Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[lindz8504]

Well... today was a low count day for eggs, unless everyone decides to lay between now and dark. I got 1 EE egg, 1 G.Comet egg, and one teeny egg from someone. It is brown, so I guess it is from one of the G.Comet girls.

My eggs from today.... next to a penny.

And here is the teeny egg compared to Clarabelle's and a regular G.Comet egg!



EDITED TO ADD:

I waited til my kids got home and cracked the little egg open... I figured it wouldn't have a yolk, but it did!!!!!!! It was tiny and about the size of a pencil eraser.

 

[cheeka]

too cool lindz!

JC, I've said my prayers, and am so hopeful that your Dad can go the less invasive route!

OK, gun season opens tomorrow! these hills will be crawling with hunters,( not as many bow users 'round here...) I can't wait til my friend uses up his tags so he can come and process Carl. although, I may have found someone else to do the job. the butcher who donates scraps and organ meat that his customers don't want to the wildlife preserve asked me if I wanted a job yesterday (there was an enormous bull hanging in the shop

) I was polite, but said no... loaded up the meat and split, but then I got to thinking... I should talk to him again. I know he processes birds too... maybe he would be willing to teach me... I know I can't kill them tho'

2 Eggs again today. I sit and shake my head... 7 quarts of feed and seed and oats... daily... for a paltry #. I'm really not upset, I love them. and I made more changes to living arrangements again today. I decided that I should be able to stand erect when taking care of all the birds over the winter. no crouching. that rules out the broody pen. it's only 4' tall with a peaked roof, but it's still barely 5'... So, I moved the 7 bantam cockerels back to the original section of the Bachelor Pen. only Sam and Gil are new to that pen. I scattered BOSS all over the bedding so they'd be too busy having fun to think about ranking in the larger space. I took the corrugated roofing panels and hung them on the walls on the inside and vinyl on the outside. still have to do the other 2 sections, but now I have a working plan. the roofing panels are awesome, flexible enough to work with despite being 12' long. I'll be finished tomorrow afternoon and then I'm ready for the deep cold!

 

[okallthis4eggs]

too cool lindz!

JC, I've said my prayers, and am so hopeful that your Dad can go the less invasive route!  

OK, gun season opens tomorrow!   these hills will be crawling with hunters,( not as many bow users 'round here...) I can't wait til my friend uses up his tags so he can come and process Carl.  although, I may have found someone else to do the job.  the butcher who donates scraps and organ meat that his customers don't want to the wildlife preserve asked me if I wanted a job yesterday (there was an enormous bull hanging in the shop  )  I was polite, but said no... loaded up the meat and split, but then I got to thinking...  I should talk to him again.  I know he processes birds too... maybe he would be willing to teach me... I know I can't kill them tho'   

2 Eggs again today.  I sit and shake my head... 7 quarts of feed and seed and oats... daily... for a paltry #.  I'm really not upset, I love them.  and I made more changes to living arrangements again today.  I decided that I should be able to stand erect when taking care of all the birds over the winter.  no crouching.  that rules out the broody pen.  it's only 4' tall with a peaked roof, but it's still barely 5'... So, I moved the 7 bantam cockerels back to the original section of the Bachelor Pen.  only Sam and Gil are new to that pen.  I scattered BOSS all over the bedding so they'd be too busy having fun to think about ranking in the larger space.  I took the corrugated roofing panels and hung them on the walls on the inside and vinyl on the outside.  still have to do the other 2 sections, but now I have a working plan.  the roofing panels are awesome, flexible enough to work with despite being 12' long.  I'll be finished tomorrow afternoon and then I'm ready for the deep cold!

Gun season in Kentucky started last weekend. I filled my buck tag so now it is just a matter of how many does I want to take.[COLOR=red Roger wants three for herself....go figure. Does are unlimited in this area. Probably will wait till the end of the season when it is colder to kill does and fill the freezer full.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

I see you, OK! Why are you up so late? Day off tomorrow?

It's me. I can't use the color bar. So text is black. Dad has sleepless nights when he is busy. Misses you all and tries to stay caught up. We hardly ever see him this time of the year. But don't worry he will be back.

to OK and you too, [COLOR=FF0000]ROGER[/COLOR]

Thanks.....My BYC friends are AWESOME.

 

[chickenlindz]

When I was in highschool we use to get the first day of shotgun season off! That's how I always remember when ours starts down here. Usually not til first week of dec.

 

[cheeka]

gun season is usually the Saturday around my birthday and before Thanksgiving... it's a full week early this year. it's easy to get buck tags here, we need tags for doe too, and those can be hard to get. some counties give out one per, others run a lottery. some people who allow hunting on their vast farmlands do not allow doe hunting regardless of your available tags. the first day always makes me nervous. all the hilltowns are crawling with citiots who've come up to kill. they shoot and don't track, don't retrieve... and I have to drive all these seriously off the beaten path-in the woods-dirt roads and I don't want to catch a stray shot.

I went out after dark to see where everyone is roosting - Sillie is in her Mama's kennel nest, the 4 Cochins are on the front roosts, 2 on each side, I can't see into the store bought coop anymore with the tarp, but no one was in the nest box, I know that Isis moved in there with the 2 Marans and the white EE, there's room for at least 2 more, and I couldn't find Peach or the bantam Marans, Esther... they must be up there. Over at the boys pen, all 7 of them were on the preferred night roost, glad they all fit so nicely. they use the other roost in the morning and during the day... Royce roosts on the same line, just a bit of chain link between them. all is continuing to go so very well. I do feel good about how I've managed to be a successful rooster keeper. I don't dare put OEGBrutus in with the now 7 member gang. Dutch could... but Brutus needs company and that's that. I'll leave them with the hens for the Winter, then if I still live here... I'll divvy up another section, I just need one chain link panel, preferably with a door.

 

[lindz8504]

Well... today was a low count day for eggs, unless everyone decides to lay between now and dark. I got 1 EE egg, 1 G.Comet egg, and one teeny egg from someone. It is brown, so I guess it is from one of the G.Comet girls.

My eggs from today.... next to a penny.

And here is the teeny egg compared to Clarabelle's and a regular G.Comet egg!



EDITED TO ADD:

I waited til my kids got home and cracked the little egg open... I figured it wouldn't have a yolk, but it did!!!!!!! It was tiny and about the size of a pencil eraser.

Clarabelle had laid an egg when I went to lock up the coop tonight, so that means I got 1 G.Comet, 1 EE, 1 Cochin and 1 teeny egg....

 

[SullyD]

Happy Saturday all!

Cheeka - Love your term "citiots! We get lots of poachers in my neighborhood. People too lazy to do it the legal way. Our deer are just sitting there grazing on the front lawns, there for the taking. We don't allow hunting here. In fact, you cannot shoot a gun in the 'hood. Although there are rumors of a black panther (escaped from the circus years ago), that has attacked horses! I think if it were attacking my horses, I would be shooting off a gun! Just to scare it! And I was worried about a little 'possum!

I have to say, it is so nice to be able to actually use my little basket to collect eggs! Too many to fit in my hands, finally! I discovered at least one of my OE lays a brown egg

I bet the other two do too. Well, I will have to make my own OE! Fun project for the winter! What would be better, an AM rooster over a brown layer, or a Marans rooster over an AM or CL hen?? I also want to try the AM rooster over the CL hen and see what I get (probably all boys with my luck). I bet those will be some pretty blue eggs if I do get girls. I may have to play mad scientist this winter and try them all! Bahahahaha!

I got a really weird egg yesterday. Most definitely a double, but it looks like two eggs stuck together, there is a seam and everything!




Here are some of the eggs I collected this week, yay! First time I got enough eggs to fill the tray in less than a week.



One last thing. Does anyone use either sand or sawdust (pellets that you add water to and it makes a fine sawdust) in their coops? I found a great product for scooping. It is called the Shake n Rake. It is basically a manure fork with hardware cloth attached. It makes very short work of shifting through the sawdust (I use the pellets for the horses too) and picks up all but the smallest pieces. Awesome product. There is actually a motorized one that is used on golf courses to clean the sand traps. It was also used on the beaches after the oil spill. I highly recommend it to anyone that uses sand or sawdust.

Have a great weekend!

 

[cheeka]

Wow Sully! those are gorgeous!!! and your wonky egg might actually be a triple... but it's surely a double! it definitely looks like two seamed eggs...

I don't use sawdust or sand, thought about sand, but thought it would be too cold to use in the winter - and too heavy to exchange twice a year...I use clippings, leaves, pine needles - anything I can rake up or collect either on the roadside or at the dump - this "dump" is only for leaves and wood chips. I don't use the wood chips in the coops or run, but I do in the flower beds out front, and around the gardens. Last year, when I ran out of what I collected, Winter was a month from ending, so I bought a couple of bales of hay and a bale of straw - I still have one bale of hay and half a bale of straw left now!

today was crazy. I had my elderly friend up, she wanted to help me wrap the Bachelor Pen. I could use an extra pair of hands, and none of the stuff I was using was heavy... we got it done, it was great... but Carl was a pain, he's been a pain for a couple of weeks, he has this new game of not going home to his pen with the others. I'm so sick of it... I let all the boys out this morning, and had zero trouble getting the other 3 in. not to deprive the girls of free range, I let them out despite the fact that Carl was still out. he's not nice to the girls, he pulls feathers to force mating... little Dutch, who is a fraction of Carl's size, gave him quite the run around yesterday, well today he did it again and it came with a beating. Carl tried to fight back, but Dutch is so small and so freakin' fast... he never connected. Dutch did. over and over. I was laughing... but I did try to break it up ~ however... Carl is afraid of me, and ran. So now, I have really lit a fire under Dutch's tiny hiney...he thinks we're both gonna kick Carl's feathered end... he chased Carl around 3 acres. regardless of his fear of me, he let me catch him to save him from the tiny terror... His days are coming to an end. I came very close to killing him myself this afternoon... I found yet another person who processes birds, but he won't be around til Wednesday. I'm never letting Carl out to free range again. I'll load him up on Wednesday, if my original friend doesn't show up before then. I wanted him processed before Wednesday - I need the meat to rest/age... and I want him for my birthday dinner on Thursday...

so, I'm stoked that I'm ready for Winter before it hit this year! the heated waterer is cleaned and ready to go, won't set that up until the temps stay below freezing all day, I'll still have to haul water for the boys, which I don't mind... I like to hang out with them, and would be out there anyway.

lowest egg count possible. 1

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Happy Saturday all!

Cheeka - Love your term "citiots! We get lots of poachers in my neighborhood. People too lazy to do it the legal way. Our deer are just sitting there grazing on the front lawns, there for the taking. We don't allow hunting here. In fact, you cannot shoot a gun in the 'hood. Although there are rumors of a black panther (escaped from the circus years ago), that has attacked horses! I think if it were attacking my horses, I would be shooting off a gun! Just to scare it! And I was worried about a little 'possum!

I have to say, it is so nice to be able to actually use my little basket to collect eggs! Too many to fit in my hands, finally! I discovered at least one of my OE lays a brown egg

I bet the other two do too. Well, I will have to make my own OE! Fun project for the winter! What would be better, an AM rooster over a brown layer, or a Marans rooster over an AM or CL hen?? I also want to try the AM rooster over the CL hen and see what I get (probably all boys with my luck). I bet those will be some pretty blue eggs if I do get girls. I may have to play mad scientist this winter and try them all! Bahahahaha!

I got a really weird egg yesterday. Most definitely a double, but it looks like two eggs stuck together, there is a seam and everything!




Here are some of the eggs I collected this week, yay! First time I got enough eggs to fill the tray in less than a week.



One last thing. Does anyone use either sand or sawdust (pellets that you add water to and it makes a fine sawdust) in their coops? I found a great product for scooping. It is called the Shake n Rake. It is basically a manure fork with hardware cloth attached. It makes very short work of shifting through the sawdust (I use the pellets for the horses too) and picks up all but the smallest pieces. Awesome product. There is actually a motorized one that is used on golf courses to clean the sand traps. It was also used on the beaches after the oil spill. I highly recommend it to anyone that uses sand or sawdust.

Have a great weekend!

Lovely tray, and ouch poor hen on the egg!
I use leaf litter, pine needles, aspen shavings, straw or hay. I do a deep litter method and mix it up often.
The poop boards i scape daily and toss shavings etc on them. Compost everything.

Wow Sully! those are gorgeous!!! and your wonky egg might actually be a triple... but it's surely a double! it definitely looks like two seamed eggs...

I don't use sawdust or sand, thought about sand, but thought it would be too cold to use in the winter - and too heavy to exchange twice a year...I use clippings, leaves, pine needles - anything I can rake up or collect either on the roadside or at the dump - this "dump" is only for leaves and wood chips. I don't use the wood chips in the coops or run, but I do in the flower beds out front, and around the gardens. Last year, when I ran out of what I collected, Winter was a month from ending, so I bought a couple of bales of hay and a bale of straw - I still have one bale of hay and half a bale of straw left now!

today was crazy. I had my elderly friend up, she wanted to help me wrap the Bachelor Pen. I could use an extra pair of hands, and none of the stuff I was using was heavy... we got it done, it was great... but Carl was a pain, he's been a pain for a couple of weeks, he has this new game of not going home to his pen with the others. I'm so sick of it... I let all the boys out this morning, and had zero trouble getting the other 3 in. not to deprive the girls of free range, I let them out despite the fact that Carl was still out. he's not nice to the girls, he pulls feathers to force mating... little Dutch, who is a fraction of Carl's size, gave him quite the run around yesterday, well today he did it again and it came with a beating. Carl tried to fight back, but Dutch is so small and so freakin' fast... he never connected. Dutch did. over and over. I was laughing... but I did try to break it up ~ however... Carl is afraid of me, and ran. So now, I have really lit a fire under Dutch's tiny hiney...he thinks we're both gonna kick Carl's feathered end... he chased Carl around 3 acres. regardless of his fear of me, he let me catch him to save him from the tiny terror... His days are coming to an end. I came very close to killing him myself this afternoon... I found yet another person who processes birds, but he won't be around til Wednesday. I'm never letting Carl out to free range again. I'll load him up on Wednesday, if my original friend doesn't show up before then. I wanted him processed before Wednesday - I need the meat to rest/age... and I want him for my birthday dinner on Thursday...

so, I'm stoked that I'm ready for Winter before it hit this year! the heated waterer is cleaned and ready to go, won't set that up until the temps stay below freezing all day, I'll still have to haul water for the boys, which I don't mind... I like to hang out with them, and would be out there anyway.

lowest egg count possible. 1

Understand on Carl, I am at that point with Rebel. Red and Rebel spent several weeks in jail.
Reds manners completely changed. Rebel is right back at it. He is mean to the girls, pecks their heads and stands on them!
Won't let them up! So He went back to jail tonight. Looks like he won't be returning.
I have near a dozen roos to process, mostly GLW and rebel will probably go too.

Wish we were closer, I would do Carl for you. There is an excellent you tube done by a very caring lady.
She sits and pets the bird, calming it. Holds it until it passes, and even cries because the bird was very sweet.
She clearly cares enough to be humane on how its done, I was touched on how much.
If you don't get help I can send it to you.

Hoping someone can help.
We laid 1 quail and 4 pekin eggs today

chickens -0-