First egg...and boy was I surprised!

[can you hear me now?]

i have 8 laying boxes and mine seem to all like the same box.

 

[cjeanean]

you may want to offer oyster shell free choice but stick with normal feed. If the one chicken that's laying doesn't get enough calcium it can cause shell-less eggs, and I think it's a good sign that her body can handle oyster shell if she's laying. I could be wrong, maybe more ppl will post, but chickens are pretty good at knowing what to eat and what not to eat. I have 4 ages in my big coop, and only the older girls are eating the oyster shell. I have normal all purpose feed out there (the younger ones need to have the choice of calcium or no calcium) and the bigger ones are the only ones eating the oyster shell. Good luck!!!

 

[Stella1964]

Seems rational to me!

 

[INchickens]

I have 24 chickens....will 10 nest boxes be enough?

Also.... my son's gf wants to bring 5 more chickens to us (her 4-H leftovers)....will that disrupt my flock?

 

[Maryallison77]

Just wanted to say that I am very excited for you! My girls are all right at 2 1/2 months so I still have some time. I can't wait though!

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
10 boxes is more than enough. They'll probably lay in 2-3 of those! I think the ratio is 1 box for every 4 chickens or so.

If you get the chickens, you absolsutely MUST quarantine them for a month. Someone recently had to cull a large portion of her flock due to an introduced pair of chickens.

 

[INchickens]

Will I need to quarantine even if I know where they are coming from, and know that they are healthy birds?

 

[cjeanean]

Quote:
YES!!! You must quarantine!!! Don't let those birds come near your existing flock!! Pretend that they all have horribly infectious and lethal diseases, and any contact whatsoever will kill your flock. This means washing hands, changing clothes, etc to avoid cross contamination. Think long and hard about if you want to go through that trouble, cause all new chickens must be quarantined for a couple months AT LEAST.

 

[cjeanean]

BTW, just because a bird is healthy does not mean they aren't carriers for certain diseases.

 

[SterlingAcres]

Yeah, quarantine for at least a month.