As of last Friday, four of our hens were laying every day. Friday night and Saturday morning we got several inches on snow, the girls didn't like it. They wouldn't come out of their house Saturday morning until I put a path of wood shavings down from their door over to their covered "tree fort" area, even then some of them would have nothing to do with the unusual white ground. Anyway, by Saturday afternoon all four girls had left an egg in their house. On Sunday, it got warm and the snow started to melt. My husband shoveled a path in the snow for the girls. They seemed quite happy to have some non-white ground to scratch around on. But back to the eggs. I didn't find an EE or Seabright egg on Sunday and thought that was odd. Neither of these girls has laid an egg since Saturday, at least I haven't found an egg from either of them since Saturday. I've searched everywhere and can't find them.
Our Barred Rock had been leaving her egg sitting on the floor in their house for a while, now she's back to putting it in the Henloo (an abandoned Dogloo that moved into the chicken yard). Our Leghorn, EE and Seabright had been laying in the nest loft. Now I'm only finding Leghorn eggs. I can't imagine why the EE would have moved her nest, and can't figure out where it would have gone if she did move it. The Seabright never leaves the fenced area, so if she's laying the eggs have to be inside the fence. But she's the one who hangs out on the nest all afternoon/night, so it seems odd that she'd lay her eggs somewhere else then sleep on the Leghorn eggs. Any suggestions other than keeping them all closed up for a day? I'm tempted to put a "you're not leaving your room until you've put your eggs where they belong" policy into effect, but that would just be mean if they're really not laying any. I try to go out when I hear someone "Ba-gawking", but the two times I rushed out this afternoon it was just the Leghorn "Ba-Gawking" around the yard. It sounded exactly like her egg announcement, but she was just walking around in the yard. Silly girl telling stories.
Other than the snow, nothing has changed. They still have their red heat lamp on pretty much all the time. I just can't figure it out. Our day/night time temps have even been pretty "normal". Sunday, after the snow storm, we got up to 51. Monday was a little cooler, only about 40. Tuesday was cold and rainy. Yesterday we got into the mid-50's, and today was in the low-50's.
Our Barred Rock had been leaving her egg sitting on the floor in their house for a while, now she's back to putting it in the Henloo (an abandoned Dogloo that moved into the chicken yard). Our Leghorn, EE and Seabright had been laying in the nest loft. Now I'm only finding Leghorn eggs. I can't imagine why the EE would have moved her nest, and can't figure out where it would have gone if she did move it. The Seabright never leaves the fenced area, so if she's laying the eggs have to be inside the fence. But she's the one who hangs out on the nest all afternoon/night, so it seems odd that she'd lay her eggs somewhere else then sleep on the Leghorn eggs. Any suggestions other than keeping them all closed up for a day? I'm tempted to put a "you're not leaving your room until you've put your eggs where they belong" policy into effect, but that would just be mean if they're really not laying any. I try to go out when I hear someone "Ba-gawking", but the two times I rushed out this afternoon it was just the Leghorn "Ba-Gawking" around the yard. It sounded exactly like her egg announcement, but she was just walking around in the yard. Silly girl telling stories.
Other than the snow, nothing has changed. They still have their red heat lamp on pretty much all the time. I just can't figure it out. Our day/night time temps have even been pretty "normal". Sunday, after the snow storm, we got up to 51. Monday was a little cooler, only about 40. Tuesday was cold and rainy. Yesterday we got into the mid-50's, and today was in the low-50's.