HELP FOR THE NEWBIES

[Aussie Lady]

Hi Everyone

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Easter Season. I was just on one of the Aussie threads and a fellow Aussie who is new to BYC and also lives in Queensland put out a very interesting question for anyone who could answer it. They stated that their egg production was dropping and did this have to do with the fall of daylight and is anyone experiencing this or is it just their chickens.

Well I'm certainly no expert but I did give this answer:

I don't have any chickens that are laying yet so I can't give you my personal experience. I live in Brisbane so we have the same daylight hours. The breeder that I brought my chickens did state that they keep the caged chickens under artificial light 24/7 so they do not stop producing. Some of the chickens that he buys from another breeder also are under artificial light approx 16 hrs a day so that they will grow faster. He also stated that because of this the "point of lay" chickens need adjusting to normal daytime hours so instead of laying eggs within 2 weeks, it takes 4 weeks for your first eggs to appear. So I think your're on to something here.

Hope this helps and may answer your question - it could be something else with your chickens, unless they are going to go on a moult or maybe cold weather just slows them down because they need more energy to stay warm in cooler weather.


I don't know if I'm on the right track however has this happened to any of you? Do any of you have the answer? I just thought because this is a thread for the "Newbies" I'd make mention of it here.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Aussie Lady]

G'day to all

I had a very funny incident today. I was looking at my mealworm farm and low and behold they were all wriggling around in the box so I decided to share some with the girls. I thought, lets see if my Australorps like mealworms. So I put a few in my hand and tried to coax them to grab them. 2 of them were off on the other side of the garden, and two were near me. They looked to see what I had in my hand, one of them came near but not near enough to take it out of my hand. So I through one in her direction and she gobbled it down. The other one was watching and decided to take a closer look and came closer and closer - I just talked to her and encouraged her to come (I might regret this yet) and reached out my hands with the worms and yes she took it. She came back again and again - this was exciting she actually trusted me. After that she followed me around everywhere to see if I had some more worms, she even jumped up at my hand in case there was something there. Now I have a chicken like a long lost puppy, she wouldn't leave my side. I don't know yet if this is a good thing or not. I hope the others catch on as I do want them to get the goodness that a mealworm provides. My pet silkie was not interested at all, she actually ran away from me - silly chook. Anyway, I just wanted to share this.

 

[tweetysvoice]

That is so funny! It's actually going to be a good thing to get them to do that. There may be an instance where you will need to herd them into a carrying container, into the coop, into protection - or something of the sort - and if they will follow where the worms are then you have an easy way to get it done!

 

[Aussie Lady]

I've just come in from the back yard. Boy those chickens sure crack me up. Now all 4 come to my hand, it's a battle to see which ones will get the most worms. They even chase after my dog Oli to keep him away - as if he eats worms, oh well he eats their seed and **** so why not worms!!! They like my toes as they kept pecking at them like it was a giant worm when I ran out of mealworms for them to eat. One of the cheeky ones jumped onto my table as I was trying to put away the mealworm box and thought just maybe I can get some more. Then they tried to follow me into the house, and if I wasn't quick enough they would have been in the house. Amazing what mealworms can and will do, it certainly changed the characters of these chickens. They seem to trust me now however I have noticed that I have to move slowly with slow arm movements as to not to startled them with sudden movements. I don't care what anyone says, chickens do have characters and each different. One is more shy than the others. I thought about names and because they are all black, I may call them after our famous Aussie spreads like Vegemite, Marmite, Promite and I may have to stick in an old English one that's been around for some time i.e. Bovril.

PS My silkie is a strange chicken - she won't come near me unless I catch her. So I did and put a mealworm right in front of her, she pecked at it once but was not interested in the least - so I'm giving up trying with her - she just doesn't want them - maybe it's the breed

 

[tweetysvoice]

that's great about the chickies and their love for you when you have worms! LOL I've actually heard the opposite about silkies. Maybe she just needs some one on one time with mommy hehe I have 3 new baby silkies that I got two days ago

 

[Aussie Lady]

Hi Everyone

It's been a busy time. My Australorps are going well and they absolutely LOVE the mealworms, can't get enough of them. I've had them now for 5 weeks, they are at point of lay however they still haven't laid an egg.
Does anyone know how long it takes for chickens at point of lay to eventually lay an egg?

This seems to be taking a long time and they are well settled now and use to me. They come up and see if I have anything for them.

Any suggestions would help

Thanks

 

[tweetysvoice]

Glad to hear that everything is going well. I have no idea about the time frame of point of lay, as my girls are just now 12 weeks old.

 

[Aussie Lady]

Hi Everyone,

Two of my Australorps have now started laying, fancy that in Winter. My first 2 ever eggs.

Today I received 2 more which makes a total of 10 eggs now and they are a little bit bigger than the first 2. They seem to be getting bigger now as they continue to lay. The picture below are the first 2 and they weighed 51 & 52 grams the latest ones weigh 55 grams. How exciting - I have also noticed that the membrane is quite thick and strong - I hope this is a good thing.

Cheers

Chrissy

 

[Imp]

Congrats on the eggs.

Imp

 

[Nikitaa]

Loving this thread! Im from England, no sunny weather for me Im new to chickens too, I got mine just over a week ago. 5 are 9 weeks, one is POL, one has apparently laid a few times and the other two are just over a year. Seems all the stress of moving them has caused them to shut up shop as nobody is laying.

Maybe you, or somebody else reading this can tell me if my hen is being bullied, could that stop her from laying?