Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

12/06.
Still struggling for time at home.
Two and a half hours yesterday. Warm and dry late afternoon after quite a lot of rain earlier in the day.
Fret is still broody. Not sure what to do about it.

 

[BDutch]

Fret is still broody. Not sure what to do about it.

Take her home and give her a few eggs from your friend if she stll sits after the bus ride in a strange nest. She doesn’t need outside space now. And you have great companion @home.

 

[MROO]

I'm going for a mental health condition, something like that that causes mothers to kill their chicks.
I don't think I've ever had an egg eater. I've had hens eat eggs that have been broken by accident, or broken for them and in those cases they've eaten all the egg, surface permitting.

I have a hen that's a wonderful setter. She's a steady and reliable mama-to-be ... until those nasty little yellow things start breaking her eggs! Nowadays, if I can't "break" her she becomes an organic incubator. I let her set for the first two weeks, then finish off the clutch in my NurtureRight 360.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

12/06.
Still struggling for time at home.
Two and a half hours yesterday. Warm and dry late afternoon after quite a lot of rain earlier in the day.
Fret is still broody. Not sure what to do about it.
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I know you’re concerned about her leg…

What do hens in the wild do when they go broody but for whatever reason don’t have fertile eggs, or any eggs, I guess? Does the broodiness finally wear off, or do predators get them on the nest, or ??

 

[Mother of Chaos]

…I actually prefer it if they don't start laying very young. The birds that have had no glitches - straight into laying proper shelled eggs, rather than soft-shelled or other defects at the start - have typically hatched in summer, and don't start laying till Christmas or the following spring, pushing into a wait of 8 months or more for the first egg. The best of them then carry on the whole year (continuing through the winter), and personally I'd rather have eggs in winter than asap…

I’m a bit concerned that the EE is laying daily. (Her weird eggs cleared up pretty quickly.)

I never thought of EEs as production birds, but of course, as they’re mutts there’s no telling what went into an individual bird. The last thing I want is for her to have reproductive complications and an early death.

There doesn’t seem to be any slowing her down, though. She just hops in the coop each morning, lays, and pops back out, no drama. Somehow, giving her the daily paper and a pencil to work the crossword seems to fit the experience.

We’re getting two summer hatches next month *goes to check for newest list AGAIN*, and I had wondered how they fit in with molting, winter laying, etc.

 

[Perris]

I had wondered how they fit in with molting, winter laying, etc.

I think the trad wisdom on that is if a pullet starts laying before the nights really start drawing in (so after the autumnal equinox) then she may well keep laying through the winter and the following year till late summer when she'll moult for the 1st time. And those who want that (and don't depend on broodies' body clocks) set eggs in early spring to hatch by end March.

The same sources say if a pullet hasn't laid by end September, she's likely to hold off till the winter solstice at the earliest, and more commonly spring. This has fit my experience with heritage breeds. The one who took 11 months to get going hatched in April and didn't start laying till March the following year.

Immature birds may have mini-moults triggered by all sorts of things at all sorts of times, but a proper moult in late summer/ autumn to grow a lot of new plumage for winter, and to stop laying while doing it, is a pattern followed by most mature non-broody birds of my acquaintance.

 

[BDutch]

I think the trad wisdom on that is if a pullet starts laying before the nights really start drawing in (so after the autumnal equinox) then she may well keep laying through the winter and the following year till late summer when she'll moult for the 1st time. And those who want that (and don't depend on broodies' body clocks) set eggs in early spring to hatch by end March.

The same sources say if a pullet hasn't laid by end September, she's likely to hold off till the winter solstice at the earliest, and more commonly spring. This has fit my experience with heritage breeds. The one who took 11 months to get going hatched in April and didn't start laying till March the following year.

Immature birds may have mini-moults triggered by all sorts of things at all sorts of times, but a proper moult in late summer/ autumn to grow a lot of new plumage for winter, and to stop laying while doing it, is a pattern followed by most mature non-broody birds of my acquaintance.

Imho its hardly possible to generalise such things, even when naming the differences between heritage breeds and breeds established to lay many eggs.

I suppose the conclusion there’s not one size fits all, is the best.

Anyway your observations don’t apply very well for my chickens.

 

[fluffycrow]

Pullets here will start laying at five and a half to seven months old no matter the time of year. I don’t recall having any pullets wait until spring to lay their first egg. However, pullets that started laying in the summer or very early autumn might take a break during winter.

Please take into account that my winter temperatures hardly count as such for some of you, though light seems to be the main factor for egg laying, IME

 

[thistlewick]

Does BDutch not know Perris background in research and academia??



I trust and value Perris observations about literally anything and everything

 

[Perris]

my winter temperatures hardly count as such for some of you

count me in there! Your winter = balmy day here!

I trust and value Perris observations about literally anything and everything

I'm flattered, but that's a really bad idea To err is human and I am human.