Colorado

[kmatt87]

huh.

yesterday i found a weird egg from one of the chickens.
It was about 3 times the size of the normal ones, the outside was almost rubbery like the inside membrane had solidified a bit, then when i opened it the "yoke" was shaped like a small egg and had the texture of a hard boiled egg.
Has anyone ever had one of those?

I'm not sure who laid it. I found it behind the pile of decking in the yard. None of the chickens are acting like there is anything off

 

[coloradogal]

huh.

yesterday i found a weird egg from one of the chickens.
It was about 3 times the size of the normal ones, the outside was almost rubbery like the inside membrane had solidified a bit, then when i opened it the "yoke" was shaped like a small egg and had the texture of a hard boiled egg.
Has anyone ever had one of those?

I'm not sure who laid it. I found it behind the pile of decking in the yard. None of the chickens are acting like there is anything off

Hard to know unless I can see it. My duck laid 2 rubber eggs earlier in the season. It was very squishy and if I tossed it, it did bounce. I put it in the fridge thinking I could show it off to my family later. No such luck. It dried hardish and the yolk also was weird. I'm not sure if that is what you experienced or not.

I have read that sometimes and egg within an egg happens. I have personally never seen that though. As the size was huge, it sounds like that could be it.

Not sure so maybe someone else has some experience.

 

[kmatt87]

Hard to know unless I can see it. My duck laid 2 rubber eggs earlier in the season. It was very squishy and if I tossed it, it did bounce. I put it in the fridge thinking I could show it off to my family later. No such luck. It dried hardish and the yolk also was weird. I'm not sure if that is what you experienced or not.

I have read that sometimes and egg within an egg happens. I have personally never seen that though. As the size was huge, it sounds like that could be it.

Not sure so maybe someone else has some experience.

i didn't think to take a picture of it. Sorry.

 

[pichuris]

So I've been thinking of raising some type of "worm". I'm not sure I can do the mealworm. I even went to a pet store to look at them and try and hold them couldn't do it. However, I can do regular earthworms. Anyone here raise them for your chickens?

 

[Ashdoes]

So I've been thinking of raising some type of "worm". I'm not sure I can do the mealworm. I even went to a pet store to look at them and try and hold them couldn't do it. However, I can do regular earthworms. Anyone here raise them for your chickens?

http://www.compostbins.com/worm-composters/worm-composters/cascadewormfactory360wormcomposter.cfm
I bought this for my husband for his birthday, after he complained about the cost of worms for fishing. This system uses red worms, which compost really well. The great thing about it is the worms live off your kitchen scraps, and double in population every three months (or monthly, can't remember). There are a few different models, I gave you the link to the one I purchased, since it's the one I researched.
The red worms are smaller than earth worms, but prior to using them for fishing you can feed them chicken food to fatten them up. That's a fun tip I got from my composting book. I don't think the chicken care how big the worms are.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

So I've been thinking of raising some type of "worm". I'm not sure I can do the mealworm. I even went to a pet store to look at them and try and hold them couldn't do it. However, I can do regular earthworms. Anyone here raise them for your chickens?

My mother did that about ten years ago. It worked pretty well, but worms are sensitive to temperature fluctuations. She had hers on the back patio in Portland but they died when it got to the freezing point overnight one night (which doesn't happen often in Oregon). If you kept them indoors or in a basement it might work better. They don't take up much space and the smell is 'earthy' more than anything else.

 

[pichuris]

http://www.compostbins.com/worm-composters/worm-composters/cascadewormfactory360wormcomposter.cfm
I bought this for my husband for his birthday, after he complained about the cost of worms for fishing. This system uses red worms, which compost really well. The great thing about it is the worms live off your kitchen scraps, and double in population every three months (or monthly, can't remember). There are a few different models, I gave you the link to the one I purchased, since it's the one I researched.
The red worms are smaller than earth worms, but prior to using them for fishing you can feed them chicken food to fatten them up. That's a fun tip I got from my composting book. I don't think the chicken care how big the worms are.

Sweet! Thanks for the link. Since I have lots-o-chickens I need to figure out supplementing feed cause where I get my feed it went up $5 for 50# bag in a matter of 3 weeks. As I'm sure everyone here is well aware.

My mother did that about ten years ago. It worked pretty well, but worms are sensitive to temperature fluctuations. She had hers on the back patio in Portland but they died when it got to the freezing point overnight one night (which doesn't happen often in Oregon). If you kept them indoors or in a basement it might work better. They don't take up much space and the smell is 'earthy' more than anything else.

I'm going to put mine in the basement so sounds like that will work for me. What I've researched (google, I know) so far some say they aren't good for chickens on a large scale only as a treat. Others say differently. Some say they dry them then grind'em up then put in with their feed. Pretty sure what we have in our garden are red worms. I'm going to do an outdoor one for next year near their coop so they can dig for them themselves. Kind of like what we did with our garden. Put aged horse manure in the garden in the fall so come planting time the soil was nice and rich and our seeds sprouted pretty quickly along with worms. I kept seeing birds in our garden in the mornings right after the sprinklers shut off and so went out there and saw tons of them crawling around. I'm going to make sure those worms are the red wrigglers.

 

[gardendufus]

Well, my GLW wheezed up until I went to bed at midnight. Had steeled myself to the fact that I would probably lose at least 1 bird, maybe more if I hadn't gotten her quarantined in time. Went out this morning and she's breathing normally, seems fine. I guess if she's still ok tomorrow I'll put her back in with the others and call it a reaction to laying her first egg. She doesn't like quarantine much and neither do I.

 

[Pozees]

Well, my GLW wheezed up until I went to bed at midnight. Had steeled myself to the fact that I would probably lose at least 1 bird, maybe more if I hadn't gotten her quarantined in time. Went out this morning and she's breathing normally, seems fine. I guess if she's still ok tomorrow I'll put her back in with the others and call it a reaction to laying her first egg. She doesn't like quarantine much and neither do I.

Don't suppose she laid another today? As has been pointed out by others, chickens have an amazing will to live, and often recover from things in a few days; the times you run into trouble are those when the chicken is doing its best to hide its illness to protect itself from predators.

My Blue Cochin laid her first egg yesterday - little bitty thing at the foot of the ramp, and pale brown, I almost missed it. Today she laid another tiny egg, this time in the coop in front of the nest box. I'm persuading myself it is slightly larger than yesterday's

Tried to get pics of the two big girls tonight but they were way too busy pecking my sneakers.

 

[Ashdoes]

Our first five are 11 weeks now and put themselves to bed every night. The four older Cochins are 7 1/2 weeks and took themselves all the way to the ramp, we finally picked them up when they started to just stand there. The three newest Cochins are about 6 weeks and we put them in the coop for the first time tonight, and the Silkies get one or two more weeks in the brooder. I had no clue the Silkies were going to grow so slow, those little buggers might stay in the garage longer then I want.
Anyone know of a company around here that would till and remove all the big weeds out of our backyard? Per our HOA we can't have an actual lawn, we can have field grass, but I don't think anything could live with these weeds sucking up the water.