Egg laying

[Cake-decorator]

Hi, I'm new here. I want to share that I have 23 hens and 2 roosters. They are 17 weeks old. 1 of my hens starting laying eggs. She has laid 4 eggs since the 16th. But they are small compare to the average eggs. Is this normal? We left them in her nest. They are cute, but I was wondering how long do we leave them in their if they're not fertile?

Plus we have a fiesty rooster going after the hens. Is this normal behavior?

Thank you for all advice.

, Lupe

 

[gritsar]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Yes, the eggs are small to start with and get larger as the hen matures. As I just recently learned, take the eggs immediately. It's important to collect the eggs regularly, twice a day. The reason being if the hen that laid them or another breaks an egg, they will be tempted to eat it and the last thing you want is a egg eating hen.
Yes, your rooster going after the hens is normal. If he succeeds, the eggs will be fertile of course and their mating is surprisingly fast, 5 seconds.
P.S. Now is the time to switch to layer feed and offer oyster shell free choice.

 

[Cake-decorator]

Hi, and thank you for my welcome. Okay, so I don't leave the eggs there, I only left them there , because I didn't know we could eat them. But we are watching for egg eating . Can we eat these small eggs or just toss them? Thanks

 

[needmorechickens!]

I didn't eat my first one, but most people do. they are good eggs. I don't know how long you can leave them in the coop and then still eat them though. collect them every day and put them in the fridge!

Enjoy!

~Rebecca

 

[RoyalHillsLLC]

They are good for quite a while if you haven't washed them or anythin else to remove the coating left by the hen on the eggs. I would feel safe eating them a couple weeks after laying as long as they weren't in direct sun. That said, there is no reason to take that chance unless you are on vacation or something.
I think in parts of Europe they don't refrigerate for weeks at a time.

 

[PotterWatch]

We just got our second little pullet egg about 20mins ago. Very tasty!

 

[Cake-decorator]

Hi, on my last post I ment to say, that I didn't know if we could eat the small laid eggs. I reread what I posted and I don't want you guys to think that I don't know that we are suppose to eat our fresh laid eggs. We do eat fresh eggs from our friends chickens. I LOL.

Okay so I gather not all the hens will lay eggs every day then? So I only need about 4 to 5 nests for 23 hens.

Also do the Roosters get to all the hens eventually. I noticed that 1 of my hens is being neglected. She lowers herself for the rooster, but he just looks her over. Do roosters have favorite hens?

Is it possible that a different hen will lay where other eggs have been laid?

Thank you, Lupe

 

[barney]

Yes, My chickens lay in only 3 out of 7. boxes. Sometimes this creates a problem because a few eggs might get cracked. Once a few are laid, my silkie runs and hops in the box and stays there until we come and get the eggs. Then the other hens will use another box. Then, another silkie will get in that box after there' a few eggs in that box. It's find of funny. In the spring, we are going to getsome fertilized eggs from our neighbor and let the 2 silies sit on them and hatch. That's all they been doing anyway...sitting and sitting.

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[Opa]

I'm glad you found this forum. I have found it to be both informative and entertaining. Welcome to our world.

[/img] Roosters definitely have favorites and sometimes their holding of the hens while breeding will completely denude a hens lower back. With some you might have to get chicken saddles. These saddles are to protect the hen's back from further damage. I keep roosters separate and when I want fertile eggs I put a rooster with several hens in a different enclosure. Doing that keeps my birds looking much better than having a bunch of rooster worn hens. Also hens do share a nest. It's recommended that you provide 1 nest per 4 hens, but even when you do that they still might leave some nests unused.

 

[gritsar]

Hey again! I just wanted to mention I didn't eat my first egg for a couple of reasons. #1. Cuz it was just too cute, so we blew it out so I could keep the shell. #2. Because my girls surprised me by laying earlier than expected and they were still on medicated starter/grower feed. I didn't want to ingest the medication, however minimal it might be. If yours are already on layer feed then eating the eggs is fine.