finally found a nest!

[fzouk]

I have free range silver spangled hamburgs and finally today found a nest with 6 eggs in it! They have probably been laying for a long time but I only found the nest today. Yay! I did the water test and they were all laying flat on the bottom of the bowl so I guess they're still fresh! I marked one with a marker and left it in the nest like a friend told me to do. Do you all have any suggestions for keeping them laying there and not moving now that it's been discovered?

They're so cute and tiny! I heard Hamburg eggs were small but these little guys are miniature- adorable! I'll post a picture. It's hard to tell the scale but they are little tiny!

Frances-

 

[fldiver97]

Congrats on the eggs!! If you are fine with the spot they lay their eggs in you can try to put a couple of wooden or ceramic eggs or golfballs in to entice them to lay there. But the other chickens may not lay there if they can roam - you may find other nest(s). They may all use the same nest.....It varies. Most people on the board seem to prefer to have their chickens lay in the nestboxes (in the coop/barn, etc. ) and will have nestboxes ready and sometimes do the fake egg thing too until te chickens lay there eggs there. Sometimes they will not let the chickens roam until later in the morning for a little while to make sure they have the nestbox thig 'memorized' Often chickens will use show a preference even with several other available nestboxes......

Also, often the eggs are small when the chickens start laying, they become larger after a while....

 

[PunkinPeep]

you can also blow out a real egg shell. i liked that method because i was nervous about the possibility of a rotten egg eventually breaking and making a mess.....

 

[TipsyDog]

Beautiful eggs! I have SSH that are 19 weeks old now and I'm waiting for eggs. How old are yours?

 

[fzouk]

Good ideas about what else to lay in there so there's not a rotten egg in the nest laying around waiting to be broken. A blown out egg seems so fragile- the hens' weight won't break it more than a normal (filled up) egg? Huh! Interesting! I have 2 nest boxes with 2 compartments each but they aren't laying in them. It's a safe place though so I'm happy.

Tipsydog- mine were born at the end of march so that makes them 6 months old now. Wow time has flown!! In fact it was the 23rd of March so they're 6 months and 2 days old now. How many SSHs do you have? I've been trying to find others that have more than one or two of these chickens since I've had some special issues with them. They are guineas that are dressed up as chickens, basically! I have 14, all SSHs. It started off really frustrating because they don't do anything "normal" chickens do but now we've all gotten used to each other and I wouldn't change a thing. Plus they're BEAUTIFUL!!!

Thanks about the eggs- we ate some for dinner and they were wonderful!!!!!!!!

Frances