- Mar 2, 2011
- 16
- 0
- 22
I have a small flock of 5 black sex-links, 2 (straight run) Brahmas (white and black), 3 fawny colored Tetras and the 'baby' Bantam. The seven 'big girls' are five months old now and over the past three days I've found 7 eggs! I also found the shell of an eighth egg...not sure what happened there. We thought the Brahmas would be roosters, but I watched one of them use the nest box to get comfy...later on, there was an egg in there! So maybe I lucked out and got 2 girls.
I don't think my 'babies' are ready to lay yet, they are just shy of 4 months old now and they are significantly smaller than the 'big girls.' The two groups will sometimes gather together, but they generally stay in their own groups. The Bantam, in particular, stays in the safety net provided by the Tetras...I think the Sex-Links pick on her.
My problem is that my chickens are free range...we have a half-acre lot that has a 6' privacy fence around the backyard portion. They have free range to the entire backyard during the day and get corralled at night in their 8x8 coop. However, only the one Brahma has used the nest box! Two other eggs I found in the coop...but two were under the chickens' favorite shade tree, one was near the water faucet for the garden hose (they seem to congregate there!) and another was on my porch in another favorite hiding spot for the sex-links. I don't want to confine them to a run...but I also don't want to do an easter egg hunt every day! Will the wooden egg in the nest box really work?
I realize that I was hurried earlier...but now there are pictures!
This is the first egg I found under the tree on 31 July.
I found these two on the first of August...they were in the coop.
This one is the one in the nest box left by my straight run Brahma...the rest of these were all today!
The speckled one was near the water faucet and the other was under a table on the porch...a great, hard to get hiding place.
This one I found under the shade tree.
This one was cracked.
Found it also under the table on the porch when the chicken moved.
ALSO under the table on the porch! This is also the spot where I found the crushed shell...That might have been the dogs. They go out in the back after the girls have gone to bed.
I don't think my 'babies' are ready to lay yet, they are just shy of 4 months old now and they are significantly smaller than the 'big girls.' The two groups will sometimes gather together, but they generally stay in their own groups. The Bantam, in particular, stays in the safety net provided by the Tetras...I think the Sex-Links pick on her.
My problem is that my chickens are free range...we have a half-acre lot that has a 6' privacy fence around the backyard portion. They have free range to the entire backyard during the day and get corralled at night in their 8x8 coop. However, only the one Brahma has used the nest box! Two other eggs I found in the coop...but two were under the chickens' favorite shade tree, one was near the water faucet for the garden hose (they seem to congregate there!) and another was on my porch in another favorite hiding spot for the sex-links. I don't want to confine them to a run...but I also don't want to do an easter egg hunt every day! Will the wooden egg in the nest box really work?
I realize that I was hurried earlier...but now there are pictures!
This is the first egg I found under the tree on 31 July.
I found these two on the first of August...they were in the coop.
This one is the one in the nest box left by my straight run Brahma...the rest of these were all today!
The speckled one was near the water faucet and the other was under a table on the porch...a great, hard to get hiding place.
This one I found under the shade tree.
This one was cracked.
ALSO under the table on the porch! This is also the spot where I found the crushed shell...That might have been the dogs. They go out in the back after the girls have gone to bed.
Last edited:
