Montana

[CowGrrrl]

Handsome cock Doug! Love his coloring.

 

[DuginMT]

Thanks CowGrrl! First 3-egg morning and first true EE egg today! We thought the EE laid yesterday but was wondering why it was light brown, so it must have been another chicken. The EE "Racer" laid the egg in a nesting box on the first try and the egg is bigger than the other first eggs we have found. It is light blue-green and beautiful, this photo does not do it justice. Should use a black background next time. Anyway, my son Carl will be so excited since he claims that EE! Our other EE has not been squatting or spending much day time in the coop, and is relatively flighty so we're pretty sure it was not from that one. It's great that such a relatively small bird can lay a big egg! Here are the three eggs we got this morning and there is a BO currently sitting on a nest!

 

[karlamaria]

I can see why that would be puzzling Karla. I'm sure you will figure it out! Took some pics of my rooster this evening, he is really filling out and heading to maturity. I think he is quite a handsome and good cockerel. He is quite active now and seems to breed about 10 times per day. Hoping for a 3-egg day tomorrow! Doug

. Beautiful Roo , so regal ! I'm so thrilled for you getting eggs, there so pretty! I'm a bit disapointed, 2 girls I thought were ameracauna, even the one who laid a blue egg now lays olive eggs. Yep one month into laying and we daughter her dropping a olive colored egg. What I purchased was not blue layers. The olive eggs are beautiful , but I was shocked to see the blue layer pop out a olive egg lol. And a pretty dark olive egg. I'm hoping the two I hatch out will lay blue eggs, the eggs are pretty blue so we shall see. Dug, how many chickens do you have again? You going to put eggs next year if you get a broody hen? It's always fun doing that and raising chicks to be future egg layers. I'm thrilled my girl is setting now, this way they can grow through the winter and be producing by spring. Win win !

 

[DuginMT]

Karla, the olive eggs must be nice too! I have 12 pullets and the one cockerel. Got five eggs today so far, so about half are laying now!!! My coop and run has room for about 20 birds, and it is possible I will lose one or two hens, so I do plan to support a broody hen and chicks, if that happens. Ideally it would be next spring sometime when the weather warms up. If I get to keep my rooster then nature will take its course eventually and hopefully I will be able to add a few to my flock. If I have to re-home King for any reason, then I am still considering getting about a half-dozen leghorn or RSL chicks next spring to supplement the flock. Anyway, at the rate my pullets are coming on I don't think I and my friends and family will lack for eggs anytime soon!

How do you get chicks through the cold winter in Butte?

 

[montanachicks]

Hi everyone: hope everyone had a good weekend.

Doug, looks like your girls are coming along! I have 2 EE's that lay a very light colored cross between light brown/pink color. The other three lay the green eggs -- one is darker than the other two so I am assuming that the darker one would be considered "olive". they are pretty, tho, and clean as a whistle. I never have to wash those ones off.

I live here in Great Falls and mine do well throughout the winter. My coop, at present, is not insulated, but I have a heat lamp that I use when it gets very cold -- I will turn it on if the temps are due to drop below 25 or so. You'd be surprised how well they can tolerate the cold. And I have a heated base under their galvanized waterer. It only turns on when the temp hits 32 or below. Never had a problem last winter with frozen water. This fall, I am planning on insulating the front wall of the coop, which tends to get all the snow & wind. Do you plan on supplementing your lighting this fall and winter?

Let us know how your BO's do. I had always heard how good they lay, etc., but mine have been such a huge disappoint in that area. They did great for about the first 8 or 9 months that they layed, then dropped down to almost nothing. I had 7 of them; one died, I re-homed 4 of them due to their lack of laying, and kept two. When they slowed/stopped laying, they had already finished their molt but still, hardly anything. Out of the 6, I was lucky to get 3 or 4 eggs a week. I also had issues with very soft shelled eggs, or what I call "paper shells". So now, with the two I have left, maybe 2 a week. I have talked to others that have seen the same thing out of theirs. Won't raise them again. Now, leghorns are a different matter ----- they may be flighty and keep to themselves but they are a laying machine......... period. So I will stick with what I have -- leghorns, Lohmann Browns, and EE's. This spring I got my EE's and had not had any experience with them so I hope they do well.

I will let you know on the cam.

 

[karlamaria]

Karla, the olive eggs must be nice too!  I have 12 pullets and the one cockerel.  Got five eggs today so far, so about half are laying now!!!  My coop and run has room for about 20 birds, and it is possible I will lose one or two hens, so I do plan to support a broody hen and chicks, if that happens.  Ideally it would be next spring sometime when the weather warms up.  If I get to keep my rooster then nature will take its course eventually and hopefully I will be able to add a few to my flock.  If I have to re-home King for any reason, then I am still considering getting about a half-dozen leghorn or RSL chicks next spring to supplement the flock.  Anyway, at the rate my pullets are coming on I don't think I and my friends and family will lack for eggs anytime soon!

How do you get chicks through the cold winter in Butte?

the mom takes awesome care of chicks, and if you have a broody set before October they will all do very well. I like fall setters better then spring setters, ths way she can teach them all they need to know in the month or two and when winter hits, there safe and warm with her and growing through out winter. Mine are due to hatch in 8 days, and they will have all of August and September before it cools down in October. They will have a chance to grow and learn before the snow flys. Moms do a wonderful job at raising chicks !
Also my coop is very insulated, and my pen is totally covered, tey will be fully feathered before the snow flys . Five eggs, that's awesome! I'm so glad you got all the chicks you did, many like me make a mistake the first year and buy to little. Then they realize not enough eggs. Then they had to add More chickens, yada yada yada.. Your a good chicken farmer !

 

[karlamaria]

Hi everyone:  hope everyone had a good weekend.

Doug, looks like your girls are coming along!  I have 2 EE's that lay a very light colored cross between light brown/pink color.  The other three lay the green eggs --  one is darker than the other two so I am assuming that the darker one would be considered "olive".  they are pretty, tho, and clean as a whistle.  I never have to wash those ones off.

I live here in Great Falls and mine do well throughout the winter.  My coop, at present, is not insulated, but I have a heat lamp that I use when it gets very cold -- I will turn it on if the temps are due to drop below 25 or so.  You'd be surprised how well they can tolerate the cold.  And I have a heated base under their galvanized waterer.  It only turns on when the temp hits 32 or below.  Never had a problem last winter with frozen water.  This fall, I am planning on insulating the front wall of the coop, which tends to get all the snow & wind.  Do you plan on supplementing your lighting this fall and winter? 

Let us know how your BO's do.  I had always heard how good they lay, etc., but mine have been such a huge disappoint in that area.  They did great for about the first 8 or 9 months that they layed, then dropped down to almost nothing.  I had 7 of them;  one died, I re-homed 4 of them due to their lack of laying, and kept two.  When they slowed/stopped laying, they had already finished their molt but still, hardly anything.  Out of the 6, I was lucky to get 3 or 4 eggs a week. I also had issues with very soft shelled eggs, or what I call "paper shells".   So now, with the two I have left, maybe 2 a week.  I have talked to others that have seen the same thing out of theirs.  Won't raise them again.      Now, leghorns are a different matter -----   they may be flighty and keep to themselves but they are a laying machine......... period.     So I will stick with what I have -- leghorns, Lohmann Browns, and EE's.  This spring I got my EE's and had not had any experience with them so I hope they do well. 

I will let you know on the cam. 

I was also disappointed in the Bo laying. I got an egg and then broody, every time. I think I got more chicks then eggs lol. I thought I had gotten a leghorn this time, nope looks like she is mixed. She as some black spots on her and one barred feathered wing. She is around 4 months and no lorps or hardly a comb yet. Can I get some leg horn eggs from you next spring? I would love to have at least 4 hens. I have two EE both lay green eggs, and my wheaten ameracauna are laying olive eggs. I was gettin blue eggs from one, but now an olive egg? So weird ! If I had not seen it with my own eyes. How's the loman browns?

 

[DuginMT]

MontanaChicks and Karla, sounds like you have good winter setups. As far as winterizing my coop, which is not insulated, I am thinking about installing those soil mat heaters below the nesting boxes hopefully to keep eggs from freezing. They will also add a little heat to the coop. I'm also considering a small 110V electric baseboard heater below the nesting boxes, on a thermostat set to come on at 40. I'm afraid it might use too much juice though. I plan to make or buy a heated base and a galvanized 5-gallon waterer to set on it and keep it inside the coop. Do you think supplemental lighting makes much difference in regards to egg production? I was thinking of installing a red heat lamp on the ceiling and putting it on a timer, to run from say 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, and then from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM in the winter. Do chickens consider a red heat lamp as "light" for the purpose of egg production, or would I need to install a different type of light? Thanks.

Oh, I ate the known BO egg this morning, which was the largest egg we got so far. It was a double-yolker, but shaped perfectly normally!

 

[DuginMT]

I am disappointed to hear the BO's do not perform well as egg layers. Since I have a BO roo this kinds of shoots down my plans for breeding highly productive chickens! Anybody want to trade a young Leghorn Roo for my golden beauty King?

 

[rookiefarmers]

My BO lays 5-6 a week. My friend has one and it lays 5-6 days too. My mother in law has 4 and they are almost 4 years old and all still lay 3-4 a week.