Illinois...

[megpie021]

Hubby went to do chicken chores and found this tiny little egg. One of ee girls lays monster eggs. Question is did the australorp or lavender orp start laying or is one the older girls like my buff orp doing something funny in their old age.

 

[cavemanrich]

Hubby went to do chicken chores and found this tiny little egg. One of ee girls lays monster eggs. Question is did the australorp or lavender orp start laying or is one the older girls like my buff orp doing something funny in their old age.

I vote for "new chicken" that started and just not fully in egg laying gear. .. When you crack it open, it may be yolk-less, or have a funny shaped yolk as well.
I think it is regular small egg.
If it is yolk-less, those are called Fairy Eggs or Fat eggs. (it is the proper term, but funny). Your egg looks somewhat larger, so I still think it is just a small beginner egg.

 

[megpie021]

I vote for "new chicken" that started and just not fully in egg laying gear. .. When you crack it open, it may be yolk-less, or have a funny shaped yolk as well.
I think it is regular small egg.
If it is yolk-less, those are called Fairy Eggs or Fat eggs. (it is the proper term, but funny). Your egg looks somewhat larger, so I still think it is just a small beginner egg.

That Easter egger lays eggs that don’t really fit in the cartons. Compared to a more normal egg, the little one is small but not as tiny it has to be either the lavender orp or the australorp then. The others should al lay colorful eggs.

We decided to skip the garden again for this year and focus on getting the deck replaced and fixing up other parts of the yard so I’m jealous reading about everyone planting!

 

[BReeder!]

We decided to skip the garden again for this year

No! Do the garden. Just dig up a patch and drop some seeds. Sneak it in there when the other half is at work or something and then they just have to deal with it.

In serious thought, if you want a garden next year it might be a good idea to just plant something nitrifying like a bunch of peas. Also, some things are perennials that would benefit from a year without harvest like strawberries or asparagus. You might consider throwing together beds of perennial plants and then just forget about them until next year.

 

[BReeder!]

The weather right now is disappointing. Two days of 80+ over the weekend and now 50s and 60s all week. I guess it's better than 20s... I wish it would just stay in the 70s and 80s. have to wait until next month I guess.

Speaking of gardening, my first row of potatoes is coming up. The peppers, zucchini and tomatoes are all transplanted. The radishes are all up. Lettuce and carrots are coming up. Cucumbers and sunflowers need to get transplanted outside. I'm eagerly waiting for marigold flowers - the plants are growing nicely and got transplanted outside Sunday. My new strawberry bed is growing leaves everywhere. Onions and corn are coming up through the soil surface now. Butternut, two types of pumpkin and black diamond watermelon are all waiting eagerly for warmer night temps to go outside. The garden has really embraced Spring!

There is some sad news here... Two of my new poults were getting bullied a bit by the ducklings they apparently were not allowed to get under the heat pad all night and they didn't make it. One was barely hanging on so I tried warming it up, but it was too far gone. Ducklings and poults might just be a bad mix. Lesson learned the hard way. I have one poult still. It's doing fine. I'll need to keep a real good eye on it though.

The ducklings are all doing well. I only lost one this year so far, and it as a Farm & Fleet one that was a runt from day 1. All the ducklings hatched from my eggs are doing well.

 

[Faraday40]

There is some sad news here... Two of my new poults were getting bullied a bit by the ducklings they apparently were not allowed to get under the heat pad all night and they didn't make it. One was barely hanging on so I tried warming it up, but it was too far gone. Ducklings and poults might just be a bad mix. Lesson learned the hard way. I have one poult still. It's doing fine. I'll need to keep a real good eye on it though.

The ducklings are all doing well. I only lost one this year so far, and it as a Farm & Fleet one that was a runt from day 1. All the ducklings hatched from my eggs are doing well.

So sorry about your poults.

We already had one poult suicide attempt via stuffing himself inside the feeder. Really wedged himself in, so I disassembled the chick feeder to carefully pull him out. The others were just hungry because he managed to block all of the access to feed. The turkeys are not very smart. My 3 poults are with a broody serama mama and 3 chicken siblings. My hope is the extra supervision & guidance will help them reach adulthood.

Mine went outside this weekend, but I'm keeping them in the garage today. It feels so cold outside.

 

[Molpet]

The weather right now is disappointing. Two days of 80+ over the weekend and now 50s and 60s all week. I guess it's better than 20s... I wish it would just stay in the 70s and 80s. have to wait until next month I guess.

Speaking of gardening, my first row of potatoes is coming up. The peppers, zucchini and tomatoes are all transplanted. The radishes are all up. Lettuce and carrots are coming up. Cucumbers and sunflowers need to get transplanted outside. I'm eagerly waiting for marigold flowers - the plants are growing nicely and got transplanted outside Sunday. My new strawberry bed is growing leaves everywhere. Onions and corn are coming up through the soil surface now. Butternut, two types of pumpkin and black diamond watermelon are all waiting eagerly for warmer night temps to go outside. The garden has really embraced Spring!

There is some sad news here... Two of my new poults were getting bullied a bit by the ducklings they apparently were not allowed to get under the heat pad all night and they didn't make it. One was barely hanging on so I tried warming it up, but it was too far gone. Ducklings and poults might just be a bad mix. Lesson learned the hard way. I have one poult still. It's doing fine. I'll need to keep a real good eye on it though.

The ducklings are all doing well. I only lost one this year so far, and it as a Farm & Fleet one that was a runt from day 1. All the ducklings hatched from my eggs are doing well.

So sorry about your poults.

We already had one poult suicide attempt via stuffing himself inside the feeder. Really wedged himself in, so I disassembled the chick feeder to carefully pull him out. The others were just hungry because he managed to block all of the access to feed. The turkeys are not very smart. My 3 poults are with a broody serama mama and 3 chicken siblings. My hope is the extra supervision & guidance will help them reach adulthood.

Mine went outside this weekend, but I'm keeping them in the garage today. It feels so cold outside.

Found a poult in a food dish, thought it was done for. ... until I picked it up. Put it in the incubator. It recovered. Next day I put it back out and ran mom and 5 other poults in to a coop for a few hours. Figured I would check in a couple hrs and see how the poult was. Thinking that was best since it was 50 going up to 80. 2 hrs later that poult was fine, but 2 others were stepped on and dead.
Next day heard another's who's head was stuck in chick fence. It was fine.she had 4 poults and 2 hrs later she had 3.
Last night she got in a spot they couldn't get into. They were running around in the rain crying and she was calling after sunset. I caught 2 and she came out to flog me. The 3rd ran. She went after it and I stuck the 2 in the coop. They ran out but she took them back in. I let them out at sunrise and all 3 poults are still alive.

 

[megpie021]

No! Do the garden. Just dig up a patch and drop some seeds. Sneak it in there when the other half is at work or something and then they just have to deal with it.

In serious thought, if you want a garden next year it might be a good idea to just plant something nitrifying like a bunch of peas. Also, some things are perennials that would benefit from a year without harvest like strawberries or asparagus. You might consider throwing together beds of perennial plants and then just forget about them until next year.

I have three 6x4 raised beds that were awesomely productive through 2017. I had lots of tomatoes, squash, green beans, lettuces, carrots, and a handful of other things. Then they have sad unattended since then. Our oldest was in the NICU for 7 months after birth and then on oxygen for 2 years and has therapy all the time. That was one of the easiest things to let go of in our new normal. They are super overgrown with who knows what, and my husband limbed a tree and piled the branches there so unfortunately it’s not something I can just do really quick. Maybe after the deck is done I can try to get some fall stuff going. I would love a bunch of strawberries and was debating trying them in my aerogarden. It helps me feel like I’m still growing things even if it’s just lettuce or herbs

the little rooster is definitely starting to get people aggressive and we are making one last push to find it a home. Husband is ready to turn him loose in the state park across the street

 

[cavemanrich]

Husband is ready to turn him loose in the state park across the street

Don't do that. Offer him on Craig's as a food chicken. This way he will have had a good life with one bad day at the end. That is the purpose of chickens raised for meat. Letting loose, is cruel in my opinion. Rooster goes thru hunger first, before being mauled by a predator.

 

[megpie021]

Don't do that. Offer him on Craig's as a food chicken. This way he will have had a good life with one bad day at the end. That is the purpose of chickens raised for meat. Letting loose, is cruel in my opinion. Rooster goes thru hunger first, before being mauled by a predator.

Oh I would never let him do that. I agree it’s mean. Abs while this guy may be a little jerk he just is doing what he thinks he should do. I get that. He will most likely end up someone else’s dinner. He’s tiny so idk how much that’s worth to anyone but