First Egg Countdown

[belljmr]

They are just shy of 9 months. So no heat lamp at night is needed then? What would I do with an electric tea kettle ? we have the electric water heater in the coop for now because they wouldnt go out all day. Ignorance on me.

 

[Happy Chooks]

They are just shy of 9 months. So no heat lamp at night is needed then? What would I do with an electric tea kettle ? we have the electric water heater in the coop for now because they wouldnt go out all day. Ignorance on me.

They should be fine then.

Some of my waterers are outside and freeze solid. I use the electric tea kettle to pour hot water in them to defrost them. Plus it gives the birds a warm drink in the frozen mornings.

 

[belljmr]

That sounds nice. I appreciate the words of all as usual. Thanks.

 

[1TurkenLover]

Egg-citing Surprise, our first eggs in months.( we started raising chicken this Summer from 3 week old chicks )
It was a shock as I knew that our chickens weren't laying, we have 6 and 4 are old enough and did when we first got them, then nothing it has been a few months !
our Cochins were rescued 2 weeks ago. and I thought laid the egg.

Found another egg same marks. so now I have no idea who's doing it.. I checked them for egg butt both Cochins look unused then I sprayed there bottoms again last night not the other hens, this afternoon I found egg with faded purple stripes. Only one making EGG Song was Reba our NN Mix, well that and the Rooster LoL maybe he was bragging.

Newest Egg.


1st Egg 2 days ago


All our hens can lay brown eggs. as I checked bottoms tonight only 2 look like they could have laid eggs lately.







Two others might be Old hens and were Pale and dry,
the last 2 are the cochins and too young I think.

 

[Utard]

They are just shy of 9 months. So no heat lamp at night is needed then?

Mine are 6 months and it has been down to 5 to 7 degrees for the last 4-5 nights. I do not have any type of heater or heat lamp in the coop. And they are still all alive so I guess that means they are ok?

But it is good to have a light that comes on a little before sunrise and goes off after sunset. They need something like 13-14 hours of light per day to keep up the daily laying.

 

[Whoops]

I am bribing mine with warm mash. Please lay eggs. Please lay eggs.

 

[Larrickchick]

Another first for me today, got my first white egg today so someone new is laying. I think its my silver leghorn. Today is my best day so far. I have gathered 6 from the.coop

 

[1TurkenLover]

We changed Feed from Layena Crumbles to Flock Raiser Crumbles to Over Winter them, also added layer vitamins to water. started getting eggs a few days ago.

Our waterers -- ? froze solid in about 2hrs ( wind chill ) I know this because I kept looking @ them NEVER realized the glare was Ice.
Now I swap em out and bring in the Ice ones to defrost. I let the LF eat and drink as long as Possible then sprinkle food in floor of coop to keep them busy in AM till we let em out.
It Makes for a calmer morning. We use AP sand in Bottom of Coop.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Congrats to all of you getting first eggs!

My chickens aren't too happy right now. We got this storm Friday night. This morning it was 19 degrees.

 

[LadyCluck77]

I have an odd question, is it possible for hens to draw blood on each other over nest box space? I have seven layers who all seem to use the same box ( there are 2 identical boxes, but all of them want the left one), but yesterday, it was splattered all over with blood. There seems to be no direct culprit, everyone has a few peck marks on their combs and faces. I checked all the vents, but nothing looks severed. A bit of coop watching today revealed that the EE, who was the last to try to lay, went into the nest box and all the RSL ran in and started picking on her. She ran away, and went into a frenzy about where to lay her egg. So I shut her in the baby coop to give her a peaceful place to lay, and I'll wait about 45 minutes and then let her out.
She only recently started laying, so I'm wondering if that has something to do with it. She's also the lowest in the pecking order. Should I ask DH to build another box, or Is this something I should just let them work out for themselves?