Hi From Nevada!

Date sort Score sort
NVAnn

NVAnn

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jul 10, 2013
10
0
24
I just moved to a small acerage in Northern Nevada. I bought four Lakenvelder hens; they are a little over a year old. I typically get three eggs a day. For the last two days, I've only gotten two eggs. Early this afternoon, I went out to take them some veggie scraps from my lunch and found one hen in a nest box looking somewhat distressed and panting. I didn't want to upset her, so I left her alone and went to do some errands. I came back and hour or two later and she was in the exact same position. An hour later, I noticed all four hens were outside, so I went to check the nest. Two eggs. One smaller than the other, but both well formed and hard shells.

I am really enjoying having them. So far, I have kept them in their yard, but plan to let them have some field trips around the property and eventually free range them in our almost two acre pasture, with our sheep.

Looking forward to learning more!
Ann in Nevada
 
Greetings from Kansas, NVAnn, and
welcome-byc.gif
! Happy you joined our community! You chicken might have had trouble passing that egg since she was okay later in the day. Initially I was thinking heat distress - is norther NV a hot place?
 
It is quite hot here, I think we hit 95F today, although the last couple of weeks were much hotter. I was wondering if she could have laid two in one day. I googled that and found a thread here on BYC about that very thing. At first it sounded like that, while rare, happened more in young hens, and this one is over a year old. But, deeper in the comments, it sounds like it does happen. Poor thing! I have noticed that since I took them over and they are getting lots of snacks, in addition to their regular crumble, the eggs are getting bigger. And, these gals aren't used to laying very big eggs.

After I found the two eggs in her nest, she was out with the other hens and seems like her normal self.

Thanks!
Ann
 
welcome-byc.gif
95 degrees may not seem high to some of our members from Phoenix where they have had 115 degrees or more. Just the same it is HOT and birds are wearing a coat of feathers. You could make them more comfortable with a water mister, a fan in the coop (safely attached and protected from chickens, and lots of shade - real or manufacturered with shade cloth etc. Put ice in their water often and wet down an area of ground so they can dig in and feel cooler. It's not unusual to loose birds from heat & sun.
 
:welcome and good luck with your poultry adventure! :frow Just having a fan in the coop to keep the air moving seems to help a lot with heat, if that was the issue.
 
Thanks! I'm still trying to figure out if I have electricity out there or if I need to add a solar panel or extension cord. Torrid, I think I will put up a sum shade panel to give them extra shade in the hottest part of the afternoon. They do have a good amount of shade, but a little more can't hurt.

I do think she had to lay two eggs today and that was tough in her.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom