➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

When I went to let the girls out this morning I found this on the floor of the coop.
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All of the girls were still on the roosts when I opened the door. I am going to assume it was the same pullet that laid the other one that I only found the yoke remnants of. It was super thin. Like I was scared to even try to pick it up and you can see where it was already torn, just didn't ooze out yet (or get eaten). I guess we will see what happens over the next few days. Hopefully the shells will improve. If they don't, what can I do other than oyster shell? I don't even know which one it is.

*side note totally unrelated*
Yesterday we caught a couple of minnows from our creek. Tried to give them to the ducks. They didn't want anything to do with them. So we gave them to the chickens. Well, 2 chickens because they were piggies and didn't share. Hubby was freaked out because he watched Lucy gobble the minnow down, whole. He's like, "whoa! you can't eat that thing whole like that, you're gonna choke!" Turns to me and says, "omgosh! she just ate that thing whole. just gobbled it down. " Then told me to watch her just in case she had any problems. I said to him, if they can eat frogs (which they've already caught a few) I think they'll be able to gulp down a minnow. One was a good size tho. The other was tiny. I think we're going to try to catch more over night on the weekend and make sure all of the girls get one as a treat. Maybe try and entice the ducks again.

If you can figure out which pullet is laying the soft shell eggs, then you can do what @casportpony told me to do for our Brahma hen.

She said to give Calcium Citrate orally and that will help get extra calcium into her. Just put it in the beak and they will swallow it, you may have to push it back into the mouth a little bit to get it down.

 

[Molpet]

Last night I was missing one of the young hens when I shut them all in. I looked all over for her but never saw her anywhere but did find where something had gotten one of my fake guinea eggs. Around 3 AM I heard an owl hooting and actually thought about going out to encourage it to move on but I was too tired.

This morning I spotted the missing hen just outside of the coop so I knew she made it through the night. Tonight she was missing again. This time I spotted a couple of blue eggs under a juniper tree. I used my stick to move them to where I could reach them without getting scratched up too badly. I thought I had seen another egg on the other side of the tree but couldn't find anything when I got over there. I got down on the ground to move grass and branches around for a better look and that is when I spotted something red.

I had to get my hand within inches of her before she took off from her nest which held an additional 26 eggs besides the two I had already found.

She hollered the whole way back to the coop and still took another 10 minutes to get her to go in. She is a Rose Comb Legbar and this is the first Legbar that I have ever had go broody. At least she is safe in the coop tonight.

The first night I looked for her, I did come within 3' of her nest without spotting her.

what a stinker.. I guess the scratchy juniper was a good spot to keep you away..

not so sure a predator would care about getting scratched

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

If you can figure out which pullet is laying the soft shell eggs, then you can do what @casportpony told me to do for our Brahma hen.

She said to give Calcium Citrate orally and that will help get extra calcium into her. Just put it in the beak and they will swallow it, you may have to push it back into the mouth a little bit to get it down.
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Thanks! This is good to know.

 

[Kiki]

The bottom two are our new Legbar pullets. They’re so small compared to the others lol.
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These are supposed to be Cream Legbars?

 

[Kiki]

View attachment 1536170 View attachment 1536171
Coop progress

This is going to be GREAT!!!

 

[Kiki]

When I went to let the girls out this morning I found this on the floor of the coop.
View attachment 1536319
View attachment 1536320

All of the girls were still on the roosts when I opened the door. I am going to assume it was the same pullet that laid the other one that I only found the yoke remnants of. It was super thin. Like I was scared to even try to pick it up and you can see where it was already torn, just didn't ooze out yet (or get eaten). I guess we will see what happens over the next few days. Hopefully the shells will improve. If they don't, what can I do other than oyster shell? I don't even know which one it is.

*side note totally unrelated*
Yesterday we caught a couple of minnows from our creek. Tried to give them to the ducks. They didn't want anything to do with them. So we gave them to the chickens. Well, 2 chickens because they were piggies and didn't share. Hubby was freaked out because he watched Lucy gobble the minnow down, whole. He's like, "whoa! you can't eat that thing whole like that, you're gonna choke!" Turns to me and says, "omgosh! she just ate that thing whole. just gobbled it down. " Then told me to watch her just in case she had any problems. I said to him, if they can eat frogs (which they've already caught a few) I think they'll be able to gulp down a minnow. One was a good size tho. The other was tiny. I think we're going to try to catch more over night on the weekend and make sure all of the girls get one as a treat. Maybe try and entice the ducks again.

She is a new layer right?
Do you feed a layer feed or an all flock feed?

 

[Kiki]

Last night I was missing one of the young hens when I shut them all in. I looked all over for her but never saw her anywhere but did find where something had gotten one of my fake guinea eggs. Around 3 AM I heard an owl hooting and actually thought about going out to encourage it to move on but I was too tired.

This morning I spotted the missing hen just outside of the coop so I knew she made it through the night. Tonight she was missing again. This time I spotted a couple of blue eggs under a juniper tree. I used my stick to move them to where I could reach them without getting scratched up too badly. I thought I had seen another egg on the other side of the tree but couldn't find anything when I got over there. I got down on the ground to move grass and branches around for a better look and that is when I spotted something red.

I had to get my hand within inches of her before she took off from her nest which held an additional 26 eggs besides the two I had already found.

She hollered the whole way back to the coop and still took another 10 minutes to get her to go in. She is a Rose Comb Legbar and this is the first Legbar that I have ever had go broody. At least she is safe in the coop tonight.

The first night I looked for her, I did come within 3' of her nest without spotting her.

Oh my...do you think others have been laying eggs in her pile too or are they all hers?

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

She is a new layer right?
Do you feed a layer feed or an all flock feed?

I feed all flock feed. I feed Purina Flock Raiser. But I have a big bowl of Oyster Shell available for them at all times. I think it is a new layer. I will keep a good eye on them for the next few days. See if I can't pin point which one it could be.

 

[R2elk]

Oh my...do you think others have been laying eggs in her pile too or are they all hers?

Since she had laid an egg or two in the coop, I am pretty sure that she had help from one of the others. There are three of them that I kept from this year's hatch. One is consistently laying in the coop. One I think has never laid in the coop and her.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

These are supposed to be Cream Legbars?

Yes ma’am. I’ll take a picture of their wing feathers that are coming in when I get home.