Have you tried checking their vents? The difference between a laying hen's vent and a non-laying hen's vent is big. A non-layer will be quite small, dry, and almost puckered; basically no different than a chick's vent. A laying hen's vent will be much wider and more open, and very moist or even wet/drippy. You can definitely tell who is laying by this method. Also, chickens have 2 bones on either side of their vent area; if you hold your chicken from below and slide your fingers back until you feel those bones, see how many fingers you can comfortably rest in between them (on the outside of the chicken of course, do not stick your fingers in their vents). If it's just 1-2 fingers wide they are likely not ready to lay; if you can fit 2-4 fingers between those bones GENTLY, they've probably passed eggs already, or are getting close. HTH!No chicken eggs yet. My oldest pullets are 24 weeks old now. I have checked their usual places to see if they might be laying outside but I don't see anything. Is there a way to tell if any are laying?
My ducks are giving me 3-4 eggs a day right now. They first started laying Sept2. I have 11 female ducks and all are 20 and 23 weeks old. I should be getting more eggs than that I would think. I keep them in the coop until 10 am. I am sure some are laying on the pond but there is nothing I can do about that.
Thanks! We usually have salad leftovers after supper. No one gets much- I have 25 chickens. Maybe less than a 1/2 tomato chopped and maybe the the size of a small serving of salad- and all that is divided between 25 chickens...depends on who gets there first. Wednesday we hung a head of leaf lettuce in the run for them to peck at- that was all they got that day (for scraps I mean). Last night we had take out so they didn't get anything. Do think that small amount if a big impact? I could always give the scraps to the ducks but the ducks get to gobble up frogs and fish and pond lettuce...so they are REALLY well fed. That is really helpful, too, about the vent. When they go to bed tonight- I will check my big girls vents and see what's shaking bacon.
I really hope no one is laying yet because I cannot find an egg stash for the life of me! lol They are on Flockraiser right now which is 20% protein. That's way higher than layer pellets. I was cutting it with oats- 1 part oats to 3 parts FR.
I believe Julie has it right here...I have never heard that tomato fruits are bad, but I have heard that raw potatoes and potato plants are. As to tomato plants I'm still skeptical. My RIR Ginger LOVES tomatoes. She goes out of her way to leap high into the air to nab any close ones (including stems and leaves) off of our container plants that sit on the deck. She lays faithfully every day.
What kind of chickens do you have?
Hm, the top two look like Red Sex Links...then maybe a Golden Sex Link the middle one almost looks sort of GLW-ish and the bottom looks like an EEnot sure of breeds. i know that 2 are EEs. the other 2 are in the first 2 pics below. hasnt been as hot here as it has been back in June/July. If I have to wait through the winter, I think Ill be having chicken dinner before I have eggs.....lol. They sleep in a coop that is open on three sides and I let them out in the morning and they come back in at night on they're own. free range all day. feed for breakfast and dinner. that's why i was checking all over the yard, but got may answer when they were locked up yesterday.
(these pics are from July.)
My Leg Lady Daisy started at 16 1/2 weeks! Been a double yolker machine since, but this is her 4th day off of laying which is strangeI have some leghorns that are coming up on 17 weeks, and I hear that they are early layers. maybe ill get some from them soon too
Leghorns are very pretty but tend toward aggressiveness. Nelson says he had a hard time with his, but I have a theory. Nelson had a bunch of them so I think that Leghorns stick with their own in a gang-like sort of way so I feel maybe that had something to do with his issues of them harrassing other chickens. I only have one of each of my breeds including my Leg and she is one of the sweetest girls! Noisy though so prepare yourself for that too. Beautiful hens though and lay eggs like nobody's buis-nass!! She lays the hugest eggs of all of them and is the most petite little thing! Most people I talk to, they are the queen bees of the flock.
Make sure that if they are on Flock Raiser that you are supplementing everyone with oyster shells too for calcium. My chicks and ducks are on Raiser too and the ducks don't touch the calcium yet. When they are older I'll probably transfer everybody back to half and half layer and Raiser for the winter.Thanks! We usually have salad leftovers after supper. No one gets much- I have 25 chickens. Maybe less than a 1/2 tomato chopped and maybe the the size of a small serving of salad- and all that is divided between 25 chickens...depends on who gets there first. Wednesday we hung a head of leaf lettuce in the run for them to peck at- that was all they got that day (for scraps I mean). Last night we had take out so they didn't get anything. Do think that small amount if a big impact? I could always give the scraps to the ducks but the ducks get to gobble up frogs and fish and pond lettuce...so they are REALLY well fed. That is really helpful, too, about the vent. When they go to bed tonight- I will check my big girls vents and see what's shaking bacon.
