I have 14 hens that could possibly lay an egg. They range in age from this past year's pullets to a couple of 3 (4?) year olds. What with molting, broodiness, and the small amount of daylight hours, I was down to one hen laying every other day. Very sad, but not unexpected.
Well, we're on the upswing now! January 1st, my last pullet from this past year laid her first egg. Ever. She skipped a day, then laid one the next day, and the next. Very exciting!
Then yesterday, one of my broody hens laid her first egg of the year. I love her eggs! They're huge and pointy, very slick and shiny.
She has "sorta" weaned herself away from her babies. They are 12 weeks old. I expect eggs from the other broody in that pen any day now. Actually, I would have guessed that she'd be the first one to lay. (My final broody hen doesn't seem even close to laying. But she does want out of her pen and away from her almost grown babies.)
The laying flock is starting to look quite promising as well. The three Dominiques in that pen are reddening up nicely, two are squatting and eating oyster shell. In fact, there was a big surge in oyster shell eating yesterday. I was cleaning coops, and noticed that almost every hen in the laying flock sampled some oyster shell. Not the 2 sexlinks that are molting heavily, not the Blue Andalusian, whose comb is virtually nonexistant at this point, and not that third Dominique. She also has not friendlied up the way her sisters have. That's always a big clue for me that they are thinking about laying an egg.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my excitement. I figure that in the next week or so, I'll be getting eggs from most of my hens. That's how it happened last year, too. January marks the turning point with my flock. From sad and eggless to ecstatic and eating big breakfasts!
YAY!
Well, we're on the upswing now! January 1st, my last pullet from this past year laid her first egg. Ever. She skipped a day, then laid one the next day, and the next. Very exciting!
Then yesterday, one of my broody hens laid her first egg of the year. I love her eggs! They're huge and pointy, very slick and shiny.
The laying flock is starting to look quite promising as well. The three Dominiques in that pen are reddening up nicely, two are squatting and eating oyster shell. In fact, there was a big surge in oyster shell eating yesterday. I was cleaning coops, and noticed that almost every hen in the laying flock sampled some oyster shell. Not the 2 sexlinks that are molting heavily, not the Blue Andalusian, whose comb is virtually nonexistant at this point, and not that third Dominique. She also has not friendlied up the way her sisters have. That's always a big clue for me that they are thinking about laying an egg.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my excitement. I figure that in the next week or so, I'll be getting eggs from most of my hens. That's how it happened last year, too. January marks the turning point with my flock. From sad and eggless to ecstatic and eating big breakfasts!
YAY!
