- Mar 22, 2010
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Our chickens were hatched late last summer and began to lay in mid February. Everything seemed to go along well until a few weeks ago. Now, every couple weeks or so, we get a sloppy mess, rather than an egg from one of our hens. She normally gives very large, thick shelled eggs. Yesterday, there wasn't even a yolk. She seems to be nervous a lot, laying in the run sometimes, pacing a lot, and sometimes not laying at all for a couple days.
I joke that our girls eat better than I do. They love Broccoli, eat good lettuces, Elderberries, Blueberries, Carrot, Cabbage etc. We also make them a cornmeal mush from time to time, adding a bit of suet cake during the colder weather. I even went a little crazy and bought them a mix of organic seeds to throw down for scratch. Flax, Wheat, Rye, Barley etc. They get a layer mix for their regular feed and we put them out into a chicken tractor during the day whenever the ground has bare spots that are snow free. I handle them daily and have noticed that since they started to lay, they have become much more docile, and are happy to be picked up. However, also since they have started laying, the bone along the front of their breast seems to be getting more pronounced.
Is this all normal? Do I worry too much? These girls were a rescue of sorts from a place that had very poor conditions for their chickens. Would that have anything to do with it?
Thanks in advance for your input. Tony
I joke that our girls eat better than I do. They love Broccoli, eat good lettuces, Elderberries, Blueberries, Carrot, Cabbage etc. We also make them a cornmeal mush from time to time, adding a bit of suet cake during the colder weather. I even went a little crazy and bought them a mix of organic seeds to throw down for scratch. Flax, Wheat, Rye, Barley etc. They get a layer mix for their regular feed and we put them out into a chicken tractor during the day whenever the ground has bare spots that are snow free. I handle them daily and have noticed that since they started to lay, they have become much more docile, and are happy to be picked up. However, also since they have started laying, the bone along the front of their breast seems to be getting more pronounced.
Is this all normal? Do I worry too much? These girls were a rescue of sorts from a place that had very poor conditions for their chickens. Would that have anything to do with it?
Thanks in advance for your input. Tony
