BO changes, close to POL (blog style) [updated - first egg]

[KnitswithChickens]

Congrats on the eggs Shaggy!

my BO is the only one laying at the moment - 5 eggs a week even in the cold dark days of winter. The red sexlink stopped when the clocks went back, and the SLW hasn't started at all. At our house we are currently fighting over who gets the decent sized omlette!!

 

[spamee34]

Well I want to say congrats to those who have eggs!

Now I want to tell all of you who still havn't gotten an egg yet and your girls are gettin up there just think of me when your in distress! I have three Jersey Giants and five SLW and five RIR's and two dominiquers and NONE of them are laying!!!!!!:rolleyes SO I am really ready to see an egg! Our girls were bought around late April early May and so they would be around nine months old so I SHOULD HAVE EGGS!!!!! I have always been a stickler on feed and bought what ever was affordable whick was sometimes scratch and sometimes mix for dairy or even sweet feed so I think I have messed them up ,

SO now I have them on scratch and greens and pellets at the first sign of eggs hepefully if I keep em on one kind of food they will lay soon.

We have two roos one JG and one SLW and neither one is crowing yet either and our neighbors roos are crowing every morning so I hope soon they will learn how to do this amazing thing and realize they are roos! So has anyone else had to wait around 38 weeks to see an egg? Please let me know what I can do to help my girls out ?

 

[HEChicken]

Hi There! The problem may be with the scratch. Scratch is really just a treat and shouldn't comprise more than about 10% of their total diet as it does not provide all the nutrients they need. Although you are supplementing with other greens, they may not be getting enough of the right nutrition to have excess left over to produce eggs. The best thing to do would be to look for a chicken feed formulated for laying hens (e.g., Purina Layena) and feed them that free choice, supplementing with greens and other kitchen scraps. I only throw my girls a handful or two of scratch once a week or so as a treat. Hope this helps....

 

[sherapy]

Shaggy...
Thanks for providing me with this WONDERFUL link which you started. It is very encouraging to me. My hens are somewhere in the neighborhood of 26-28 weeks now and I still await that coveted "first egg". I certainly hope it will not be as long as 9 months as in a post above. I appreciate all of the comments in this posting. I have noticed that my hens are beginning to squat now; but I am not familiar with the egg song as of yet.....maybe it won't be too long.

 

[shaggy]

Quote:
glad i could be of some help ... good luck