INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[racinchickins]

Found my first secret egg stash:



This is one of my newly-laying hens, a RIR. Possibly two hens - some of the eggs have a distinctly rosier tint. I have a black Orp who is a serious nest hog, bordering on broody, and the others are too dense to realize that there's more than one nest box. So she found a nice spot behind the dust bath box.

I have found some of her eggs in the coop, and possibly one or two in the nest, last week. Obviously I don't know how long she's been doing this... no more than a month for sure, and I'm guessing around two or three weeks.

This morning I'm going to move everything non-essential out of the coop to clear all the corners, and fill in the space behind the dust bath with litter. I'm hoping that if the nest boxes are the only dark place in the coop, they'll get used. If not, at least the eggs will be where I can see them.

So the question is, can I still eat these eggs, or should I toss them? I know eggs are often kept on the counter for several weeks, provided the bloom hasn't been washed off. I'm fairly certain these haven't been sat upon for any length of time beyond laying the next egg.


I have another question for the group, while I'm here. Right now 1/2 of my kinda small (108sqft) run is covered by a tarp. My thought was they'd like to have some shade outdoors. However, I never see the chickens in that part of the run - they're always in the coop or in the sun. The coop is 144sqft, so there's plenty of room in there for everyone to hang out. The question is, should I just ditch the tarp, so they have more sun? Does anyone else here have a totally unsheltered run?

If I'm not sure the age of the eggs, or if they get too dirty, the dogs get a treat and the chickens get the crushed eggshells back.

As far as the tarp goes, I'd leave it. Mine tend to hang out in the shade more than in the sun actually. Some prefer the coop, and others the shady part of the run, especially if there is a roost there. I've noticed that when the sun hits the roost in the evening, almost everyone tends to go back in the coop instead of following the shade.

 

[pginsber]

Found my first secret egg stash:



I have another question for the group, while I'm here. Right now 1/2 of my kinda small (108sqft) run is covered by a tarp. My thought was they'd like to have some shade outdoors. However, I never see the chickens in that part of the run - they're always in the coop or in the sun. The coop is 144sqft, so there's plenty of room in there for everyone to hang out. The question is, should I just ditch the tarp, so they have more sun? Does anyone else here have a totally unsheltered run?

Your run sounds nice. We have a small covered porch (32sq ft), and a totally UNcovered run, however, we have a small plum tree in the middle of it, and the coop itself creates a shadow during the afternoon and evening hours. The chickens seem to appreciate having both a sunny place and a shady place. Their sandbox is in the covered porch area of their run, so it stays dry.

 

[ChickCrazed]

Okay--I need to practice my confessing before I get home from work today.

Admittedly, we have the perfect number of hens.

Back story:
I got a silkie chick to try to break a broody hen--that didn't work--the hen stayed broody and hated the chick
so then I raised it in the spare bathroom, much to DW's dismay--
THEN the silkie chick needed a buddy since silkies typically sleep on the floor...following me?

Flash to the present...broody hen still broody...Two too many, now.

At lunch time today at work, I bought hatching eggs. OMGoodness--I'm going to be in deep trouble when I get home...I only ordered TWO eggs, hoping to get a 50% hatch from the shipped eggs.


In about a month, I may be looking for a forever home for a Coronation Sussex chick...if DW doesn't get in cahoots with the mailman and have him lose the eggs before they arrive.

Sorry I am chiming in too late to help here, but I have some help for the future!

1.) Tell her that the eggs came from a horrible situation, just deplorable conditions, and rescuing them was the humane thing to do

2.) Start off telling her someone is giving you 25 new laying hens, and then wait until after the explosion to say "just kidding, it is only two eggs that may not hatch"
3.) Just slip them under then hen without telling DW and tell her you don't know what happened, you must have sprung a Roo in your midst to accidentally get fertile eggs

 

[iamfivewire]

look who visited this morning:

 

[pginsber]

Sorry I am chiming in too late to help here, but I have some help for the future!

1.) Tell her that the eggs came from a horrible situation, just deplorable conditions, and rescuing them was the humane thing to do

2.) Start off telling her someone is giving you 25 new laying hens, and then wait until after the explosion to say "just kidding, it is only two eggs that may not hatch"
3.) Just slip them under then hen without telling DW and tell her you don't know what happened, you must have sprung a Roo in your midst to accidentally get fertile eggs

Your advice is not too late. I decided there was not a rush for confession, since it would be a day or two until the eggs arrive.
I like ALL of your ideas. Here's the one I was leaning toward: "ChickCrazed wants these breeds, but doesn't have a broody right now, so I volunteered ours".

 

[ChickCrazed]

Your advice is not too late. I decided there was not a rush for confession, since it would be a day or two until the eggs arrive.
I like ALL of your ideas. Here's the one I was leaning toward: "ChickCrazed wants these breeds, but doesn't have a broody right now, so I volunteered ours".

LOL, just don't tell her where ChickCrazed lives in case she gets violent.

 

[chickiefreak]

Hi all,

Well, I am very behind and don't have the time right now to catch up on all posts - that will have to wait til tomorrow! Got to visit Sally yesterday and see her setup and meet her new kids. Wish I could have stayed longer but had to head on over to racin's to pick up our little roo. He is a 6 week old Legbar and is adorable and so sweet. Racin said he was not even sure he had ever been held before but he doesn't seem to mind now. He is quite the little snuggler. Of course his only companions are human right now since he is quarantined. He is a little sad and lonely. When I noticed he hadn't eaten much at all today and wasn't making a peep I got the girls onto the back porch and held him up to the window so he could see some other chickens. He perked up right away and started peeping and when he went back to his cage he promptly ate. So he just needs to see he is not the only chicken around and he feels better!

Enjoy this chilly night!

and he had his first attempt to cock-a-doodle-doo yesterday! it was so funny our dog started barking he thought someone was coming here someone he does not know. and his temper has been a lot different since we got sven the roo. he wants to protect svan witch is good.

 

[chickiebaby1]

So another crazy question. Can chickens carry lethal genes. I have been mating my white crested polish rooster with a polish/bantam cross hen. I do not know their linage because I bought them at an auction. My problem is that although almost all the eggs hatch and seem to do okay, they are starting to die off. I have other mutt chickens that are bigger in size that seem to be doing fine, but these smaller ones keep dieing. Could there be something in the genes of the parents that is causing this. Yesterday they all seemed fine. No pasty butt or anything, this morning 2 were dead, in different brooders and different ages. What could cause this? I have never hatched any eggs until June. I hatched 5 silkies and they are all doing great, it's just these polish crosses that I am having trouble with. Any suggestions or comments?

 

[pginsber]

Our coop/shed entry door is about 5 inches above ground level, so I had nailed together a few treated 2x10s cut on an angle as a ramp. That worked great for awhile, but the treated wood gets slick when it rains, and the lawn tractor dislodges the ramp pieces when I mow the grass, etc. We decided to do something more permanent.
Somehow, the words 'more permanent' mean more expensive and more work for me.

We purchased a tumbled stone circle kit from Menard's. 'Kit' is deceiving, because it doesn't include removing the sod, digging down, getting a truck load of gravel, manually tamping it down, getting a truck load of sand, tamping that down, then the HOURS it takes to figure out the 'map' of how to assemble the circle, nor the cost of polymeric sand.

We put half of the circle at the entry gate to the back yard, and are putting the other half as the entry to the shed. The gate assembly went pretty well. It was mostly manual efforts and turned out nicely.


This past weekend, I began the shed ramp. I formed a sloping semi-circle, and poured a sloping concrete ramp. It took 3 trips to Lowe's (I'm very poor at estimating how much one bag of concrete makes), and the loading, unloading of nine 80-lbs bags of concrete. This is a task more suited for a 20-yr old.
Next, I will adhere the pavers to the ramp, and put polymeric sand in the joints. I'm hoping the weather cooperates for the last part of this.

If you plan to do a circle kit, I highly recommend you consider hiring it out. It's way more manual labor than what one would think.

 

[chickiefreak]

look who visited this morning: