Sapphire Olive Egger Egg Laying Journey

[Winderdear]

Also we lost that one hen. I have 5 SOE hens from the original 6. Tinki died a day after my post in August 2023.

I’m so sorry to hear that! Poor Tinki!

I just started reading your SOE journey. I hope the rest of your flock, including your new chicks have long healthy lives with you! What breed/s are your new additions?

 

[Minanora]

I’m so sorry to hear that! Poor Tinki!

I just started reading your SOE journey. I hope the rest of your flock, including your new chicks have long healthy lives with you! What breed/s are your new additions?

Thank you. She was my favorite.

I decided to add four different breeds, one of each, Barnevelder, Black Australorp, Cuckoo Marans, and a Speckled Sussex. These are all similar in size to my SOEs and I'll be able to tell them all apart from a greater distance. Plus a few of them are standard breeds that my son can show at the poultry show this fall. He fell in love with the idea of showing a chicken, and I am totally on board.

 

[Minanora]

Fyi, my SOE that molted, her feathers are coming back in nicely and yesterday she laid her first egg in just over a month. The egg is much smaller than her eggs were prior to the onset of the molt, on the smaller size of medium grade. But I'm excited that she's laying again. My husband is now giving eggs to friends, so I'm glad to have more coming.

I started stockpiling eggs in October, and I'm finally down to 4 dozen, less than a month old. So I am not feeding our family as much egg salad. I have two people that I regularly give eggs and we've still been able to keep up. I also started making my own mayonnaise!

 

[Minanora]

I also wanted to note that my lightest SOE that went through the molt also has spurs. No claws on them, just long nubs. None of the others have them.

Here are the ladies last week.

 

[Minanora]

Ah, I think it's time for an update!

As of November the girls all started molting to some degree. Peaches went hard and molted a lot more than her mini molt she had.

These girls have the biggest combs I've ever seen....

You can see their old feathers are the more brown ones. They have turned a really pretty sapphire color. Also their mohawks were pretty much non-existent prior to molt, now that they're molting they have their happy floof back!

Don't mind the Cuckoo Marans in this photo with her head below Fidget eating scratch off of the pathway.

 

[Minanora]

Fidget! She's the only one that lays green eggs (medium sized) and she's molting very slowly. She's slowed down with laying but she's still laying while molting.

You can see her new gray feathers.

That huge comb though.

Below her is Merlin. She lays almost/sometimes extra large eggs. Light brown though.

 

[Minanora]

The saga continues. Fidget had an egg break inside of her. She had been laying eggs that you could tell were too large for her, they all were an elongated shape. She's still alive, it's been 4 months at least. She passed a lash egg a few weeks after and I medicated her with kanamycin. She's a good weight but has never been the same since the incident. She has not laid an egg since.

Hiker has a defective shell gland or issues absorbing calcium. She lays thin shelled eggs even when I give her calcium pills. The pills help but not a lot.

Merlin still lays extra large eggs but she usually poops when she lays now. I assume it's because they're so large. She's in perfect health and the coop is in good condition.

Of the 4 chickens I added to the flock last year, I only have 2. The Barney was a roo and the speckled died out of nowhere while sleeping.

I have 11 chickens now. Got 4 more this year. I expect fidget will pass this year.

Susu and peach are still laying and in very good condition. Peaches spurs are a bit long. I will probably trim them soon.