Obsessed Newbie flock of 10 w/ laying and behavior probs*Photos*

[ravenfeathers]

Quote:
haha, poor DH! i think it's fine to have hens that aren't pets, very few people actually do, but i dunno. doesn't seem like it would hurt to have the kids lugging them around a bit. when i was a kid, we always went around loving on calves meant for beef and chickens meant for the stewpot. i've had some real quality time with newborn dairy bulls a day off from the bologna factory. *shrugs*

I'm not sure if I even have an egg eater. Is it possible 1 of the BR is laying, but only once a week? The egg I found in the dirt other than being partially buried was just sitting there being ignored. Right by the favorite hangout spot. It looked like it had been scratched around a little.

It was next to the "good" dirt hole so I'm thinking it was scratched out of the way but otherwise left alone.

with critters, anything is possible. if you haven't found any egg "remains", even small bits of shell, i'd say egg eating probably isn't the problem. do your hens have nest boxes and/or do they mostly free range? you might have one saving up eggs somewhere else.

i had one pecked egg from our hen, but none since. she laid it right next to her food dish in her run and i think it got caught in the crossfire or she may have upended the crock onto the egg. no pecked eggs since.

I didn't realize the scratch was a treat. I'm thinking maybe I should take it out in case any of them are pigging out on it and ignoring the stuff they should be eating. I'd love a steady diet of chocolate myself, but...not a good idea.

and that was my next thought, that if you did have an egg eater, it might be dietary. making sure they're getting adequate protein is a big step toward eliminating egg eating, if that's what's happening. again, it doesn't sound like that's what's going on. sounds more like laying hijinx.​

 

[Lammie]

I throw scratch every day but it gives them something to do more than anything else. And it is an enticement to the range chickens to stay around the barn and lay in there.

Pullets will lay eggs on the ground sometimes before they get the habit of using the box. Make sure your nesting boxes are up high enough that the chickens aren't tempted to mill around in them, breaking eggs or kicking them out. Also, if there are aggressive chickens, others can use the boxes to hide in and in the process eggs can get tromped.

Chickens can develop a taste for eggs when one gets accidently broken.

Everything will work itself out.

 

[averytds]

Thanks for all the tips. I've got golf balls in the nests and will keep up on the extra egg checks for now. I'm thinking whether its one of the RIRs or BRs, she's just not laying nearly as often. Hopefully the balls will encourage her to do it in the nest. We'll see.

I let both the ladies and the babies out together in a neutral territory area that's a bit overgrown. Four hours in which they completely ignored each other. 10 seconds in the coop yard and we had an incident.

Kids!

Here's some pics if I worked everything right.
Lucy my steady layer.

Ethel The sporadic softshell

Red

All the ladies. Baby's in back. Then Ethel, Lucy and Red up front.

The twins Hip and Hop. I don't know which is which.

Lessa-Buff Brahma

The 3 Ameraucanas which I think are actually Americauna-Brahma mix.
Hunter

Scratch

Smokey

 

[ravenfeathers]

Quote:
aw, i love your BRs! also, hip and hop are awesome names.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

I didn't read everything so I don't know if oyster shell was mentioned that is needed for hard shell

when my pullets went through that I also added dry milk to everything I gave them

 

[averytds]

Thanks. I helped with Lucy and Ethel, but the kids picked the rest. Hip, Hop and Hunter are my DS's.

The oyster shell is readily available, I think she may just not be eating it or at least not as much as she should. Since she's just starting though I figured she'll get to it eventually.