nothing for a day or two, followed by two paper thin shelled eggs, both broken.
We've got 3 and a half hens (the half has a twisted beak and is abotu half the size of her sisters, despite twice daily feedings of rice, avocado, bread, cottage cheese, tofu, salad, cooked carrots, bulgur wheat, meusli, oatmeal, applesauce, meal worms and crickets, both free range and from the bait shop...you get the picture.) The first to lay was Trixie on August 28 or so. Beautiful eggs right out of the chute, so to speak. Celadon green, as big as mediums from the grocery (they're Araucanas). Strong shells
She's gotten very good at laying in the next box. But the schedule seems unpredictable.
And then she'll take a hiatus, and the follow up is to lay 2 eggs with aforementioned paper thin shells.
Could it be that someone else is laying these?
And how do you get hens to eat grit and oyster shell? kWe put both out, but have NEVER seen anyone even peck at the stuff. I put it in dishes, scatter it on the ground, pour it in piles around their run, etc.
I've taken to sprinkling a tiny bit of oyster shell on the elaborate breakfast and dinner these girls get. Oh - they also get layer's crumble as their primary feed, plus scratch as snacks/dessert.
At this rate our eggs are running $18 a dozen. Now, I didn't get into this solely because I thought I'd save a bundle on grocery store eggs, but this is getting, well, odd.
When I tell my rancher friends about our girls, they just shake their heads and say it's time to get the fryer going.
I say NEVER.
But still - I've had a single 2 egg omelet, DH has had same, and we have given a whopping 4 eggs to a friend. So we still haven't seen a whole dozen.
What do you think? What can I do to help the girls along?
tia
We've got 3 and a half hens (the half has a twisted beak and is abotu half the size of her sisters, despite twice daily feedings of rice, avocado, bread, cottage cheese, tofu, salad, cooked carrots, bulgur wheat, meusli, oatmeal, applesauce, meal worms and crickets, both free range and from the bait shop...you get the picture.) The first to lay was Trixie on August 28 or so. Beautiful eggs right out of the chute, so to speak. Celadon green, as big as mediums from the grocery (they're Araucanas). Strong shells
She's gotten very good at laying in the next box. But the schedule seems unpredictable.
And then she'll take a hiatus, and the follow up is to lay 2 eggs with aforementioned paper thin shells.
Could it be that someone else is laying these?
And how do you get hens to eat grit and oyster shell? kWe put both out, but have NEVER seen anyone even peck at the stuff. I put it in dishes, scatter it on the ground, pour it in piles around their run, etc.
I've taken to sprinkling a tiny bit of oyster shell on the elaborate breakfast and dinner these girls get. Oh - they also get layer's crumble as their primary feed, plus scratch as snacks/dessert.
At this rate our eggs are running $18 a dozen. Now, I didn't get into this solely because I thought I'd save a bundle on grocery store eggs, but this is getting, well, odd.
When I tell my rancher friends about our girls, they just shake their heads and say it's time to get the fryer going.
I say NEVER.
But still - I've had a single 2 egg omelet, DH has had same, and we have given a whopping 4 eggs to a friend. So we still haven't seen a whole dozen.
What do you think? What can I do to help the girls along?
tia
