Been gone for some time and missing the fellowship on here. Health problems got in the way. I have been raising chickens for over 30 years and seen a lot of strange things in a flock, but this one stumps me. I got 12 Barnevelders this year. It is the first time with this breed, so that might be the problem. These girls are 37 weeks old, and not one of them has laid an egg yet. I have never had birds wait this long before laying. I have been using this organic feed for at least 18 years, so I know it's of high quality. Light in the coop for winter and on a timer. Any idea why, or just the breed?
If they do not start laying before daylight hours get too low(Somewhere less than 14-12 hours per day, Then they will wait to start when daylight hours go above 12 hours a day at your place.
You are pretty far north so expect them to lay sometime after March.
If I were that far north, I would give them supplemental light.
We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.
If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.
(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)
Hey all! Life got...well, busy (as most all of us know).
Since my last BYC post a few notable things have happened for both my ducks and myself.
1. I lost my sweet Khaki Campbell, Farrah (in my profile photo). She fought for months with some sort of egg-laying/reproductive abnormality. She was my buddy and my best friend in duck form. The avian vet she was seeing placed a deslorelin implant, but it is theorized that it was either too little too late, or that she had a reproductive tumor that was actually accelerated by the implant. I miss her every day.
2. My black runner girly girl, Freya, had a salpingohysterectomy with an avian specialist here in AZ (thank you Dr. Lamb!). She needed this procedure after she came down with a nasty bout of egg yolk peritonitis. She unfortunately had a suture reaction after the first procedure, but was able to undergo surgery again and has recovered well since. She still gets a deslorelin implant every 6 months since her body refuses to stop wanting to make eggs!
3. I rescued a 5-day-old duckling from some irresponsible neighbors who left it running free when they went out of town. This baby of course turned out to be a drake so I in turn needed to add a couple more girls to my flock to even the ratio back out. SOOOOO...I added two adult Cayugas to be "his" girls. They are *mostly* getting along as a flock of 7 now. My babies now include the OG members: my blue runner drake (Ferdinand), fawn and white runner girl (Fleur), black runner girl (Freya), Cayuga girl (Fiona)--and the new kids: my barnyard rescue mix that I assume to be a fawn and white runner x Rouen drake (Fig), and two Cayuga girls (Flora and Fawna).
4. I graduated veterinary school this past August! I currently work in rural small animal, but would love to continue to expand my avian knowledge (chickens and waterfowl specifically).
Great to read through these updates and I sure hope you're all doing well. Wishing everyone a great end to 2025 and start to 2026!
Photos include my sweet angel, Farrah. Fig a few days after I found him wandering in a field above my house. The full flock learning how to coexist! And me on graduation day from veterinary school
Hi everyone!
I'm back on BYC because I've got an interesting chicken-year ahead of me, and who better to share it with than you folks.
I took several years' break from hatching and raising chicks, and consequently my chicken flock got older. This year I had Great Plans of refurbishing my chicken flock, first buying eggs to hatch, and then putting the cockerels with my old hens and hatch eggs from them. Well, first half worked, I got a batch of Icelandic Viking fowl (I'm guessing they're called in english?), but I didn't get any eggs from my old hens before I culled them and the roo's. I did, however, procure some wyandotte chicks that are 5 months now (my favorite breed), including one splash cockerel.
My chicken plan is to breed the Wyandotte cockerels with the Viking hens. The hens have a wonderful temperament and very hardy, but they're also flighty and have large combs (not good in winter).
My other plan is to hatch one splash wyandotte female, never had one before...
I also have Muscovy Ducks, that I consider to be pets. I only got 4 now, 3 females and one male.
Next year I'll buy eggs to incubate, from brown Muscovies! Now that might not sound interesting to you guys, but the color brown hasn't existed in my country until a few years ago, only the black/grey genes. I was on the verge of importing some myself a while back (I chickened out because of all the laws and rules), so when I saw someone that had them, I rushed to contact the owner, and make plans for some eggs!
Adding pictures of my ducks, wyandottes and viking hens.
