First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[duluthralphie]

I really do not think my babies have started laying eggs yet. I think some of it could be do to my latitude, the short days and the colder weather.

I have no lights on the babies.

All my birds except the Chubbies and two turkens ( a Delaware and a Barred rock) are the same age. The turkens are about a month older. I have been getting this white egg 2 out of 3 days for a month now. It is no smaller than my other EE eggs are. If I recall it weight 1.70 oz. ( yea, I am so anal I weighed my eggs)

Why do you have your lights coming on in the evening? I have heard lights should be used in the morning and not night. If the lights go suddenly dark it scares the chickens or does something to their egg laying. Kind of shocks them. I have my lights coming on at 4 am that way they get the light but nobody gets caught off the roost. Just wondering? ( yeah, My Grandma told me this about 55 years ago.)

I have 30 or is it 33 hens, today I got 26 eggs.

 

[JessicaThistle]

I said why I have lights coming on in the evening. I don't want them all up at 4 am bagawking and complaining because the coop is 20 ft from my bedroom window.

The reasons I read was what if they aren't on the roost when the light goes out? or it may cause them to lay eggs later in the day.

I do go out and shut off the light in the grow up pen that the babies are in a few minutes before the timer clicks off. They all seem very good at learning the drill. They are generally all up on the roost when the light goes out. If they aren't, they get up there darn quick. My yard is not pitch black as the neighbors have a street-light style light pole in the backyard. They and we pay extra and have the only street light on the block and the light in the back pastures. We have a motion light that the darn wind sets off and I also have a very dim solar light strand in the henhouse. I am pretty sure they all see fine because I always check on them and they are fine.

I have no problem with them laying eggs later in the day. My girls always have anyway. Besides, being that it takes like 26 hours for the egg to come down anyway, they will eventually rotate to morning again. I don't collect eggs in the morning, so no skin off my nose.

I do check on them and they all seem fine with the exception of the normal, "i want to roost here, no I want to roost there" childish stuff. It only lasts a few minutes.

Do I think what I do would work for everyone? No way. If I had a pitch black pasture where the coop is far from any light. I quite possibly wold re-examine my plan. I think we all have to find what works for us. If you have quiet chickens and/or no roosters, or your house is far from the coop, turning the light on in the early morning makes complete sense. It just doesn't for us.

I think alot of times with many things we are taught to do something one way and that just becomes "the way" whether or not it is the only way. Just like many old wives tales. I'm not saying that I am right and anyone else is wrong. I am just sharing what I do because it works for me and my schedule.

 

[duluthralphie]

That makes sense.

My coop is a long ways from my bedroom, so they can make as much noise as they want in the morning. Because my guineas roost in the same coop the racket is over whelming. I can hear the guineas as soon as I step out the door.

I do have the attached covered/secured run on the coop the birds can go into it anytime they want. I have to collect eggs around 9-10 am and again at 4 pm otherwise the eggs freeze. As it is I lose some.

My coop is in a very dark area, so is my house. I am anti-light. I like the dark. There is a security light about 1/4 mile away I can see, I fantasize shooting it out.....

I have thought about getting motion detector lights to ward off night predators and if they become a problem I will.

I think a lot of the stuff people says has to be is hogwash. I do not raise my chickens the same way everyone else does, but it works for me. If we did like everyone else we would not have adult chubbies wandering about.

 

[JessicaThistle]

I am also anti-light and one of these days I am going to shoot out the stupid motion light with my 38. I consider shooting out my daughter's night light as well since that bothers me but I'm afraid that I would cause her sleeping problems for life.

After your description of guineas, I would totally want to shoot them too! So I won't have any of them.

So, 4 of my rescue babies are roosters. They are 14 weeks old now and none of them are crowing yet. They are all beautiful sweet boys. I think they are all mutt-variety. One is a total EE with the cheek muffs and all. He is mostly red. Two are a gold laced mix and one the final is a Black Copper Maran, I think. The EE and one of the gold laced mixes are hen chasers. One of the gold laced is obviously the head roo and behaves the best. His hackles go up the farthest when anyone misbehaves. He is gorgeous!! I think he is developing a rose comb.

I took a bunch of pics with my new camera. I do need to put them up for you all to take a look at.

 

[mountain mom]

The feathers. Oh the molt feathers.
We have about 3/4 of an acre fenced in as our "back yard". There are feathers everywhere. It seriously looks like a pillow fight gone awry.
I really didn't expect a molt this winter. All our girls are under a year. In fact, when Jumper started molting, I was looking for mites! Then it dawned on me.

Jessica- We had quite a few feathers around, nobody looked especially ragged. Not until the neck feathers. Once those fall out and the new ones are coming in, they look pretty scraggly. One of our hens comb got very pale.
I don't know if there is an "age" guideline for molting. Obviously they lose their downy, then have a juvenile molt, then they are supposed to molt in the fall.
Maybe your rescue chicks are going through a juvenile molt? When ours did, nobody looked bad, there were just feathers all over. Fingers crossed your girls don't molt this winter! Maybe you caught the lighting soon enough that it stopped the molt trigger. What is a "molt trigger", you may ask. I have no clue. But I do think the shorter days make it happen.

Morrigan- I have been hoarding eggs too! "What's for breakfast?" "Cereal."

So I did some research this morning. Turns out most chickens molt around 16-18 months old. Decreased daylight, stress, starvation, etc. can all induce a molt. There are hard and soft molts. Hard molts are crazy, your chicken goes bald. Soft molts are much less drastic. Molting can take up to 3 months from start to finish.

 

[JessicaThistle]

No one here is molting yet. I was curious to know if they generally molt the first year or the second year. The meat chickens molt alot but I think that's because they are developing so quickly.

Sunny laid her second egg today and it was huge!! The first egg was about 1/3 the size of this one. I can't even put it into the egg carton because it won't close right. It was also almost a light pink this time. Apparently the light tan with the white speckles meant she was still working things up. What a special gift. I'm sure it's a double yolker!

 

[Morrigan]

I think that most chickens don't do a full molt until they are about a year and a half old. For my first chickens, I noticed nothing until this fall when they were 1 1/2 years old. I was really shocked when my BO/Ameracuna mix molted at 8 months. I think she was just old enough, when coupled with all the molting going on around her, to trigger it.

If you are not seeing feathers around the coop, I think you are safe from molting chickens until the fall of next year.

ETA: You must tell us Jessica if it is a double-yolker!

 

[holm25]

Good news our missing turkey hen came back after about a week of being gone this is what I saw when I went to do evening chores!!!!

And heres the cat......

 

[duluthralphie]

Good news our missing turkey hen came back after about a week of being gone this is what I saw when I went to do evening chores!!!!


And heres the cat......

That is great news!

It is a really nice looking turkey. I like the patterns on it. Mine seem so dull when I look at yours.

It is amazing what weird pairings animals do for friends. My brother was here recently and he told me he could not believe my hunting dogs just walk amongst the chickens and never bother them. They are not as friendly as your pair, but at least I do not have to worry about one eating the other.


And just so everyone knows. my chubbies are still,,,,err,,,,,a,,, trying to think of a word here that will not get me my next infraction......they are still,,,,,,,hmmmm upset with me....

 

[holm25]

Ralph your turkeys are pretty to I love blue slates this is our hen.