Any one want to join me in waiting for eggs, posting and comparing notes?

[kacklinkelly]

The snowy owl photos are AMAZING!
The snowy car photo reminds me of my many years living on Long Island and reminds me why I moved to PHoenix
All the best to all of you

p.s. STILL WAITING

 

[CatSol]

Oh wow! That's SNOW! I went to a friend's house today. She got about an inch or 2 and it was melting fast. By noon it was mostly gone. The dogs had fun though... My friend has 6 acres. It is kind of hilly and lots of rocks. but it was fun. That truck does not look like fun. It must be very pretty up there .....


Those owls look gorgeous...

Debbie. Great Pics! Have fun at that show.


Yah! Bella! Congrats Johnn... Nice pics too. I stopped by the feed store today... He was getting a shipment of chicks and some of them are BO. But the post office did not let him know that they arrived and he got them late. So a lot of them are not making it. He will get more to replace them but it is still sad. He is having buyers wait till after Wednesday to see which chicks are going to make it. Hopefully he will save me one of the BOs. I am sure she will not be as pretty as yours but at lest I will have a giant puff ball as well And who knows what his replacement birds will be...? Could be anything.... There are so many beautiful birds out there. Could be something else that is on my wish list.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Ooooh! So beautiful! Really great pictures!

MB, my back aches just looking at that photo! It's been a while since I had to dig out my car. We have a neighbor now who plows my driveway for me. The first winter I had in the mountains many, many years ago, we had a massive blizzard. They issued a town curfew and closed all roads. My car was under so much snow I couldn't even tell where it was. When I first started trying to dig it out my shovel hit the roof! I'd be happy to never see that much snow again. Stay warm! I hope the chickens are safe and cozy!

We've had pretty seasonable weather here, and yesterday I was able to get started on the coop expansion. I really need to get these chicks outside. They are so messy! They need more room to play. And I'm getting ready to set eggs for the Saint Patty's Day green egg Hatch-a-long, so I need the brooder.

My camera has been catching a lot of funny photos lately of my rooster teaching the hens how to use the nesting boxes. He's so weird! Has anyone else had a rooster that does this? Here's one of Kenny Rogers showing Irlene how to kick all of the straw out of the box. 10 minutes after this photo, she laid an egg on the bare wood.

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Hi, I'm a first-time chicken owner. I got my 8 Australorps almost 21 weeks ago when they were a day old. Seven have had big red combs for a good while now, now the 8th one's is finally bigger and redder. I'm thinking they should be getting close to laying and the weather has been nice and warm lately. I cleaned out the nesting box yesterday and put hay in them. One curious one went in and checked it out and scratched some of the hay out. I'm looking forward to seeing what they did to it overnight but it's been raining so things will be a little slow this morning. They use to all pile in the two nesting boxes to sleep but the last week they seem to think it's crowded so they're spilling out onto the roosts. (Wonder what their first clue was? LOL).

I was wondering what the earliest ages of the pullets were for some of your first eggs.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Hi, I'm a first-time chicken owner. I got my 8 Australorps almost 21 weeks ago when they were a day old. Seven have had big red combs for a good while now, now the 8th one's is finally bigger and redder. I'm thinking they should be getting close to laying and the weather has been nice and warm lately. I cleaned out the nesting box yesterday and put hay in them. One curious one went in and checked it out and scratched some of the hay out. I'm looking forward to seeing what they did to it overnight but it's been raining so things will be a little slow this morning. They use to all pile in the two nesting boxes to sleep but the last week they seem to think it's crowded so they're spilling out onto the roosts. (Wonder what their first clue was? LOL).

I was wondering what the earliest ages of the pullets were for some of your first eggs.

Hi KnobbyOaks!

My earliest ever layer was an Australorp. She laid her first egg at 23 weeks, and was probably the best layer I ever had. She only missed 2 days a month, and laid most of the year. I know lots of folks have pullets who lay earlier. If they're digging the hay out of the boxes, you're probably really close to getting your first egg!

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Hi KnobbyOaks!

My earliest ever layer was an Australorp. She laid her first egg at 23 weeks, and was probably the best layer I ever had. She only missed 2 days a month, and laid most of the year. I know lots of folks have pullets who lay earlier. If they're digging the hay out of the boxes, you're probably really close to getting your first egg!

Thanks for the info. Do the pullets usually lay their eggs when they wake up or do they go out, eat and drink something and then crawl in the nest to lay their egg. I just don't know how early to check on them. I really don't want the other girls going in and breaking up the eggs. Or is this worrying too much?

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Thanks for the info. Do the pullets usually lay their eggs when they wake up or do they go out, eat and drink something and then crawl in the nest to lay their egg. I just don't know how early to check on them. I really don't want the other girls going in and breaking up the eggs. Or is this worrying too much?

That's probably worrying a little too much.

The eggs should be fine. Those eggs are tougher than you might think. The other girls might be curious about it, but they're probably not going to break it. Chickens are more likely to lay in boxes where they see other eggs. They crawl in there, dig out the straw, kick the other eggs all over the place, but the eggs survive just fine.

The first egg could come any time of day. They'll usually start trying to lay it in the morning, but they might get in and out of the box for hours before they settle down and actually lay the egg. I've gotten a pullet's first egg anywhere between 7:30 am and 3:00 pm. After the first egg, they usually lay about an hour later each day until the laying time reaches late afternoon, then the time rotates back to early morning. Newly laying pullets can take a while to get into a schedule though. Mine are laying kind of sporatically. I even have pullets laying eggs after dark. I think they're confused.

 

[Brynansmommie]

Lately our hens have been visiting our neighbors house to eat the dog and cat food that they put put out for strays. Rather than serve the area strays chicken dinners we decided to put them back in the chicken tractor. They were ridiculously easy to catch. My 2 year old Jon caught a chicken by himself. He walked up to it and she squatted. He just grabbed her. 3 of my 4 hens are now squatting. We had hens fighting over the Westinghouse this morning. Fingers crossed for more than one hen laying soon.

 

[Brynansmommie]

Lately our hens have been visiting our neighbors house to eat the dog and cat food that they put put out for strays. Rather than serve the area strays chicken dinners we decided to put them back in the chicken tractor. They were ridiculously easy to catch. My 2 year old Jon caught a chicken by himself. He walked up to it and she squatted. He just grabbed her. 3 of my 4 hens are now squatting. We had hens fighting over the Westinghouse this morning. Fingers crossed for more than one hen laying soon.

nesting boxes, not Westinghouse. Lol

 

[KnobbyOaks]

That's probably worrying a little too much.

The eggs should be fine. Those eggs are tougher than you might think. The other girls might be curious about it, but they're probably not going to break it. Chickens are more likely to lay in boxes where they see other eggs. They crawl in there, dig out the straw, kick the other eggs all over the place, but the eggs survive just fine.

The first egg could come any time of day. They'll usually start trying to lay it in the morning, but they might get in and out of the box for hours before they settle down and actually lay the egg. I've gotten a pullet's first egg anywhere between 7:30 am and 3:00 pm. After the first egg, they usually lay about an hour later each day until the laying time reaches late afternoon, then the time rotates back to early morning. Newly laying pullets can take a while to get into a schedule though. Mine are laying kind of sporatically. I even have pullets laying eggs after dark. I think they're confused.

Thank you!!! That took a lot of the worrying out of it. Don't know why I thought chickens laid all their eggs in the morning. I'm really getting excited now.