Colorado

[wsmith]

Thanks!! I live close by, and my hubby is working tomorrow, so thought it would be a fun thing to go see

It was good to meet Wendy and the boys. Thanks for dropping by the camp!

 

[WendyGeisler]

Wendell- it was nice to meet you and your kids! My boys loved the cannon and talked about the 4 steps to loading it all afternoon.
What a wonderful way to spend the 4th at Rock Ledge Ranch!

 

[Chook Chick]

OH MY!! Can you post a pic of your nestboxes and where they are in the coop? Or describe them? How big are they, etc. Have your girls ever shown any interest in them by going in and digging around in whatever you have as nesting material, etc. Do you have fake eggs of some type like golf balls or plastic eggs in them?

I'm not much more experienced than you and have never had this problem, so I'm not much help. My first hen plopped her first out outside, but the next day started laying in the boxes and I've never had one misplaced since.

My immediate thoughts are these, knowing nothing about your setup.

1. They don't like your nesting material (I use straw).
2. Placing fake eggs in the nest box might help if you haven't already done so.
3. The boxes might be too small? Too high? In a place that gets too much light (altho that wasn't a problem for me).

Anyway, would help to know more about your coop and setup. Maybe someone else here can speak from experience.

My coop is a 5 x 6, so it's plenty big enough.

Ok, I took the suggestion of putting golf balls in the nesting boxes. I have 3 different types - one is the traditional "built on the side of the coop" type; one is a fairly good sized cardboard box, which is 12 x 12 x 24; an old kitchen cabinet without the door ofcourse, which is 12 x 16; and a sterilite plastic storage container (got that idea from youtube) the 18 gal. size. All are filled with pine shavings and I put the golf balls in them.
I took down the roosts temporarily until I see a good pattern of laying in the nesting boxes, which, by the way, my Blue Andalusian did earlier in the day. I've noticed they kick out alot of the pine shavings too. When I checked this evening to see how everyone was arranged, they were all either in a nesting box or on top of one.
This morning my Araucana had layed hers from the roost, 2 of them, and one was shell-less, the other broke when it dropped, but no one ate it.

That's another thing that prompted me to take down the roosts for a bit.

I thought they instinctively knew where to lay their eggs....silly me.

Small steps!

Thanks all!

 

[wsmith]

Got out to the brooder pen this morning and found the little chick that had hatched on Monday or Tuesday not doing well. She passed at about noon. Decided that a staggared hatch using the same incubator isn't a good idea. Wont do that again.

 

[suncatcher]

Quote: Looks cool! Was listening on the radio this morning when a caller called in, and said he was there yesterday. He said even though it was HOT, and you guys were wearing wool uniforms, but did not seem to be bothered by the heat! You were doing your re-enactment, carrying your rifles, etc. Then they went on to discuss the siege of Vicksburg, and how some lady camped out in her buggy to talk with the general in charge once Vicksburg surrendered, as she wanted to take the survivors of Vicksburg under her care, or something like that. Just so much history about these wars that we don't know about!

Sorry about your chick not making it, it happens. This seems to be the year of bad hatches, as everywhere on this board people are talking about not having the best hatches, even those with tons of experience.

 

[Denverchickee]

Hi Everyone!! Hope the 4th treated you and yours great!

I spent the day at Tarryall Reservoir watching my husband fly fish, then some 4x4 riding in NF with friends to cook some venison burgers and a few games of horseshoes. What a great day. Too bad I had to work today I wanted to spend the night out there.

I will be heading to the Joyful Noise Farm tomorrow to pick up our first load of organic layer feed. Thanks to the folks who recommended them. I am very excited about visiting the farm. I hope I get a chance to meet some of the animals. I am born & raised farm girl stuck in the city for now. So anytime I get the opportunity to have some farm experience I embrace it.

I am super excited about switching my hens to this new food. we were feeding a blend that a friend of my husband self grinds & mixes, but I know its not organic. And here lately they are not going thru the food as much. I know its summer time and they eat less but I am looking for better results for egg laying. Hoping this will help.

So I have determined our EE is not laying eggs, which I was pretty sure of anyway but we did the test and I am confident. She is a sweet girl, I just don't have extra room like that. So if anyone is or knows someone who wants a non-laying hen you can save her life. sorry, if offended.

Cheers to a great weekend everyone!! Be safe!!

 

[P-Funk]

Is it wrong to use peep's real names when posting a reply? I read a post on another thread which stated just that. I don't care if everyone knows my name is Preston, granted it's not a common name it wouldn't be difficult to track me down. That's why it's in my profile. Like anyone from Florida knows where Franktown is anyway. That also looks like it took a lot of work to set up your get up, BTW, Wendell

! We have to party sometime.

 

[Pozees]

Is it wrong to use peep's real names when posting a reply? I read a post on another thread which stated just that. I don't care if everyone knows my name is Preston, granted it's not a common name it wouldn't be difficult to track me down. That's why it's in my profile. Like anyone from Florida knows where Franktown is anyway. That also looks like it took a lot of work to set up your get up, BTW, Wendell

Congrats! We have to party sometime.

Yeah, I don't know, I guess people go either way on that - I'm on the same page as you, I'm Judi, I am happy to be called Judi or Pozees, it doesn't really matter to me. I am given to understand there are some who feel those of us who know one anothers' names are making other people feel excluded, so I guess I'm going to change my sig file to include my real name and say it's okay to use it. Hope it doesn't violate any rules. I supposed I'd better check and make sure. <sigh> I've never been a big fan of rules ...

 

[Pozees]

Got out to the brooder pen this morning and found the little chick that had hatched on Monday or Tuesday not doing well. She passed at about noon. Decided that a staggared hatch using the same incubator isn't a good idea. Wont do that again.

Sorry. The one egg of yours I had left in the incubator quit, so here's hoping the broodies come through for us.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Is it wrong to use peep's real names when posting a reply? I read a post on another thread which stated just that. I don't care if everyone knows my name is Preston, granted it's not a common name it wouldn't be difficult to track me down. That's why it's in my profile. Like anyone from Florida knows where Franktown is anyway. That also looks like it took a lot of work to set up your get up, BTW, Wendell

! We have to party sometime.

How about code names, like Chicken OCD Newbie? And let people wonder........ or wander.....
Sorry on the news of your chick and farmed out eggs, Shoot-em-up-Bang-Bang.
Your turn Ring-Around...