Maine

[suzMEchicks]

I went out the other night with a new bucket of water and my hand on the metal slider door handle was wet. And yes it stuck a little bit. Not the brightest thing I've done lately!!
LG- so you moved your coop with pvc pipe? Rolled it? Mine is only 5by 5 . Like I said it only has maybe 15 ft to go. Its right behind my house right now which is very convenient for my first winter with chickens. But it is over the pump out door for my septic tank. I kept saying to my neighbor "we should move this thing before it gets too heavy". I also will turn it so the window gets the first light in the morning now I know how much light means to them. Once it is turned I can build a nice long run doen the side of the back yard. Best spot. Good shade for summer. Ahh summer!

 

[IZZYBELLA]

I have a question. I just went out to tend my chickens and 2 are in the nesting bix at the same time. Seems one if the leghorns was trying to do her thing but one of the RIR had jumped in with her. Leghorn was squawking like a hoarse sound and the whole bunch of them were making a ruckus. Now the leghorns , though smaller have always been the alphas-top of pecking order. The other thing is I saw no signs if the RIR pecking or being aggressive , just squishing into the box and upsetting the other one. Sometimes I cant figure them out. They havent been out for a few days because of the wind. Theyre probably getting sick of being confined. Any incite would be appreciated. BRW there are 6 of them in a 5 by 5 coop with 4 laying bixes attached to the back.

More often than not I find my girls sharing a box together to lay. This morning it was a comet and a barred rock in there laying together. One time I found a rock, comet and a buff orpington, but they kicked the BO out. There are four boxes, I don't know why they all have to get in one!

 

[lazy gardener]

They are a constant source of amusement. I have 2/5 laying now, and 3/5 squatting.

 

[suzMEchicks]

Thanks, that makes me feel better about them all getting in the same box . Crazy old things! They keep throwing all the hays out of the nesting boxes too. When winter first started, I had pine shavings on the floor and kust hay in the boxes. At some point they started taking all the hay out of the boxes. So now I mix it up on the floor . But no hay in the boxes, some of the eggs have cracked. There's a 3 inch metal lip in front of the boxes and they still manage to scrape out every bit of hay. I guess I should pit some in every day?

 

[GrafixMuse]

The chickens are increasing their egg production! I put a call out to my blogger friends to see if they would be willing to share recipes and uses for excess eggs that I could post to my blog. I ended up with over 60 recipes. I thought I would share the link here in case anyone is looking for new things to try: http://wp.me/p48zga-cH

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Thanks, that makes me feel better about them all getting in the same box . Crazy old things! They keep throwing all the hays out of the nesting boxes too. When winter first started, I had pine shavings on the floor and kust hay in the boxes. At some point they started taking all the hay out of the boxes. So now I mix it up on the floor . But no hay in the boxes, some of the eggs have cracked. There's a 3 inch metal lip in front of the boxes and they still manage to scrape out every bit of hay. I guess I should pit some in every day?

Mine will put other hens in a headlock to get good nesting space. This is an old picture (of two deceased hens) but always makes me giggle. I put shavings down in the nests and then hay on top of it, I have a few that are pigpenny in the nests and will bury their eggs (darn you, game hens) but for the most part the rest are mild in their nest destruction.

 

[CoopChick719]

My leghorns are the ones who insist on kicking most of the shavings out of the nesting boxes. I've been using shredded newspaper to supplement the shavings in the boxes.

 

[suzMEchicks]

Thats a great idea!

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

Just wondering how many eggs everyone is getting? I have 17 girls in our maine coop and a few in what I call the multi coop( a shed that has been turned into 5 smaller coops). The girls went through a molt and we were getting nothing. Then we started getting 2-4 eggs a day. Now we are back to nothing. Not to mention my Easter eggers are not laying either. Actually they haven't been laying for a very long time. All my girls are just over a year old. Any ideas?. I'm pretty sure that this cold weather is affecting them, but to get no eggs seems odd. They get some scraps as well as fermented feed.

 

[Jazor]

Just wondering how many eggs everyone is getting? I have 17 girls in our maine coop and a few in what I call the multi coop( a shed that has been turned into 5 smaller coops). The girls went through a molt and we were getting nothing. Then we started getting 2-4 eggs a day. Now we are back to nothing. Not to mention my Easter eggers are not laying either. Actually they haven't been laying for a very long time. All my girls are just over a year old. Any ideas?. I'm pretty sure that this cold weather is affecting them, but to get no eggs seems odd. They get some scraps as well as fermented feed.

The weather's been tough for us, as humans. Imagine what it's like to the birds? Constant snow, below zero, then a week (or more) with warm temps and rain, back now to below zero temps. Just give em some time to establish a routine again and you'll have more eggs than you can eat. That's my $.02