Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[BullChick]

I am glad you liked my little poem. Yours is nice too, JC.
I collected a white egg (the third) Saturday morning, and DH collected the eggs Sunday morning. He brought in 3 more white eggs! Unfortunately, the total eggs for Saturday and Sunday was only 18. That is 4 white eggs (from possible 3 LH, the 4th LH is in another pen) and one egg from 2 BCM hens. None from the EE/Am. I have a total of 22 layers.
While figuring out how many layers I have, I discovered that I have 46 chickens, not 45.

I have been literally counting the bantams as 1/2. I also don't think 22 layers sounds right. I thought I had more. That may be because I did have one pass away last Fall. Anyway! My egg numbers have been down for a while. I excuse one girl that has been giving me painfully big eggs (a jumbo is 72g. Her's is 109) lately. I have 2 girls I know I am waiting it out for, 7 that I have another 2-6 weeks to wait for, 3 that are going to be another 2-3 months probably (BCM) and 2 EE that have not laid since April. They are getting on my nerves.
I would also like to share that tomorrow my first (and only) batch of shipped chicks will be one!

They grow up so fast!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Still no eggs, observed a bit of squatting this weekend. ..and I swear I heard one of the girls practicing the egg song yesterday morning before I let them out...ran inside and nothing. Also, one of our dogs broke his chain and killed my Road Runner. RR is a pain to round up, and he had flown into the loft and out the hay door yesterday morning. A little gsl pullet snuck out, too, but we found her hidden way back in the brush.
Sad Reina

So sorry about RR.

I always feel terribly guilty if my dogs kill something, even a skunk.

Luckily the hens seem to understand that it is safer on their side of the fence, so we don't have many escape attempts. The little dog, Scooter, won't even think about chasing chickens if the big dog Belle is not present; he takes any little cue from Belle and use as an excuse to go yappy-crazy. All she has to do is look at the chickens with intent, and he becomes the Great Fluffy Hunter.

Sounds like your pullets are getting closer to laying. I have a theory that they intentionally torture us with all the eggy signs, getting our hopes up with squatting and singing, while after finding the nest empty yet again, we deflatedly tell ourselves tomorrow will be the day. They enjoy watching our enthusiasm get crushed. It's kind of a preventative measure ensuring that we never take them and their eggs for granted. (And to keep their names off the meat list!

) Stay strong, RR, it won't be long.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

For its worth....I've never heard an egg song. My girls just yell really loudly anytime they see me.

I've always thought to call it a "song" is pushing things a bit. Have you ever heard them do the shrieking-squawking-something's-going-to-kill-me alert call, like when a hawk goes over? The egg song sounds pretty much like that. I have a few hens that don't do it at all. We call them Stealth Layers. Wish I had more of those type, actually.

 

[showbarnmom]

I get yelled at. By the layers and none layers. Lol. Apparently their accommodations do not meet their expectations.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Ooo, they sound like those mean girls from high school. You could try OKs Meat Bird list. Or maybe it's their way of showing how much they love and appreciate you because with chickens it's not about the accommodations; it's all about the FOOD.

 

[luvmychicken]

Who turned the egg laying machine back on??? I thank you. I got 6 eggs today. Yaaaa

 

[cheeka]

ahhh, the egg song, it was months after they started laying that I first heard it. it's usually pretty loud around here when it goes off as the boys also join in with their version of the song... exactly the same, just a different pitch. I have to laugh every time Coral clucks... I think of OK"s Roger... it's more like a peacock call, and when she really gets going, she punctuates it with rapid bursts of sound... like a machine gun. she's out there now... making Chester bark...

my girl named Beryl laid a fabulous blue egg while I was stroking her back. she was in the communal nest, there were a few eggs under her, and I thought she might let me collect them if I patted her a bit. I didn't exactly catch this one, it rolled down the back of my hand tho'. it is clearly a double yolk. I'll weigh it and photograph it later on. Slowly and surely, I am figuring out who lays what... at least colorwise.

it's 90* dowtown, with a dew point of 75, so it feels like it's about 200*. it's only 78* up here and breezy... not too bad. the battery on the lawn mower is dead again

it's only a year old in August, I need to exchange it under the warranty. I tried to do that in the Spring, and they put in on a charger, said it was okay, but it dies all the time. enough already! I need to cut the grass... figured I'd wait til 6pm, when it cools down even more. it's a bit hot to be out in the sun, really pleasant in the shade tho', I've brought the gang some fresh fruit that I froze. hand fed Peach on her nest, she loves cold peaches the best - she is so spoiled, I break up the peach into little bits and she takes them one by one and then looks at me with all her facial feathers puffed out... by the time she finishes the first slice, her little beard is all juicy. at last check, she was up taking a dust bath in the lilac, so I went to check on her eggs. one is gone - no trace - but the remaining 7 were toasty warm.

 

[cheeka]

distractions... i had hopped up to do something, forgot I had that whole paragraph sitting unposted... went out and cut the lawn from 4-6, and now that I'm completely exhausted... realized... knucklehead... I have 12 eggs for the day, that one weighs in at almost 3 ounces... I need a bath

New York State Severe Weather Alerts
Heat Advisory extended for...
1) NYC through Wednesday night. Heat index values will soar into the low 100s from a combination of the heat and humidity. The highest heat index will occur during the afternoon and early evening hours Tues & Wed.
2) Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, Orange, eastern Ulster & western Dutchess Counties through tomorrow night. Heat index values will reach 100° tomorrow, especially during the afternoon and early evening hours.

they're toast. glad it's south of me... but it's gonna be stinkin' hot!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Still no eggs, observed a bit of squatting this weekend. ..and I swear I heard one of the girls practicing the egg song yesterday morning before I let them out...ran inside and nothing. Also, one of our dogs broke his chain and killed my Road Runner. RR is a pain to round up, and he had flown into the loft and out the hay door yesterday morning. A little gsl pullet snuck out, too, but we found her hidden way back in the brush.
Sad Reina

i am so sorry

 

[cheeka]

x 2 RR,