Maine

[lazy gardener]

Welcome Kazz. I'm sure you'll find this site as informative as I have.

CoopChick719: Looks like chipmunk's first egg is 2 eggs fused together. Is she an EE? I'm curious if the internal structure of the egg shows that it's actually 2 eggs!

MustardTiger. So sorry for your run of bad luck. I hope your injury heals quickly. Sad to loose a bird, even more so when you witness the event.

Pellepeterson: You will get some eggs, and I predict that it will be very soon.

On the home front: Sadly, I processed my 3 remaining roos tonight. (Happily, I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow morning without cock-a-doodle-doing right outside the bedroom window. I don't like to put an animal to death, but it is much preferable to any alternative that I can envision. Thankfully, my hubby wielded the ax and I did the rest. As he was digging a hole for the remains, he said... "the next time you get a hobby, how about knitting... or crocheting..." Poor guy, that'll never happen in this life time!!! I got 4 eggs from 5 pullets today. If matching eggs up to birds successfully, they are all laying now. One of the girls is laying her eggs under the perch. Every one else is using the nest boxes. My thought is to place some cardboard over the shavings under the perches for a few days to discourage her. Any one care to offer advice re: if that will work, or any other recommendations to get her into the nest box routine???

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Hard to tell on Blanche... didn't see any of the pointy saddle feathers - but that comb is red. How old is s/he? Can you get a better shot of the back?


Sorry about the bad luck and the poison ivy... that was me last week... and then I got attacked by a turkey.

 

[ashandvine]

Blanch looks like a cockerel to me.

SCG-- youch! Sebastian is afraid of our tom now. IDK why but apparently Tom is fine with everyone, even the naked toddler, but not my son.

Happy fourth all.


Ancona duck


garden-- a few weeds too


Verbena growing up!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Blanch looks like a cockerel to me.

SCG-- youch! Sebastian is afraid of our tom now. IDK why but apparently Tom is fine with everyone, even the naked toddler, but not my son.

Happy fourth all.


Ancona duck


garden-- a few weeds too


Verbena growing up!

There's a story there, and I probably deserved what I got.

Otherwise they're really friendly.

 

[lazy gardener]

Question re: new layers: One of my girls, a BSL has so far (that I know of) laid 2 eggs without shell, and one with. The shell on the one normal egg was nothing to write home about in terms of being hard shelled. As soon as they started laying, I offered oyster shell, and today gave them crushed egg shell. From my reading on this site, I'm guessing that shellless eggs sometimes happen when a pullet is just getting started. This girl is also not using the nest box. At what point should I be concerned. I'm offering water with and without ACV, grower 15% mixed with multiflock 26% usually FF, as well as left over goodies occasionally. Their run is 1600sf. so they get what ever insects they find there, plus what ever I toss them from the garden. Any thoughts, recommendations? How long to wait to sort things out re: normal before I decide to cull?? My big concern is that these "membrane" eggs will encourage egg eating, which will spread to include normal eggs. (The egg from this morning was eaten, leaving just the "turtle shell like membrane".)

 

[Widget]

Had so many things I wanted to get done today. Yeah right. By 830 this morning it was already too hot to do much of anything. But all in all I did okay.
-Let the birds out to free range. Cleaned and filled their kiddie pool.
-Cleaned out the run-in shed and one load of manure from the paddock. Still needs more work but at least I got the run-in done.
-Mowed the lawn. At first the lawn mower wouldn't start but a quick cleaning of the spark plug did the trick. Of course this was at 1 in the afternoon when the heat index was 95. Great time to mow. But I survived.
-Got trash out to the curb for tomorrow's pick-up.
-Picked some peas from the garden.

. Not much else looks good in that garden but the peas are doing great. If the blossoms are any indication on the tomato plants in the front garden I will be swimming in tomatoes in a few weeks.
-Filled the horses' water trough. Forgot about it while I was mowing so they ended up with a bit more water than expected.

-Cleaned out the basement brooder. Had to put the ducks in with the turkeys since the ducks were outgrowing their brooder. The turkeys are old enough to go outside but they have no home yet thanks to a delay in their coop being built. That is in thanks to the check I am waiting for not having arrived yet. Love the 7-10 business days spiel plus add a day or two for the post office to get it to me. So far it has been 8 business days. I so hope the check arrives tomorrow. My account could really use the boost.
-Rolled all my loose change. Not a bad haul.
-Saved a baby sparrow. My remaining Pyr, Louise, came in from the back deck with something in her mouth. I made her drop it and at first thought the my broody hen had actually hatched out some chicks and that the cat had grabbed one. But it turned out to be a really small sparrow about the size of a newborn Silkie. I thought the poor thing was dead but it was still breathing. Eyes closed. It was able to grip my finger with its feet pretty well so I decided to see what I could do. I gave it some water in a dropper and gave it a quick shower to cool it down a bit. Then I set it outside in a container that was out of the direct sun and out of the reach of the dog. About 30 minutes later it was sitting up with its eyes open. Soon after it had flown away.

-Marked off the spot where I need to dig a hole to put the flagpole in. Got a great deal on a 20' pole. Now I just need to dig a hole and set the support pole in cement.

Still have a few more fence post holes to dig and set the poles in cement to support a more permanent gate for the horses' paddock. No way I was going to get to that today.

The birds, horses and goats were the smart ones. Unless they were eating all spent their day snoozing in the shade.

 

[Mainechick168]

Question re: new layers: One of my girls, a BSL has so far (that I know of) laid 2 eggs without shell, and one with. The shell on the one normal egg was nothing to write home about in terms of being hard shelled. As soon as they started laying, I offered oyster shell, and today gave them crushed egg shell. From my reading on this site, I'm guessing that shellless eggs sometimes happen when a pullet is just getting started. This girl is also not using the nest box. At what point should I be concerned. I'm offering water with and without ACV, grower 15% mixed with multiflock 26% usually FF, as well as left over goodies occasionally. Their run is 1600sf. so they get what ever insects they find there, plus what ever I toss them from the garden. Any thoughts, recommendations? How long to wait to sort things out re: normal before I decide to cull?? My big concern is that these "membrane" eggs will encourage egg eating, which will spread to include normal eggs. (The egg from this morning was eaten, leaving just the "turtle shell like membrane".)

So, I am absolutely not an expert by any means, but I can let you know my experience with shell-less/ soft shell eggs. I had one hen who, after laying several "normal" eggs, laid a number of shell-less, and then soft eggs. I'm not sure how long this went on, more than a week, but now ( months and months later) she is a regular layer, no shell issues. I think this is common sometimes in new layers? Also, every once in a while, I find a shell less egg on the floor of the coop. I think it happens!

I was a little worried at first, but everything else about her was normal/healthy, so I just waited it out, and things have worked out fine! Good luck in getting some more solid eggs!

Oh, and I do have a hen that often lays an egg with a more brittle shell, and sometimes it get's crushed, and whomever crushes it in the nest box usually eats it, but they have never tried to eat any other eggs. I will say that this is also something I worried about!!

 

[lazy gardener]

So, I am absolutely not an expert by any means, but I can let you know my experience with shell-less/ soft shell eggs. I had one hen who, after laying several "normal" eggs, laid a number of shell-less, and then soft eggs. I'm not sure how long this went on, more than a week, but now ( months and months later) she is a regular layer, no shell issues. I think this is common sometimes in new layers? Also, every once in a while, I find a shell less egg on the floor of the coop. I think it happens!

I was a little worried at first, but everything else about her was normal/healthy, so I just waited it out, and things have worked out fine! Good luck in getting some more solid eggs!

Oh, and I do have a hen that often lays an egg with a more brittle shell, and sometimes it get's crushed, and whomever crushes it in the nest box usually eats it, but they have never tried to eat any other eggs. I will say that this is also something I worried about!!

Thank you Kelley. I know it's foolish to spend time worrying about these minor little details, but it's reassuring to know that no matter what question I have, there's some one here who has already dealt with it and who has advice to give!

 

[Mainechick168]

Thank you Kelley. I know it's foolish to spend time worrying about these minor little details, but it's reassuring to know that no matter what question I have, there's some one here who has already dealt with it and who has advice to give!

No problem! Maybe it is a little foolish, but I worry and research about every little thing I think is off...!

 

[klf73]

I have an offer for anyone looking for chicks off heat. I have approx 15 pullets that I will sell for $35 BUT whoever takes them would have to take the 2 or 3 suspected cockerals along with them.
Breeds are 2 or 3 or each of the following
Easter eggers, welsummer, barred rocks, Rhode island reds, Austra whites, and Columbian wyandottes.