Easter Egger club!

[pipAchick]

When are you trying to get them in at night? Might be trying too early in the evening. Did you 'home' them to the coop first for a few days, before letting them into the run? Maybe they haven't learned that the coop is their safe spot yet. Were they heat lamp brooded? The sudden shift to a night/day cycle can really freak them out if they aren't used to darkness. 

No @mamatink your a good mommy. They act just like happy,bratty(kids) lol lil boogers -moms always the dang bad guy&we ruin all the fun BY putting them up safe&making them GET in coop/bedy-bye.

 

[RingosGarden]

This is Oscar Goldman. She's growing so quickly! Shes probably got the best personality out of all my girls. :]

 

[pipAchick]

This is Oscar Goldman. She's growing so quickly! Shes probably got the best personality out of all my girls. :]

I'd call her a M.poppins decent (chuckle chuckle)~wink~ Always was a chimney sweep fan

 

[mamatink7]

When are you trying to get them in at night? Might be trying too early in the evening. Did you 'home' them to the coop first for a few days, before letting them into the run? Maybe they haven't learned that the coop is their safe spot yet. Were they heat lamp brooded? The sudden shift to a night/day cycle can really freak them out if they aren't used to darkness. 

I take them out in the morning and start getting ready for the night between 630-8. I try for them to be out 12 hrs at this point. They were with heat lamp but I turned that off at 5-6wks. It's been odd since the weather. This is my first flock.
Definitely run introduced first, moving to coop this weekend. We've had some severe family emergencies and extreme weather when husband has been home to work on it. Only need to do 3 things to coop. Thanks for suggestions

 

[mamatink7]

Ee seem to be a little more flighty mine act the same. But at 12 weeks they put themselves in coop, just a little later than i thought they would.

thank you for reassuring me. It's soooo stressful.

 

[mamatink7]

No @mamatink your a good mommy. They act just like happy,bratty(kids) lol lil boogers -moms always the dang bad guy&we ruin all the fun BY putting them up safe&making them GET in coop/bedy-bye.

lol thank you so much for your support. I watched chickens before and if you left the run and coop open, they'd come home by themselves. So this is so much different than that. I love this and have been wanting to do this forever. It just makes me feel that I did something wrong...

 

[junebuggena]

I take them out in the morning and start getting ready for the night between 630-8. I try for them to be out 12 hrs at this point. They were with heat lamp but I turned that off at 5-6wks. It's been odd since the weather. This is my first flock.
Definitely run introduced first, moving to coop this weekend. We've had some severe family emergencies and extreme weather when husband has been home to work on it. Only need to do 3 things to coop. Thanks for suggestions

There's the issue. They are plenty old enough to be out in a coop full time. And you need to teach them that the coop is their 'home', keeping them shut in for a day or two. Till you get the coop completed, you can try using a big dog crate or cardboard box. They will naturally gravitate to the enclosed space in the evening, making it a bit easier for you to wrangle them all. And don't go out to get them until about 8:30.

 

[pipAchick]

@junebug
I would Soooooo give u an ovation but I'm tapped out.
I fold.
Goodnight you beautiful EE backyarders you.

 

[lilmillefleur]

I have 3 EEs!!!
Freedom, Justice and Ember.
I also used to have an Independence and a Liberty (Patriotic names were given before I did my research on the difference between Ameraucanas and Easter eggers Nowadays I love to correct people who call their bearded, feather legged blue eggers 'araucanas' or 'americanas.'

I will try to get pictures of my beautiful EEs.

There is Justice, who I believe has welsummer bloodlines because of her duckwing/partridge coloring, slim body and long, high carried tail, but she doesn't really lay olive eggs. She is really exuberant, curious, and outgoing. But we don't like hand feeding her, because she is so curious and pecks at food so extremely hard, hand feeding her really hurts! And she thinks that human fingers and toes are actually delicious worms! Justice is very pretty however, and a really funny sight to see sprinting across the lawn when she sees we have cupped hands full of dried mealworms.
Then there is Freedom. We bought her along with 11 other chicks. However, we weren't very chicken smart back then, and we got 10 chicks that were 4 weeks old, and ONE d'Uccle chick that was 3 days old. To make things worse, this one bantam chick had a weird, deformed leg. It died. The other 10 thrived. 7 of them turned out to be cockerels, including Freedom's brother Independence. The remaining three were Hickety-Pickety, a BSL, Cotton, a blue/blue birchen cochin, and Freedom, the EE. Freedom is what I think is a gorgeous lavender wheaten. She is friendly and curious, but thankfully does not peck as hard as Justice does. But her butt is gross, so when you feel you need to pat some chicken's fluffy bloomers, Freedom is not an option!
I think Ember is the best layer we've ever had. She lays these HUGE blue green eggs almost daily. I believe she has speckled sussex somewhere in her, because she is a russet-mahogany color, and she a few of these tiny mille fleur speckles on her head. She is new so still rather shy and aloof, but thanks to the mealworms, that is going away. She is turning into one of my favorite chickens, and she has a new nickname: Ostrich!

 

[Shawneegyrl]

Am I bad chick mama?? First girls are 9 wks tomorrow and there are 16 of them. Our EE screech, run and hide any time they have to come in for the night or time for me to check them or even just to play. I have tried everything!!
When I get treat out to give the girls, if the EE come to peck at it, I don't grab them to put them away as trying to win their trust.
Once we have them and they calm down, they'll even fall asleep in my hand or lap. When I'm sitting in the run they will jump on my foot or walk right next to me....it's just the physical act of reaching for them is what the issue seems to be. BUT it's extremely stressful getting them in each night.
For example; I will have string cheese, let chicks peck 3 bites then will put them away (petting, talking to them), no issue with any others.
I get the whole dominant chicks which these girls are NOT and only ones that ever got pecked but should they be still this difficult to come in??

Your chicks are acting normal. Birds are pretty low on the food chain and get nervous when anything comes at them from above. I like to start out handling them in the evening when they are a little sleepy. I take them down from the roost for a few minutes. I have found the "judges hold" to be very beneficial in calming a chicken and it give you a good grip in case she gets excited, you are also less likely to get scratched. Now some of them will walk up to me and allow me to pick them up this way. This is a good video of a 4Her showing her rooster and how she handles him.