Delawares from kathyinmo

[Beekissed]

Speaking of which...finally saw one of the Del pullets on the nest!

At 8.5 mo. the pullets have decided to start laying...a little. We'll see what happens over time.

 

[finnfur]

Bee it's getting cold again these are cold weather birds or did you open the freezer door and point your finger in it lol

 

[Beekissed]

Bee it's getting cold again these are cold weather birds or did you open the freezer door and point your finger in it lol

I don't know what has triggered the laying because I used a scatter shot approach to the problem. Kathy had suggested they needed light, so I tried to experiment with a string of Christmas lights....they'd been up for a couple of weeks before the first laying started~right in the middle of that cold snap. Ironically, the one chicken that had been laying five days out of seven abruptly stopped when the light was introduced, laid once more on the coldest day and then stopped for good.

Right before I introduced the light, I killed the old, infertile and no longer breeding at all rooster and introduced a young cockerel that is barely showing sex characteristics but is breeding. He hasn't crowed, grown a full comb or wattle nor any spurs to speak of but he's a breeder. He seemed to stimulate these young virgins a good bit more than anything else and his first day there they were preening him...they never would get near the older rooster...but they are flocking with the new one.

And maybe it was just time for them to lay. I'll never know what finally unclogged the tubes but even yet, some of them are still not laying...I'm only getting 3-4 eggs per day out of 9 hens/pullets.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I'm only getting 3-4 eggs per day out of 9 hens/pullets.

Maybe they are all laying - every other, or every third day. That's what mine are doing.

 

[finnfur]

Maybe they are all laying - every other, or every third day. That's what mine are doing.

I think your correct - every 2>3 days I get a 50 gram egg so thats still a new egger - but overall we are getting 9>10 eggs one day and 12>13 the next so I feel all are laying now just not every day.Thats from total 14.[ 9 are pullets ]

 

[Beekissed]

Maybe they are all laying - every other, or every third day. That's what mine are doing.

With a small flock you get to recognizing specific eggs and pretty soon, if you are observant, you get to know whose egg that is....at least two of these eggs are from the same hens each time. Two other eggs I have not learned to recognize just yet...but I will. I know that one of them that happens every other day is from an ancient (7 yr old) BA hen...hers is small as a pullet egg but it has a certain color and speckle to it that I recognize as I've seen it before many times and her yolks are larger and darker than the pullet eggs are.

 

[finnfur]

Our flock is positively small but you a whole lot better than me. I do have three down pat. The white EE lays blue eggs , the Grey EE lays green eggs and
a large NH I call "big momma" lays 60 gram double and triple yokers. And her double yolks are full size . See its easy LOL

 

[Beekissed]

That would make it easier!

That's what always makes me laugh when someone posts "who laid this egg?" threads and report they have all brown egg layers...and the egg is brown. Even someone who has been around those chickens every day and been observing them for years may not even know whose egg that is!

I know the eggs of all my older hens because they each are quite distinctive to me now...the old NH has a speckled and also blotched, small egg and the old WR has a larger, lighter brown egg with a distinct bump in the shape each and every time.

It will take me some time to learn these new birds but if I'm around long enough I'll likely learn them.

 

[finnfur]

Yep I agree and just funning with ya. I know different eggs from different hens have there particulars. I had a RIR that laid a large torpedo type egg and another that did a wrinkle egg. Then there was the sandpaper finish. I think they were out on the last cull. have one now that does the brown shaded easter egg . It looks like it was dipped from both directions with shading in middle. My problem I don't know which hen to which egg. That will change when I get my individual pens set up.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Inasmuch as we are wanting good eggs for good chicks for this project, I've been doing a little research on the question of feeding the birds for the best results ...

One of the things I've been looking into is livestock yeast supplements for poultry. I found two studies conducted by a manufacturer of yeast-based livestock feed supplements ... Diamond V ... which produces "regular," "organic," and "GMO-free," etc., versions of yeast supplements for use in poultry.

The first report which might be of interest here is the one that says the yeast supplement can help with laying rates in birds "challenged" by coccidiosis ... http://www.diamondv.com/languages/en/wp-content/uploads/FOR_PO308-A.pdf

And the other specifically looks at the application of the yeast supplement in breeding programs (for breeding of meat birds, so not EXACTLY the same ... ) http://www.diamondv.com/languages/en/wp-content/uploads/FOR_PO213.pdf

Has anyone used yeast supplements? Or considered it but decided against it for some reason?

Thoughts?