Mommarobinette
In the Brooder
- Jul 20, 2024
- 9
- 46
- 41
Hello! I’m a new backyard chicken mom to a mixed crowd of 7. We have 1 Leghorn, 1 Dominique, 2 ISA Browns, 1 Rhode Island Red and 2 Red Stars. We bought 6 of them as pullets. The last one we got was the Dominique, “Pepper”. She is supposed to be about a year old. She was already laying when we got her.
I have a few questions for you seasoned chicken owners:
1) If I have 7 hens who free range from sun up to sundown, get a high protein pellet diet mixed with red pepper flakes, get scratch and BSF larvae every single day, and I’m only, consistently, getting 4 of the same eggs laid every day, is it right to assume 2-3 hens aren’t laying for me? I get two of the dark browns from the ISA Browns (1 for sure!) and one white from the leghorn, and one cream/olive from the Dominique. Who isn’t laying? How would I be able to tell? Wouldn’t they get egg bound if they weren’t laying? What are the tales of an egg bound hen besides the duck like waddle and separated tushy feathers?
2) I went with the wood chips from Tractor supply in the chicken section when we first got our girls. That’s what I’m still using but I want to get rid of it ASAP! 5/7 of them have bumblefoot, and I believe the culprit is the stupid wood chips. They may have had it before we got them (all from same breeder) because we didn’t know any better and never looked. So my question is this: Being in Northern Colorado where is a dry season about 6/7 months of the year, but the other half ish is a couple months of rain(if we’re lucky) and a few months of snow (really deep sometimes or really light), what bedding would you recommend??? I’m looking into a mixture of fine, medium and course sands. I like the idea of sand very much. Their coop stays dry, the cage that encloses the coop gets wet in the summer from the sprinkler head that hits half of it 3 days a week.
3) How do you get your chickens to want to be held? They just follow me around everywhere waiting for treats I think. My Leghorn is the only one that lets me love on her. Sometimes one or both ISA Browns do.
Pics of our ladies below!
I have a few questions for you seasoned chicken owners:
1) If I have 7 hens who free range from sun up to sundown, get a high protein pellet diet mixed with red pepper flakes, get scratch and BSF larvae every single day, and I’m only, consistently, getting 4 of the same eggs laid every day, is it right to assume 2-3 hens aren’t laying for me? I get two of the dark browns from the ISA Browns (1 for sure!) and one white from the leghorn, and one cream/olive from the Dominique. Who isn’t laying? How would I be able to tell? Wouldn’t they get egg bound if they weren’t laying? What are the tales of an egg bound hen besides the duck like waddle and separated tushy feathers?
2) I went with the wood chips from Tractor supply in the chicken section when we first got our girls. That’s what I’m still using but I want to get rid of it ASAP! 5/7 of them have bumblefoot, and I believe the culprit is the stupid wood chips. They may have had it before we got them (all from same breeder) because we didn’t know any better and never looked. So my question is this: Being in Northern Colorado where is a dry season about 6/7 months of the year, but the other half ish is a couple months of rain(if we’re lucky) and a few months of snow (really deep sometimes or really light), what bedding would you recommend??? I’m looking into a mixture of fine, medium and course sands. I like the idea of sand very much. Their coop stays dry, the cage that encloses the coop gets wet in the summer from the sprinkler head that hits half of it 3 days a week.
3) How do you get your chickens to want to be held? They just follow me around everywhere waiting for treats I think. My Leghorn is the only one that lets me love on her. Sometimes one or both ISA Browns do.
Pics of our ladies below!
and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
