*Buff Orpington Thread!*

[billkaroly]

My Buff's are 21 weeks old as of August 4th and laid her 1st egg yesterday. So eggciting!

 

[Brookshire11]

My Buff's are 21 weeks old as of August 4th and laid her 1st egg yesterday. So eggciting!

Congrats!

 

[rancher hicks]

BUCKWHEAT LAID AN EGG! I found a broken egg in her pen. Not sure if it was due to soft shell or what but there it was. I'll make sure to give her lots of grit if she wants it.

I did find a skin in the pen awhile back, but for some reason didn't think much about it. She was still swollen at that time.

She's been on grower but for the last week or so on layer. If she lays another I might put her back in the coop.

Frenchy continues to lay an egg now and then and I've three under broody hens. One is definitely working. And they say they quit after two years. My foot they do. Frenchy came in Feb. 2008 so that makes her six? She hasn't laid in the last two years maybe? Now she's laying again?

 

[speckledhen]

BUCKWHEAT LAID AN EGG! I found a broken egg in her pen. Not sure if it was due to soft shell or what but there it was. I'll make sure to give her lots of grit if she wants it.

I did find a skin in the pen awhile back, but for some reason didn't think much about it. She was still swollen at that time.

She's been on grower but for the last week or so on layer. If she lays another I might put her back in the coop.

Frenchy continues to lay an egg now and then and I've three under broody hens. One is definitely working. And they say they quit after two years. My foot they do. Frenchy came in Feb. 2008 so that makes her six? She hasn't laid in the last two years maybe? Now she's laying again?

Both my splash and my blue Ameraucana hens took breaks of over a year. Nora stopped for a year and a half and Snow quit for a full year, then they both started back the same week. They've both stopped again (they're over 6 years old now) and Nora seems like she's on her final downhill slide to that Great Roost in the Sky, but it was interesting that they both took such long hiatuses.

Grit doesn't make shells stronger, calcium and adequate Vitamin D do, Tim. But sometimes, not even that helps. Nora's eggs were always paper thin after she turned three years old and no amount of oyster shell would fix them. I guess her system wasn't processing the calcium she was getting well.

 

[rancher hicks]

Both my splash and my blue Ameraucana hens took breaks of over a year. Nora stopped for a year and a half and Snow quit for a full year, then they both started back the same week. They've both stopped again (they're over 6 years old now) and Nora seems like she's on her final downhill slide to that Great Roost in the Sky, but it was interesting that they both took such long hiatuses.

Grit doesn't make shells stronger, calcium and adequate Vitamin D do, Tim. But sometimes, not even that helps. Nora's eggs were always paper thin after she turned three years old and no amount of oyster shell would fix them. I guess her system wasn't processing the calcium she was getting well.

Doesn't oyster shell grit help? I did give her just the insoluble grit thinking that since she's eating and pooping it might move things along. Dumped it on top of her food. I did give her some vitamins and electrolytes in her water a few times too.

All I know is what I did. I don't know why it worked only that it did.

While I'm sorry about your Nora I hope my Frenchy lives a few more years. Whatever God will give us.

 

[speckledhen]

Doesn't oyster shell grit help? I did give her just the insoluble grit thinking that since she's eating and pooping it might move things along. Dumped it on top of her food. I did give her some vitamins and electrolytes in her water a few times too.

All I know is what I did. I don't know why it worked only that it did.

While I'm sorry about your Nora I hope my Frenchy lives a few more years. Whatever God will give us.

Technically, oyster shell is for calcium and grit is granite. Oyster shell may have some properties of grit but that is not what it is used for. I don't have to buy grit since I live on a mountain with lots of rock, but the grit I have here is granite grit.

 

[RoosterLew]

Doesn't oyster shell grit help? I did give her just the insoluble grit thinking that since she's eating and pooping it might move things along. Dumped it on top of her food. I did give her some vitamins and electrolytes in her water a few times too.

All I know is what I did. I don't know why it worked only that it did.

While I'm sorry about your Nora I hope my Frenchy lives a few more years. Whatever God will give us.

Oyster Shell Grit & Insoluble Grit are 2 different things..most poultry keepers refer to them simply as "Oyster Shell" and "Grit" and don't even realize that some manufacturers sell "Oyster Shell" as "Oyster Shell grit" .
They are also used for 2 separate things..

Oyster shell is calcium for egg shell strength. You can also feed back egg shells to help with calcium levels. It will not work the same as insoluble grit.

Insoluble Grit is used in the gizzard for grinding up grains...basically it is the chickens "teeth"...so to put it very basically it must be harder than the grains. Usually made from flint or granite.

 

[speckledhen]

Oyster Shell Grit & Insoluble Grit are 2 different things..most poultry keepers refer to them simply as "Oyster Shell" and "Grit" and don't even realize that some manufacturers sell "Oyster Shell" as "Oyster Shell grit" .
They are also used for 2 separate things..

Oyster shell is calcium for egg shell strength. You can also feed back egg shells to help with calcium levels. It will not work the same as insoluble grit.

Insoluble Grit is used in the gizzard for grinding up grains...basically it is the chickens "teeth"...so to put it very basically it must be harder than the grains. Usually made from flint or granite.

Exactly. The oldest local feed store in town sells "oyster grit" she bags herself in ziplocks, but then again, the owner of that store tells folks all sorts of crud that isn't true. She also carries granite grit, which is what grit is supposed to be. Oyster shell is not as hard as what grit should be to do the job. I don't need to buy it since my driveway is gravel and I live on a rocky mountaintop anyway, but I do buy oyster shell and keep it in separate hoppers for each group of hens.

 

[tiffrosef]

Princess Buttercup

 

[Johnn]

Aww my little Bella has got herself into a magazine!