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lobster omlette

lobster omlette

In the Brooder
8 Years
Dec 3, 2011
14
0
22
Hello everyone! i got 3 chickens for my bday a couple months ago. I have never been around chickens before they are so cool cant wait for eggs though, my wife got em for me and the guy we got them from said 1 month for the eggs its almost 3 no eggs but doing a little research and mine might be too young. I do have questions though. What are the ear lobes(egg color)? How can I tell the age? They dont seem to like the coop but prefer the bar under the patio lol no booze out in the bar though just the mess. How do i get them to like the coop? As soon as I figure out the pix part I'll post them of the birds and the coop. By the way is it normal for chickens to eat lizards and rodents, cat killed a small yard rat and they got to it before i could clean it up. Thanx hope to here something soon.
 
Hello, welcome!!
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I don't really know about your first two questions, but i do know how to get them to like the coop. I noticed that if you place them on the bar (or roost) at night when they're ready to sleep, they might start to like it.
Yes, it is normal for them to eat anything they can find!
Once again, welcome, and were happy to have you!
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Hi Omlette,

Welcome to BYC! Were your chickens babies when you got them? If so, three months is probably too early for eggs. You'll want to give them some sort of box with nesting stuff (straw or something like that) to lay eggs in eventually, otherwise it's an easter egg hunt every day.

Chicken Peep is right, you have to show them where you want them to sleep. You could try moving them from where they want to be to where you want them to be once they get all sleepy at night. Mine only need one night in the new place, where they wake up is where they go back the next night. Yours might take more time since they are used to the bar under the patio, but I'll bet it doesn't take much time. I don't think chickens have long memories.

Anyway, welcome to the chicken adventure!
 
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Yes, they are probably too young. They will lay in their own time. Since they are young they will probably lay this winter, but it is possible they will wait till the winter darkness is over.

Earlobes are not an accurate predictor of egg color. If you post pictures in the breeds forum you will get lots of opinions on their breed & age, and then you might get an idea of the egg color. Even then it's not always certain till they start to lay.

A lot of people have to resort to locking them in the coop for a week or so, to train them where to sleep.

And yes dead rat & lizard is on the menu; among many other things.



Imp
 
Thank you all for the reply i.ll just do like you say and put em in the coop at night time. Not to concerned about eating the lizards but dont really want them eating the dead rats t once again thank you all very much as far as the eggs we just have to wait and see!!!
 
Hahaha mine love to eat mice .... I was very shocked the first time I saw it all go down .... my chicken innocence was washed away . It does seem like forever for that first egg , we got our chicks and did all the math and there were still no eggs when we figured ( chickens aren't good at math apparently ) but now 7 months later me are getting an average of 14 per day ... its like christmas when you find one!
 
Recently my whole flock ran at top speed about 50' to attack one poor little mouse, who was a goner the moment they arrived. Wait til you see one eat a 1" snake! Quite natural. Only thing is, avoid rat killing poisons with warfarin in them, as this gets passed on to the chicken and can make them bleed out, too. A newer rat poison, bromadiolone, is much less likely to harm whatever eats the rat.
 

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