New to chickens in AZ

[Lpsouth1978]

Well, we got our first eggs today, however, they were both no good and super soft. One was almost all liquid with a SUPER soft shell. We have not been giving them oyster shell because they are fed layer crumbles, so I just ordered a 10lb box of oyster shell and will start offering it to them tomorrow. Hopefully we see an improvement quickly and can start enjoying the eggs soon.

 

[DobieLover]

Well, we got our first eggs today, however, they were both no good and super soft. One was almost all liquid with a SUPER soft shell. We have not been giving them oyster shell because they are fed layer crumbles, so I just ordered a 10lb box of oyster shell and will start offering it to them tomorrow. Hopefully we see an improvement quickly and can start enjoying the eggs soon.

It's not uncommon to have soft-shelled eggs in new layers. Definitely get and keep them on oyster shell, with constant free choice access.
Once everyone is laying normal eggs, consider also switching the flock over to a higher protein feed. Something that has 18-20% protein. It will keep them in better condition than offering the normal 16% that is found in most layer mixes.

 

[triciayoung]

Welcome. It looks like your brother has chicken math fever. Your chickens are beautiful.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

It's not uncommon to have soft-shelled eggs in new layers. Definitely get and keep them on oyster shell, with constant free choice access.
Once everyone is laying normal eggs, consider also switching the flock over to a higher protein feed. Something that has 18-20% protein. It will keep them in better condition than offering the normal 16% that is found in most layer mixes.

Thank you. I had seen that soft shells are common in the early days of laying, so I am just waiting and watching for proper eggs. In the mean time, I have 10lbs of oyster shell being delivered today.

As for the feed, we just placed an order last week for our layer feed for the next couple of months so we won't be switching to a higher protein feed until May or June at the earliest. The mill that we order from doesn't offer an "all flock" option, but they do have a "Broiler" option that has 20% protein. This is what we plan to order in the future.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Welcome. It looks like your brother has chicken math fever. Your chickens are beautiful.

I believe he does. I am onboard with the chicken math as well and look forward to the fun. That being said, so many birds will produce FAR more eggs than we can possibly use, though we will be freeze drying many of them for a while. We hope to be able to give eggs to friends and neighbors rather than sell the excess. We would like to help those around us, not profit from them (not that there is actually any profit to be made, haha).

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Update!

Eggs are coming steadily now. We have had eggs ever day this week. Today was the best day so far with 5 eggs from 11 girls. I know there are still some not laying, but I am surprised to see so many start laying at the same time (almost exactly 20 weeks old). I have NO idea who these are are from, but we are glad to have them. They are all quite small eggs so far, but they still cooked up the same. I took the 4 in the picture and made myself a tasty egg sandwich for lunch.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

The day has finally arrived. In the morning we will begin construction on the new coop. This will NOT be replacing the old coop, but will be used in addition. We hope to add another 12-15 pullets to the flock and this will house those additional birds. The new coop will be 8'x8'x8' and only partially enclosed. Both coops will be moved into a fenced in area that is roughly 30'x30' so the chickens will have PLENTY of space. We also plan to keep the enclosed run on the original coop so that we can more easily introduce new birds to the flock both now and in the future.

 

[DobieLover]

This will NOT be replacing the old coop, but will be used in addition. We hope to add another 12-15 pullets to the flock and this will house those additional birds. The new coop will be 8'x8'x8' and only partially enclosed. Both coops will be moved into a fenced in area that is roughly 30'x30' so the chickens will have PLENTY of space.

You do realize that unless the flocks are penned separately they will eventually integrate as one big flock and will all use one coop?

 

[Lpsouth1978]

You do realize that unless the flocks are penned separately they will eventually integrate as one big flock and will all use one coop?

Indeed, I was NOT aware of this. However, due to your post, we changed the plans and found a way to combine the 2 coops rather than have 2 separate coops. we will now have 1 larger coop AND have the ability to separate new chickens from older ones when integrating into the flock.

The side door on the current coop will now swing open into the new, larger, coop, thereby opening them up to each other and effectively turning it into one larger coop. The enclosed run will still be attached to the current coop, while the new one is an open air coop with no enclosed run, allowing access to the entire area. We plan to leave the door between the coops open all the time unless there is a reason to close the door to separate some chicken/s from the rest of the flock. In those instances, we will close the side door and keep them in the fully enclosed coop and run.

I know this sounds a bit confusing, but it should make integrating new birds much easier and allow us to keep the coop we have now. I will be sure to add pics once we have the 2 coops combined.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

With the larger coop build well under way, we decided to get the order in for the new chicks. They are not estimated to ship until May, so the new coop should be complete well in advance of their arrival. Plus they will be in the brooder for a number of weeks after they arrive. We had to order a minimum of 25 chicks, so we will have to find new homes for a handful of them, but that should be easy to do.

We ended up ordering:
5 x Novagen White
5 x Novagen Brown
5 x Black Chocolate Queen
5 x Barred Plymouth Rock
5 x ColorPack Layers (Basically easter eggers derived from Cream Legbars rather than Auracana or Americana)

This will give us 36 chickens total, but we only have room in the coop for up to 30, so we will re-home 6-8 of the new chicks when they arrive. In addition to the birds listed above, we currently have:

3 x Production Red
3 x Sapphire Gem
2 x Barred Rock
2 x Silver Laced Wyandotte
1 x Easter Egger