Intro and some questions

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Just4u2c

Just4u2c

Chirping
7 Years
Aug 12, 2012
8
2
67
Ok start with the intro..
100% completely new to chickens and farm life even. April 1st me and my wife bought our 5 acres in Central Oregon. April 7th we bought 12 chicks. 2 Barred, 2 Bantys, 2 Ameraucana, 2 Golden Sex links, 2 Brahma, and 2 Rhode Islands.. All from a local ranch store that gets them from Texas somewhere.. We lost 1 a couple weeks in.
We ended up with 2 Roo's the other Banty, and an Ameraucana.


We probably didn't do everything the recommended way I am sure. We did the first 2 bags of the medicated feeding, then went to regular crumbles and then to "layered" pellets about a month ago.. From about the time they started getting their regular feathers we have been giving them all our left overs.




I built them a 8x6x6 coop and it had a 6x4x4 outside area attached. (I am building a bigger outside area right now).

About a month ago we figured they were big enough to defend themselves against our cats. So we opened the door and let them out.. We have horses and a goat, they get lots of bugs from all the manure around. We have a little bit of grass that they eat in. Really they don't seem to eat that much pellets cause of that. They seem to be loving life. They have always are in before dark and we can leave the door open for them so they are out as early as they want. Luckily we don't see many big predator birds in the area, no ground predators either.

So thats it for the introduction. Now for the questions.
They are 20 weeks old, mid day friday my wife had seen them all but when I got home I couldn't find a hen. Looked everywhere and no signs of her. She was all white and didn't find any signs of feathers or a struggle or anything.. She could have been taken out but I don't know by what and where are the signs.. Anyone have any ideas?? could she be nesting on an egg someplace and we just can't find her??
Interesting enough the next morning I went out and there were 2 eggs in the nesting box, normal sized ones. Those were the first eggs I have seen from them.. Isn't it early and shouldn't I find small eggs first?? This morning though, no eggs.. is this normal?? We never close the door so they could be laying eggs anywhere I guess.
I would be more worried if they were 6 months old and still not getting regular eggs, but if they are laying I want the eggs..
May sound funny but I made a joke that a neighbor stole our chicken or had something to do with a dissapearance and then felt bad and snuck over some of their fresh eggs..

Anyways I have gotten a ton of good info from BYC. It is great for newbies like me..
 
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from washington state glad you joined us!

chickens are great about going away from the nest box and laying eggs, they prefer dark places and quiet.
 
Welcome to BYC!

If you lived here I'd guess a fox, coon or coyote got her, though coyotes and coons generally get more than one. But you'll never really know -- and you won't know for sure about future losses unless you do something like sit out there or install a game cam. The truth is, whatever it is, it's likely that it's found a food source now and will return. Many animals like to eat chicken -- you will probably see predators you had no idea were in the area. Unless their run is pretty secure, or a dog is patrolling the perimeter, you should probably consider closing the coop at sunset and opening it when you get up. If there is food and water in there, it won't kill them to wake up an hour or two before you do.

Actually, if you come to believe they are laying outside the coop, you may have to lock them in for several days, at least til they are through laying for the day -- which is usually somewhere around 3 PM.

It takes them about a month to "learn to lay" -- odd things will happen til they get adjusted to the process: odd eggs, eggs in the wrong place, etc.

A broody will indeed often make a hidden nest and set on the eggs til hatch, usually bringing the chicks back to the flock at a few days of age. But at 20 weeks this is extremely unlikely; she's barely old enough to be laying. I've had a couple of broodies who were under a year but mostly they go broody their second or even third spring, if they're going to go broody at all -- and yes it's generally in the spring, though this can vary widely. Brahmas may be the only breed you have that tends to go broody, depending on the bantams' breed, though any of them can.

Laying starts, to be blunt, when they're ready. It varies a lot. Your Brahmas are likely to be later starters, the sex links, RIR and probably Barreds earlier. 20 weeks is a general figure, but some start earlier and some much later. I know of a purebred Ameraucana who first laid at one year!

By the way, many feed store type operations order from Ideal Hatchery, a huge hatchery in Texas. All mine were either ordered directly from Ideal or bought from local feed stores who order from Ideal.

That's no exhaustive course in chickens or predators, but it's a start. I wish you well on your new farm and with your animals! And we hope you'll find BYC to be a great place to learn, and make friends as well.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC
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Lovely chickens and lovely coop! Hope your missing hen turns up. I had one who hid her first eggs and hatched them. I only discovered her nest a week before the chicks hatched! Sneaky girl.
 
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. The above posters have given you excellent advice which have hopefully answered all of your questions.
 
The interesting part is she dissappeared during the day, between 3 and 6.. The hottest part of the day, when most of the ground predators if there were any are laying in the shade someplace.. We have a few dogs in our backyard that are screaming huskys. They keep the deer and roaming dogs away and I would think a lot of predators too.. We ride horseback throughout or neighborhood a lot and have yet to seen any wild running animal besides a few deer and some rabbits.. No coons, fox, opposums, weasils, snakes, skunks, porcupine or even coyotes screaming at night. So I am not guaranteeing that there isn't anything around but we havent seen any or sign of any or neighbors seen any.

Think I am just going to finish building the outside area of the coop and lock them in till afternoon to see if any more eggs appear.. maybe do that a couple days every couple weeks until I got all the hens laying eggs where they need to.. in the nesting boxes...
 

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