First egg, wrong spot and few other questions

[PerkySue]

This thread has great timing! I inherited four hens just about three weeks ago and I have no idea of what I'm doing LOL. (We just moved here and the rental we're living in had the hens) They've been laying eggs in their boxes inside of the hen house until yesterday when they laid two eggs underneath the coop. It turned very hot a couple of weeks ago and i think they are going underneath the hen house due to the heat. I make sure they have plenty of water and during the hottest part of the day i spray the yard down with water and mist them a bit. Anyway, I put golf balls into the nests and removed the eggs from under the hen house. I hate to block it off at least until it's not so hot.

Ideas? I hope this works.

 

[Beckyloo]

Well one of my hens finally figured out were to lay. She gave me 2 eggs in about 30 mins today. It was a great educational experience for my son today. She lay-ed a tiny off white egg and a slightly bigger brown egg. Guess they will go in my meatloaf tonight.

 

[Buff-Island-Australorp]

2 eggs from the same hen within 30 minutes of each other? I'm almost certain you have more than one hen laying eggs. But congratulations!!!

 

[Beckyloo]

wee cooked tonight. I used dish soap very weak to wash eggs, twice in fact. I then scambled them. Then my family fought on who was going to eat it. Finally we all decided to each take a small bite. They tasted strong. The yolks were darker than store eggs. We skiked our self out of eating them. any one else have that problem when you first started eating your eggs? Will it hurt us to eat the egg if it has been fertilized? we have a silkie rooster (was suposed to be a hen) Hope the next round of eggs goes better.

 

[7 Biddies]

wee cooked tonight. I used dish soap very weak to wash eggs, twice in fact. I then scambled them. Then my family fought on who was going to eat it. Finally we all decided to each take a small bite. They tasted strong. The yolks were darker than store eggs. We skiked our self out of eating them. any one else have that problem when you first started eating your eggs? Will it hurt us to eat the egg if it has been fertilized? we have a silkie rooster (was suposed to be a hen) Hope the next round of eggs goes better.

It may just be a psychological thing, eating your own chicken's eggs instead of store bought. Have you ever bought fresh eggs from a local source (farmer/back yard chicken hobbyist)? If so, how did they taste? If not, why don't you try buying some and see if getting them from a carton changes your mental perception? Otherwise, you might just not be used to the stronger, richer flavor of home grown. It's like home grown tomatoes vs grocery store tomatoes. I'm sure you'll get used to it soon and wonder how you ever ate store bought.

 

[wilbilt]

I used some golf balls in the nest boxes when they were getting near laying age. They had no problem figuring out where to lay.

One dropped a shell-less egg one night from the roost, but that has been the only "oops" so far.


We love the richness of our eggs. They are so much better than grocery store eggs, even the "organic" brown ones that cost 2X as much. One of our hens lays small eggs, but they are nearly all yolk. We can tell by the size, shape and color of the eggs which hen laid them.

We should have been doing this 20 years ago. Better late than never.

 

[Beckyloo]

We are finally over the mind games when it comes to eating our eggs. Never would have thought that would happen. Now I wonder if we would really be able to eat a chicken we cleaned ourselves.

I have noticed the pasted couple of days at least one of my girls is laying bad eggs. Since I have 16 chickens that look alike I don't know who is doing it. Yesterday I got a total of 3 eggs. One perfect, one with scratches throughout (almost like they were drawing on it) and one perfect. Day before was two perfect. 3 days ago was one soft one perfect. Any suggestions?
I feed my girls layer pellets which they are starting to throw on the ground lately, Grit with calcium, snacks they get meal worms, and watermelon a few times a week. So far all I am finding out is what they don't like, cabbage, strawberries, carrots. I do believe I have the pickiest pullets out there.

 

[off-grid hen]

Sometimes the eggs already in the nest box get scratched when the next hen goes in and scratches nest material around to get comfortable. As for the soft-shelled egg, they wil lay an occasional soft shell when they are new to laying. You say you have grit with calcium, is it called "oyster shell grit" on the bag? There are two things some people, call grit, one is crushed rocks. The other is crushed oyster shell. The crushed granite doesn't have added calcium- Unless it says so on the bag?

I just throw a golf ball in a few of the nest boxes for dummy eggs. I have two hens trying to hatch golf balls right now.

Good luck!