Just had my first Bielefelder egg

[Stilicho]

New to chicken life. I have 5 Bielefelder hens, purchased from our local co-op in April of this year. I have read that Bielefelders can take longer before they start producing. I recently upped their protein intake with more meat scraps. Anything I can do to encourage the other hens to start producing? They do not free range often but occasionally. Plenty of treats and feed and increasingly more scraps more consistently. Happy but greedy for more eggs.

 

[Debbie292d]

Generally, keeping them on grower until they do lay (higher protein) then switching to a good layer feed once they do, plus a side dish of oyster shell, and time is all it takes for new layers.

Welcome to BYC, btw!

 

[Stilicho]

Generally, keeping them on grower until they do lay (higher protein) then switching to a good layer feed once they do, plus a side dish of oyster shell, and time is all it takes for new layers.

Welcome to BYC, btw!

Thank you! Very happy to be here.

 

[Tonyroo]

Stop the treats, your birds are at a transition at this age where there internal organs are repositioning for egg development. Accumulated fat from the treat will cause problems with the space between there internal organs.

 

[Stilicho]

Stop the treats, your birds are at a transition at this age where there internal organs are repositioning for egg development. Accumulated fat from the treat will cause problems with the space between there internal organs.

Noted. Thank you.

 

[Tonyroo]

BTW you picked out a good breed.

 

[BlueBaby]

You might also place a couple of those fake egg's in the nesting box to help to encourage them to lay in the boxes once they start laying. Are the other girls inspecting out the boxes yet?

 

[Sally PB]

BTW you picked out a good breed.

I second this! I got my first egg on December 1st. I have just one girl laying, but two others are starting to look into the nestbox. They are 29 weeks old now.

I feed them Kalmbach Flock Maker (20% protein) with oyster shell and crushed egg shells on the side. Their main "treat" is some of their feed, wetted into a mash. This is also a good way to use up the bits that fall to the bottom of the bowl and get ignored.

 

[Stilicho]

You might also place a couple of those fake egg's in the nesting box to help to encourage them to lay in the boxes once they start laying. Are the other girls inspecting out the boxes yet?

They are inspecting. I do have a couple fake eggs with the ladies.
I have been waiting so long for eggs that I had to go check the cameras to make sure family members were not having a laugh at my expense. Was able to confirm it was the real deal from Gertrude (gave all the bielefelders germanic names).

 

[BlueBaby]

They are inspecting. I do have a couple fake eggs with the ladies.
I have been waiting so long for eggs that I had to go check the cameras to make sure family members were not having a laugh at my expense. Was able to confirm it was the real deal from Gertrude (gave all the bielefelders germanic names).

When mine started laying, sometimes I would catch my Bielefelder rooster sitting in the nest box. He was probably trying to tell them that it was a good place. He's a good boy and has never tried to attack me, nor acted like he wanted to.