Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[showbarnmom]

Waiting on layers : 2 one yr olds I bought a month ago still haven't started laying for me yet. 2 20 week old Pullets, one SS and one game bantem. I'm thinking the game is going to lay within a few weeks. Her combs nice and red.

The two 1 yr olds are an EE and a SLW. Both squat when I approach, both nest in the boxes or in the shavings in the coop. SLW has a bald red bum. So I dunno I bought 3 from a kid and 1 (a RIR ) is laying. They were suppose to all be the same age.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Mylee is so cute I hope my daughter wants to play with the chickens . So I have two to wait on my silkie and my faverolle.....I am thinking twenty weeks . Not sure if silkies have a shorter or longer wait.

Anyways I popped on to tell yall the bad news....I have egg eaters...Not egglands best thats for sure....Urgh. My father let me know today that he stopped by the coop while I was gone and caught three hens eating eggs...they ate shell and all and he just watched

So I have loaded easter eggs into the nesting box and put up a curtain. I already have blown some eggs before and I may fill them with mustard. I am so mad

because as soon as I put the colored easter eggs in the community nest box (not sure if that is what started this problem) Mary the Ancona whom I constantly complained I didn't get white eggs from.....she jumped up there and cracked one filled with sand open. She left right after.

I may now know why I never get white eggs. Earlier today I found it funny that one of my girls wouldnt let me clean like normal. She didn't seem to be laying an egg but she was all huddled in there...I noticed her tucking an egg (not her own) under her chest and making sure it was tucked tight. I wondered for a moment if she was going to turn into a broody..as soon as I put my hand out with some scratch she jumped up though. I think she was protecting the eggs though. Ive caught her a few times guarding eggs while others stare at her.

So what to do what to do? I felt like the old nesting boxes cramped them up...so I built them these larger almost shelf like community boxes...do I make them smaller or see if the dummy eggs work? I plan on collecting eggs a few times throughout the day now. And I might be speeding up that game camera idea. I picked up Mary after she pecked the egg and had a discussion about how I had been worried she had mites or some other issue and how I felt bad for her but now she was getting closer to being KFC if she didn't cut this egg eating out.

What a bummer. In addition to the other things you mentioned, try adding some vitamins to the water (sav-a-chick) and some probiotics and upping their protein. I've read that egg eating usually starts from nutritional deficiencies in a particular bird. Upping nutrition can also help harden the shells. I thought mine were starting to eat eggs, but realized it was only the thin shelled eggs of my BO that were targeted because they broke when they got stepped on. Unfortunately, your girl seems to be teaching the others her bad habit, but she may be the only one actually breaking the shells, so there is hope. Good luck.

Oh, forgot to say that my feed store carries realistic decoy eggs. Think they are wooden, very hard, natural colors. Might help if you can find them. Chickens have good vision and will probably quickly figure out that the colored plastic ones are fakes.

 

[Susies Zoo]

This is true.  For the last 2 weeks my hen Frightful was not laying consistantly and Crackers was still too young.  So this last pay day i went out and bought 18 eggs.  Well wouldnt you know it, Frightful immediately started laying big brown perfect eggs and Crackers started laying!  Now I ahve 4 home eggs and 18 store eggs......we go through 18 eggs in about 3 weeks lol.  Guess I can give them to my mother in law lol.

How cute! I have an Easter Egger named Crackers too! Unfortunatley he is a roo by suprise so no eggs from him!!

 

[Sallysec]

Thanks for the suggestions, I always had stones in there so that isnt going to help I think. I am afraid that w4w that you are right and they have already figured out the difference. This morning I ran out there in my jammies with it still starting to get light to see if I had eggs...nada...then I went out again at 8am when my son got on his bus. Nothing. So I am checking all day. I decided to let them free range all day so maybe they wont get bored? I put in another calcium peanut toy thingy from the parrot store that the guy said was perfectly healthy for chickens. The eggs are already hard ....infact one of my friends called me and said what do they eat that makes the egg shells so friggen hard to break. Today I will try a darker cloth curtain because this morning it was still bright and sunny in the nest box.

Will let everyone know the progress....grrrr

 

[Sallysec]

When everything seems like its failing...I figured I'd try pie....apparently only Lucy will eat pie

Apparently the face is scary

One white egg in the box just now

 

[Sallysec]

My yogurt was better

 

[BullChick]

Just taking a moment to say the first chick was under Baby this morning.


Seems obvious that it is a RIR mix. Mom or dad is not known yet. We will see when the comb comes.

 

[Reina Rana]

My big kids are 18 weeks (2roos 21 pullets) girls are filling out and getting redder, but no signs of laying yet. Minis are 15 weeks (I think I have a little white leghorn roo starting to show out, so 10 pullets, 1 mini roo) and 6 17 week old mallards (2 drakes, 4 hens) what is average POL for ducks?

 

[Sallysec]

My big kids are 18 weeks (2roos 21 pullets) girls are filling out and getting redder, but no signs of laying yet. Minis are 15 weeks (I think I have a little white leghorn roo starting to show out, so 10 pullets, 1 mini roo) and 6 17 week old mallards (2 drakes, 4 hens) what is average POL for ducks?

waiting for the eggs

 

[cheeka]

We're in Massachussets til tomorrow. I'm a little freaked out... I know all is well but I haven't been away from home overnight in forever... certainly not since i got the chickens... i got some good pictures of the children playing at the lake. It will be nice to go home in the morning