Capoken
In the Brooder
It was a very eggciting long weekend. Our 4 RIR turned 20 weeks old and 1 of them started laying. We knew we were close as the most mature looking of them finally started squatting as we bent down to pet her. The following day she was making a big racket, with a comical BA-KAWK sound repeatedly. And then around mid-afternoon I heard a very loud BA-KAWK coming from inside the nesting boxes. A second or two later she shot out of the coop and joined her 3 sisters in the run. I figured that had to be the moment. I went into the run and lifted the nest box lid to find my two fake eggs had some very real company. It was a decent sized (medium) light brown egg with a perfectly hard shell and just a titch of blood.
The next day they were quiet, and no eggs. But the following day, yesterday, I found another egg in the same nesting box (the one with the fake eggs). The second one was smaller, but also had a hard shell and was perfectly clean.
So we are very happy to start to get a return. As of now, each egg cost $504 – LOL. But I’m sure the other three will start laying in the coming days and weeks, as another one or two have started to squat.
The details of the past 20 weeks are as follows:
April 15th, rec’d 4 day old RIR from MYpetchicken. Moved outside to the coop and run around 7 weeks of age. By that point they were on Nature’s Best organic grower feed. During their 16th week I started to transition them to organic layer crumble form the same brand. I also feed them organic scratch from the same brand and garden produce that is not good enough for humans (cabbage that has split, overripe cucumber, tomatoes with blossom end issues). They stay most hours of the day in the 100 sq ft run but we get them out to free range a little bit every day too – the kids love that, and so do the birds.
The next day they were quiet, and no eggs. But the following day, yesterday, I found another egg in the same nesting box (the one with the fake eggs). The second one was smaller, but also had a hard shell and was perfectly clean.
So we are very happy to start to get a return. As of now, each egg cost $504 – LOL. But I’m sure the other three will start laying in the coming days and weeks, as another one or two have started to squat.
The details of the past 20 weeks are as follows:
April 15th, rec’d 4 day old RIR from MYpetchicken. Moved outside to the coop and run around 7 weeks of age. By that point they were on Nature’s Best organic grower feed. During their 16th week I started to transition them to organic layer crumble form the same brand. I also feed them organic scratch from the same brand and garden produce that is not good enough for humans (cabbage that has split, overripe cucumber, tomatoes with blossom end issues). They stay most hours of the day in the 100 sq ft run but we get them out to free range a little bit every day too – the kids love that, and so do the birds.
