Haha, already done! I put them in there when they started squatting since I tend to remove real eggs pretty quickly. Hopefully they know what's coming now and plan accordingly.
Indeed! I always hope to catch them on the nests, but since it was in the run, it'll be luck to catch her. Hopefully now that she's laid one, she'll use the nest boxes next time!
Thank you, I will definitely try that with her. If we didn't have our girls from last year, and this was our first flock, she would definitely be the top hen. I'll make sure I do that to let her know she's NOT in charge of me.
I have 2 EEs that started both squatting at 14 weeks! Exactly one month later, TODAY!!!, I got my first teeny tiny .9oz blue egg. It's the longest I've ever had a pullet squat before laying, so I was a bit curious, but definitely started today!
I have an 18 weeker who I think is close to laying (or may have already laid, not sure yet) who was BY FAR the friendliest chick I ever had. She was so sweet and friendly. Then one day about a week ago, as I was leaving the chicken yard, she flew up behind me, grabbed ahold of a piece of my calf...
Well, it looks like it was right on... I got a teeny, .9oz blue egg in the run this morning. Not sure whose yet, but we're at just over 18 weeks. A whole month of squatting before laying!
I went to pet my two 14 week-old Easter Eggers today, and they both squatted for me!! The one will never let me get anywhere near her and she let me pet her while squatting for an insane amount of time. Then the other one, who usually lets me pet her, squatted and let me pet her. I am shocked...
x-posting to cream legbar hybrid thread
So I had a broody hen and ordered some eggs for her. What ended up hatching was 2 "SBEL" and 2 Crested Cream Legbars. So I assumed I'd get 2 auto-sexing chicks and 2 white w/ black specks.
This is what I got:
So I see 2 females on the left. 1 male...
x-posting to what breed/gender is this?
So I had a broody hen and ordered some eggs for her. What ended up hatching was 2 "SBEL" and 2 Crested Cream Legbars. So I assumed I'd get 2 auto-sexing chicks and 2 white w/ black specks.
This is what I got:
So I see 2 females on the left. 1 male...
It IS hard to see them get knocked out of the way, but I'm getting better. And they're getting better at moving the heck out of the way!
Thanks for all the advice! My chicken yard is getting pretty bare at this point. It's 30 x 32 ft, but they got the grass down pretty low/bare. I do have a few...
I do have the food and water up, she really goes crazy with it. I'll try making a whole platform to put everything on. Hopefully that works. I totally get the scratching thing, but it's almost like she's in a trance when she's doing it. I've learned to just grit my teeth and walk away...
I...
So I had a broody Barnevelder. I got her eggs. They hatched two days ago. Moved them to a smaller grow-out pen so they are separated from the group, but still visible. It has both a coop and run, but she chose to stay with them in the run area. It's completely predator proof and weather proof...
YAY!!! Thanks! I thought so, but that tiny white dot threw me for a loop. 2 out of 2! I love auto-sexing breeds! 3 more eggs to go. 2 Super Blue Egg Layers, and maybe a Swedish Flower.
Thanks for the response. I may end up just breaking her broodiness, only because I still have 8 week old chicks in the grow out pen (but they've been there for over a month and see the other hens on a daily basis through the hardware cloth), and while I was going to start letting them mingle in...
So I have a 1 year old hen that is officially broody. Just to make sure she was committed, I removed all the non-fertile eggs from under her, and put two golf balls in a different non-favorite nesting box (she was previously using the hens' favorite, not allowing the other girls on). She then...
If they seem happy, I definitely wouldn't raise the temp at all. I used a heat lamp last year and the EcoGlow this year. In the garage this year, the temperature was around 62. At a week old, they spent very little time under the EcoGlow. They'd pop in for a few minutes, then run around again...