INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[chick rookie]

Hi All, one of my hens is consistently laying eggs that look like this. Do you have any ideas why? They have access to plenty of fresh water, organic feed pellets, oyster shell, and free range in our yard about 6-8 hours per day. Any ideas are appreciated.

I have a hen that lays me one of those about twice a week. I have no ideal for sure just lots of guess, but the one thing that sticks in my mind is she is old. ???? is your hen older? It was suggested to me once that we were giving too much calcium. but don't have to put any out, they get plenty in the feed plus they free rang all the time. I put some out in the winter just in case but in the past 3 years I have refiled it maybe twice, I still have the same little bad I started with. Sorry I couldn't help, just wanted you to know you weren't the only one.

 

[ellymayRans]

Hi All, one of my hens is consistently laying eggs that look like this. Do you have any ideas why? They have access to plenty of fresh water, organic feed pellets, oyster shell, and free range in our yard about 6-8 hours per day. Any ideas are appreciated.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[chickiebaby1]

Have any of you ever seen a solid ( so far ) black EE ??? I hatched one out in the incubator a few weeks ago and so far all black feathering. I cant wait to see her all grown up. Hope she stays solid black I think that would be so cool.

I have a solid black girl that lays pretty green eggs. She is beautiful. She actually just hatched her first clutch of eggs, she is the proud mama of 5 new chicky babies and she is doing a great job.

 

[ellymayRans]

Hi All, one of my hens is consistently laying eggs that look like this. Do you have any ideas why? They have access to plenty of fresh water, organic feed pellets, oyster shell, and free range in our yard about 6-8 hours per day. Any ideas are appreciated.

Here's another link with pics and info
https://www.alltech.com/sites/default/files/alltech-egg-shell-quality-poster.pdf

 

[chick rookie]

Quote: You have an EE that went broody and is raising her own??? Wow didn't know EE's went broody let alone raised the chicks, that's awesome. Wish I had one or 2 or 3 lol that would do that. I have the worst luck at hatching egg and EE's are the worst. I had 2 dz in the bator this last time and MOST of them were EEggs, I got 2 EE's, which really made me say Fudge sticks!! a few times ( yes that's really what I said lol ) and most all the BYM's hatched giving me a total live count of 6. I am not impressed with myself at all.
Would it be too much to ask of you to post a pic of your black? I would just love to see her.

 

[chick rookie]

Ok I have a strange ( to me ) but funny story with a question at the end. Are ya ready???????????


this is Splash, she has 7 chicks 2 are black??? whats up with that you might ask.

This is Shy Shy, she has 3 chicks 2 of which are White??? and again, whats up with that.
Now splash has 9 babies and Shy Shy has 2 .
So the math does not add up ( I could have miss counted ) but Shy Shy was bread with a Partridge Roo and Splash was bread with a Buff Partridge. So not hard to tell at all whose chicks belong to who....
Every time I go out there they have swapped some out. o and Shy Shy's first chick ( blk ) also keeps a chick She is only 11 weeks old, she sat the last week with her mom. And after they started hatching she actually covered 1 chick right next to her mom. The first night after Shy's hatch I went to check on them and splash and Shy had all the babies and the eggs still to hatch. So I put the white babies back with Splash ( they were 2 days old ) and kept the blk chicks and remaining eggs with Shy. Now mind ya there is a flor to celling front to back divider between the 2 hens.... The next morning Splash had 2 blks with her out free ranging and Shy had 1 blk and 2 whites in the brooder with her and her older chick, ok what ever I didn't mess with them.
now every time I go out it all changed!!!!
Now the questions begin to bubble up in my mind, why are they swapping chicks all the time? Should I put a stop to it some how? Will one mom's realize " hey this is not my kid " and kill the odd one? or chase it off?
This is Splash's 3rd clutch ( I think that's what it is called ) and Shy's 2nd.
If anyone has an answer to any of the above questions I would love to hear it, I'm just bewildered at it all......

 

[CRSelvey]

I have a hen that lays me one of those about twice a week. I have no ideal for sure just lots of guess, but the one thing that sticks in my mind is she is old. ???? is your hen older? It was suggested to me once that we were giving too much calcium. but don't have to put any out, they get plenty in the feed plus they free rang all the time. I put some out in the winter just in case but in the past 3 years I have refiled it maybe twice, I still have the same little bad I started with. Sorry I couldn't help, just wanted you to know you weren't the only one. 

Here's another link with pics and info
https://www.alltech.com/sites/default/files/alltech-egg-shell-quality-poster.pdf

Thank you both. I will check it out. My hen is about 2 1/2 years so I don't think she's too old. She's on of the Cochins that I got from one of the other peeps here on the page from Lebanon. She's been a great layer and she's really pretty but the shells are thin lately and just cracked looking at the tip.

 

[Faraday40]

Have any of you ever seen a solid ( so far ) black EE ??? I hatched one out in the incubator a few weeks ago and so far all black feathering. I cant wait to see her all grown up. Hope she stays solid black I think that would be so cool.

I have an all black EE (for now). I do not know if I'm keeping her. She's 4 months old.

Mom = beautiful double laced, golden EE
Dad = lavender orpington. (This is where the solid black came from)
I'm curious to see what her offspring would look like.

She was kept to befriend a Lav Orp x Sussex mix which my son fell in love with. Another lav orp chick joined in the mix. The 3 are inseparable now, but I only intended to keep one of the 3. Some tough decisions lay ahead.
Below are some epics of my son playing with "his" chicken.

 

[Faraday40]

You have an EE that went broody and is raising her own??? Wow didn't know EE's went broody let alone raised the chicks, that's awesome. Wish I had one or 2 or 3 lol that would do that. I have the worst luck at hatching egg and EE's are the worst. I had 2 dz in the bator this last time and MOST of them were EEggs, I got 2 EE's, which really made me say Fudge sticks!! a few times ( yes that's really what I said lol ) and most all the BYM's hatched giving me a total live count of 6. I am not impressed with myself at all.
Would it be too much to ask of you to post a pic of your black? I would just love to see her.

Our "Princess Lay-a" went broody last summer & was a fantastic mama. She's an EE mix.

Because of Princess, my DD got the idea for a broody 4H project. DD ended up winning Best in Show for her animal science. Although we used another hen for the project, Princess remains a cherished member of the flock.

 

[Hholly]

Our "Princess Lay-a" went broody last summer & was a fantastic mama. She's an EE mix.

Because of Princess, my DD got the idea for a broody 4H project. DD ended up winning Best in Show for her animal science. Although we used another hen for the project, Princess remains a cherished member of the flock.

LOL, Love the name Princess Laya. Too cute!