Easter Egger club!

[chick rookie]

Getting very excited, time is going way too slow!!!! Going this weekend to pick up some new chickens and two of them are EE's, they are so beautiful!!
I have wanted EE's for along time. thanks to this sit (BYC ) I found out what they were ( yes I wanted them before I knew what they were lol ) and I found a person that was re-homing them. Now I am sitting on my hands to keep from clapping. I feel like a kid in a candy store with 100.00 to spend.
Couple of day ago I got to see a whole hen house full of Ameraucana's, is it weird to be In-Love with a breed of chicken??? lol oh well I'm weird. So now I am looking into getting a few of those, I say a few cause I'm not finding any that are cheep!! and I'm a cheep kind of person....lol I want a hen house full of them too!!! I got to see the blue and the wheaten and a couple of mix's. LOVE LOVE LOVE them.
Ok I'll shut up now. I'm just so excited I said that already I know.

 

[iwanaplae2]

(I will be posting this in another forum as well in order to get more answers)
HELP!!!
I have 5 girls. 3 EE's (6mo), 1 Red Star (8mo), 1 BR (6mo). We hadn't gotten any eggs from our Red Star (our best layer) for a couple days. No big deal. I just figured she was taking a break. Yesterday I was excited to find one. But was disappointed to see that it had been kicked out of the nesting box, and had a crack. This morning I went out to gather eggs. My EE's had layed in the nesting box. My BR had layed clear across the coop in a corner. And still no Red Star...until something caught my eye...a tiny piece of shell. The only part left of my Red Stars egg
Apparently I have an egg eater! Here's what I'm thinking... The EE's are dominating the nesting box. And kicking out everyone else.
What can I do??? I can't let them keep eating her eggs. She was in the top of the pecking order. But obviously that's changed.
(Oh and I'm pretty sure it's the EE's that are eating it. Because I have found at least two EE's with wet sticky beards. And the haven't had anything wet or sticky to eat)

 

[chick rookie]

(I will be posting this in another forum as well in order to get more answers)
HELP!!!
I have 5 girls. 3 EE's (6mo), 1 Red Star (8mo), 1 BR (6mo). We hadn't gotten any eggs from our Red Star (our best layer) for a couple days. No big deal. I just figured she was taking a break. Yesterday I was excited to find one. But was disappointed to see that it had been kicked out of the nesting box, and had a crack. This morning I went out to gather eggs. My EE's had layed in the nesting box. My BR had layed clear across the coop in a corner. And still no Red Star...until something caught my eye...a tiny piece of shell. The only part left of my Red Stars egg

Apparently I have an egg eater! Here's what I'm thinking... The EE's are dominating the nesting box. And kicking out everyone else.
What can I do??? I can't let them keep eating her eggs. She was in the top of the pecking order. But obviously that's changed.
(Oh and I'm pretty sure it's the EE's that are eating it. Because I have found at least two EE's with wet sticky beards. And the haven't had anything wet or sticky to eat)

how many boxes do u have? maybe the EE's don't want to share a box? just a thought.

 

[Candy442]

(I will be posting this in another forum as well in order to get more answers)
HELP!!!
I have 5 girls. 3 EE's (6mo), 1 Red Star (8mo), 1 BR (6mo). We hadn't gotten any eggs from our Red Star (our best layer) for a couple days. No big deal. I just figured she was taking a break. Yesterday I was excited to find one. But was disappointed to see that it had been kicked out of the nesting box, and had a crack. This morning I went out to gather eggs. My EE's had layed in the nesting box. My BR had layed clear across the coop in a corner. And still no Red Star...until something caught my eye...a tiny piece of shell. The only part left of my Red Stars egg

Apparently I have an egg eater! Here's what I'm thinking... The EE's are dominating the nesting box. And kicking out everyone else.
What can I do??? I can't let them keep eating her eggs. She was in the top of the pecking order. But obviously that's changed.
(Oh and I'm pretty sure it's the EE's that are eating it. Because I have found at least two EE's with wet sticky beards. And the haven't had anything wet or sticky to eat)

we periodically switch nest box placement (we have two nice sized boxes, one old covered kitty litter box and the other is a broken pet carrier)to stop the hoarding of one. They all started with the kitty litter box and ignored the carrier box until we put the plastic top back on the pet carrier. Now they ALL want to lay in the pet carrier! With 8 laying pullets trying to use one box, with sometimes two in at once, someones egg is bound to get cracked or broken being stepped on. Of course, chickens love the taste of eggs so they will eat them. I hope you can stop them from doing that now they have learned!

An egg being pushed out seems to be another concern though, so I would add another nest box just to give a selection to them even though they say one nest box per 4-5 chickens.

We are going to add a third one to stop the hoarding of one box. Seems they all go where my "reds" lay too! I have two EE's three Reds, and six other breed pullets. The chantecler I have is HUGE, she most likely is the one who would crack an egg stepping on it or hers dropping out onto another egg will definitely crack any in there already.

 

[iwanaplae2]

how many boxes do u have? maybe the EE's don't want to share a box?  just a thought. 

We have two built in boxes for five girls. And while the do alternate sides from time to time, they all (usually) insist on laying in one side.

 

[iwanaplae2]

we periodically switch nest box placement (we have two nice sized boxes, one old covered kitty litter box and the other is a broken pet carrier)to stop the hoarding of one. They all started with the kitty litter box and ignored the carrier box until we put the plastic top back on the pet carrier. Now they ALL want to lay in the pet carrier!  With 8 laying pullets trying to use one box, with sometimes two in at once, someones egg is bound to get cracked or broken being stepped on.  Of course, chickens love the taste of eggs so they will eat them. I hope you can stop them from doing that now they have learned!

An egg being pushed out seems to be another concern though, so I would add another nest box just to give a selection to them even though they say one nest box per 4-5 chickens. 

We are going to add a third one to stop the hoarding of one box.  Seems they all go where my "reds" lay too!  I have two EE's three Reds, and six other breed pullets.  The chantecler I have is HUGE, she most likely is the one who would crack an egg stepping on it or hers dropping out onto another egg will definitely crack any in there already.

It could be that even though in our mind there are two nests, to the girls it probably seems as one because there isn't a high enough partition between them. I wonder if simply adding a curtain or something will make a difference...

 

[chick rookie]

We have two built in boxes for five girls. And while the do alternate sides from time to time, they all (usually) insist on laying in one side.

I would really try adding another box. maybe divide the boxes you have, they look big enough. My hens don't like all that space when they lay, but that's IMO. don't know how to break them from eating the eggs once they have started... bad deal there. Sorry I cant be of more help. but all kinds of people here that can. good luck.

 

[Candy442]

It could be that even though in our mind there are two nests, to the girls it probably seems as one because there isn't a high enough partition between them. I wonder if simply adding a curtain or something will make a difference...

That could work. a curtain or maybe just a higher board?

DH and I are going to take both ours out and replace with milk type plastic cartons *three of them side by side*, put in some straw and put in a face board with holes they can jump into each box through. It will lift with hinges upwards for cleaning if needed (we only have inside coop collection ability for the time being).

It is too much for them all to cram in the pet carrier...one time one of my girls was loudly squawking to get in there when there was two squashed in there already. I could not believe the ruckus! It is amazing how many chickens can fit in a cat carrier when they put their minds to it...LOL. and here was a perfectly nice cat litter box they USED to love to lay in all empty...go figure?

 

[ChicknsRock]

Hello! I wanna join this EE club! here is Sylvia, my Easter Egger.

I adopted Sylvia when she was wandering around the neighborhood. She is the sweetest little hen ever! I read where EEs like to roost in tress, and that's exactly what she does at night.

 

[chick rookie]

Hello! I wanna join this EE club! here is Sylvia, my Easter Egger.

I adopted Sylvia when she was wandering around the neighborhood. She is the sweetest little hen ever! I read where EEs like to roost in tress, and that's exactly what she does at night.

Beautiful and welcome, My old EE passed but I am getting more this weekend, will post pic's although some on here has probably already seen them as the were a BYC member's before mine. but I love showing off my kids so I will post them anyway... lol