First Egg - New Member!!

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jpmebunn

jpmebunn

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Joined
Jul 23, 2015
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Location
Southern Maryland
Hi All,

My name is Joe. My wife, Michelle and I have 3 children, 1 dog and 6 chickens. We are new members as of today.
We have been using this site since November of last year, when we first decided we wanted to raise chickens and I have to say what a blessing it has been. The info on this site has been so helpful for novices such as ourselves. I spent a few weekends in the early spring building a coop. It was a really fun project. I still continue to make adjustments or alterations.

We have (2) Barred Plymouth Rocks (Emilia & Eloise), (2) Rhode Island Reds (Penny & Pippy), (1) Buffed Orpington (Junie) and (1) Silver Laced Wyandotte (Ramona). Our kids named them after their favorite children's book characters.


We got our first egg today, from Emilia
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, so I had to join to spread the news. The egg is small (shown next to a store bought), but from what I've read, they'll get bigger over time.

Anyway, just wanted to introduce ourselves and say hello.



 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Congratulations on that first egg! :ya You have an adorable flock!
 
Thank you. They seem healthy and happy. I let them free range throughout the day. But now that they are starting to lay, I'm not sure I should. I don;t want them laying in the woods or anyplace other than the coop.Thoughts?
 
If they start hiding nests, locking them up in the coop for a couple of days periodically so they get used to laying in the nests again helps, or keeping them up until the after noon after they have laid. Do try and make sure the nests in the coop are attractive to chickens, dark, big enough etc. But, with free range birds, if they have access to a lot of places outside that they would consider a good place to hide eggs, you usually wind up with hidden nests being an ongoing problem... mine free range and I gave up trying to make them all lay in the coops. Some breeds are a lot worse than others. I wound up putting "fake" hidden nests outside for them with a fake egg or two and just collecting eggs out of them like normal every day (old dog houses, buckets, barrels etc) it seems to keep the stubborn girls that want to hide eggs happy and I still get the eggs and don't wind up with a bunch of surprise mixed chicks.
Predators tend to be the bigger problem with free-ranging.
 
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They have been free ranging for about 2 months. I have not had any predator problems yet, knock on wood. I think my 125 lb. Chesapeake Bay Retriever (size and scent) keeps most predators away. Not sure though. I usually let the girls out around 7:00 am., but I think I will do as you suggest and keep them in their coop and run area until later in the day. Thanks for the advice.
 
Welcome to Backyard chickens. Congratulations on the first egg. I think she put a lot of effort into it, nice coloring too - definitely worth crowing about.
 

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