the run earlier.
I have four hens (no roosters), one of which is a Silkie who has been laying for about a month now, and she lays about 5 eggs a week. I think she is now broody, because she essentially hasn't left the nesting box for 3 days, although this morning I did remove her and put her in the run where...
Last Sunday we got our first egg and I started this thread seeking input regarding which of my four laid the first egg:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/710707/first-egg-who-done-it
As of today, I have gotten 5 eggs from the egg layer, and I was positive that egg layer was my Salmon...