Illinois...

[Molpet]

Egg-citing news. DS's little chicken 'Coge' made her 1st little egg today. (19 weeks old) Crazy little bird kept escaping the back yard & wandering through the garage. I ended up locking her up in a temp coop with some 1-2 month old chicks because I got tired of throwing her back over the fence. We found a tiny egg in there, so it had to be her. It's almost 1" long. So cute!

Millie - her Leghorn hatchmate - shows no signs of starting.

Tillie (last year's Leghorn) started laying in mid Sept & has never missed a day since. Of course she also liked to hop the fence & deposit her eggs in our screened room. Why is it that only DS's birds fly the fence to lay their eggs in strange places?

Congrats on the egg, but too funny on garage chicken. She was getting the bugs though

 

[Faraday40]

Congrats on the egg, but too funny on garage chicken. She was getting the bugs though

Coge is a fun little serama. She loves to be held, so if I squat down to pet a chicken, she comes running from wherever she was to make sure she gets her fair share of loving.....which is all of it. She was supposed to have been sold (We promised DS he could keep a 2nd leghorn) but DS really wanted this little one too. The only problem is that she hangs with all the LF hens. I have a special heated winter coop for DD's useless bantams. DD keeps them in a tractor over the summer to keep them safe from hawks. Hopefully the other bantams will accept her.

 

[Faraday40]

OK. One more problem with Coge. Just now I found her in the screened room looking for a place to lay an egg. Yep. It's always DS's favorites that do it. All the others learn to use the nest boxes by watching the other hens.

I suppose DD's MaiMai is also a bit off her rocker. She's going broody again. I know this because she's been sitting on the food bowl for the past week. Last spring she sat on the feeder for 5 weeks. I finally gave her some chicks & then she decided she no longer wanted to be a mama. I decided not to push & let a more experienced hen take over the brood.

Crazy little useless chickens!

 

[Faraday40]

I'm now convinced that DS's silly serama (Coge) has OCD. She keeps hoping the fence to get our attention. After getting tired of throwing her back into the chicken area, I put her in a mini coop that currently has some older chicks. (I figured it would at least keep her safe & prevent her from wandering all over the place.) That's where she laid her 1st egg. She was harassing the young pullets in the mini coop, so I let her out & the rest of the day was normal.

Same thing kept happening the next day until I contained her inside the mini coop again. 2nd egg was made. Once again, I knew she wanted out when I heard the squawks of the young pullets.

So today I found the silly serama wandering around inside the garage. I decided to try to break this weird habit by locking her up inside the main coop. 2 nest boxes were in use, but 2 were empty. About 10 min later there was such a ruckus. Not only were the birds inside the coop making noise, but the rooster & several other hens outside were also "singing." It was so loud I honestly thought there was a predator nearby. When I opened the coop all 3 females ran out - without leaving a single egg!

Coge made a run for the garage, so I quickly shut the doors. She circled all the way around and was unsuccessful at gaining entry. Then she stopped next to the mini coop & tried to get inside. As soon as I opened the lid to the nest box, she flew up and jumped in. Less than 5 min later, I heard the squawks letting me know that it was time for Coge to leave the mini coop. Sure enough, she made her 3rd egg.


How do I break her of this habit? (She really seems to want me to put her inside the mini coop to lay her egg & then wants out as soon as she's done.)
This is a lot of effort for a tiny, 1 inch egg!

Tillie's egg (DS's Leghorn) & Coge's egg (DS's serama)

 

[Faraday40]

Here's a pic of Coge. Yes, she definitely sees me as her servant. She goes into the garage and waits for me to pick her up. I put her into the little coop so she can have some privacy and lay her egg. She summons me as soon as she's done by making the little ones squawk.

Today's eggs
Orp, serama , & Coge. Coge's eggs are already up to 1.5" long.

 

[Tortoise]

Here's a pic of Coge. Yes, she definitely sees me as her servant. She goes into the garage and waits for me to pick her up. I put her into the little coop so she can have some privacy and lay her egg. She summons me as soon as she's done by making the little ones squawk.
View attachment 1909707 View attachment 1909708
Today's eggs
Orp, serama , & Coge. Coge's eggs are already up to 1.5" long.
View attachment 1909706

Lol, she's got you right where she wants you and by the full body pic, she sure is proud of herself,strutting her stuff lol

 

[BReeder!]

We got a duck egg! It's definitely a duck egg add the ducks have their own run and section enclosed section of the coop. It was laid indoors too, which impressed me for ducks. I fear it may not be the first egg though. I think there at least 1 in the bottom of the pond.

 

[cavemanrich]

Since we are switching gears to eggs, Wanted to throw my 2 cents in
Well actually a QUARTER

I had 2 of the small ones already for a breakfast sandie.
The top egg for size comparison is from my OEGH bantie.
Still pretty large for such a small chicken BTW. I have all hard working girls in the Cave-Coop
Was finding some small eggs in the nest box, and figured they were from the OEGH. The truth is,,,,,,,, my SERAMA from Faraday laid it. Not sure which one,,, the older, or the younger
Now we have to rename them from " The Useless Chickens" to
"Diet size Chickens" Weight-watchers, Nutrisystems, And Jenny Craig, get in touch with me,,,, I will be your supplier.

 

[Tortoise]

@Faraday40 what in the world is wrong with Rachel the lavender? Her head, her head?

I think she's crossed with a bunny lol
She stepped right in the way when I was trying to get a pic of them with the bunny. After the pic, Rachel went after the bunny. Even my dog isnt allowed to chase the bunnies. Rachel is such a brat and obviously the top hen over well behaved and loving Pheobe lol

 

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40 what in the world is wrong with Rachel the lavender? Her head, her head?
View attachment 1911020
I think she's crossed with a bunny lol
She stepped right in the way when I was trying to get a pic of them with the bunny. After the pic, Rachel went after the bunny. Even my dog isnt allowed to chase the bunnies. Rachel is such a brat and obviously the top hen over well behaved and loving Pheobe lol

Funny pic!

I wish mine chased bunnies. Our dogs enjoyed chasing rabbits & squirrels, so they taught our old hen Tyrion to do the same. She's 7 yrs old now, and her squirrel-chasing days are behind her. Our dogs have passed on, so our rabbit population is getting out of control. Of course squirrels are worse. One dug a hole into our chicken tractor last night. I saw it this morning inside the closed, empty tractor.... and eating right out of the hanging feeder.