Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Scrambles55]

Nope, no broody here.... had 9 hatch in the bator on Friday. They have gone to live with my aunt-in-law.

Alrighty then.... Alzheimer's has officially set in. I am doomed.......

 

[showbarnmom]

I had a broody hatch 7, and my incubator hatched 14. I got chick-a-Palooza right now!

 

[Whoops]

Ah, see, Scrambles! You were right that someone had a broody! I just accidentally misled you on who.

 

[Scrambles55]

Whew.... I feel ABnormal now.

Time for some wine.....

 

[Whoops]

It's always time for wine.

 

[informative]

The sex link is having thin shell troubles again.

I usually see this in all of my chickens at the same time. One fix for me is I shred a half dozen carrots in my food processor and pour on some ground egg shell powder and old baby formula or powdered milk to add plenty of calcium and minerals. Some folks add oyster shell to the diet. usually takes about a day after that and all the eggs go back to rock hard. Had two of them lay chalky eggs where the shells felt thin and a third laid one that was so weak shelled it broke open as soon as it hit the air and got eaten by the others (I saw it happen). Fed them the carrots and shells and baby formula mix and the next day shells were so hard my wife stopped making breakfast and said wait is this a hard boiled egg? Yeah shells were THAT hard she mistook a regular egg for a hard boiled egg.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Quote:
Howdy!

This one chicken seems to have a calcium absorption problem. Everyone else is fine, shell-wise, and they all consume copious amounts of oyster shell daily. When this happened last year I gave her a drop of Vit D from a gelcap on a small piece of bread for a few days. Seemed to help as her shells hardened up like normal. I started giving Vit D a week ago, but failed on the follow through. Need to be more consistent. Her shells went from nonexistent to almost normal, so I quit the supplement, and now they are extremely thin and breaking in the nest. I'll start her back up tomorrow and see if it helps. Maybe she's just getting old.

Are your chickens older when you notice the thin shells? Any particular time of year? It was last spring that this same chicken had problems. After the Vit D treatment, it was resolved.

I also have a Serama laying a soft shell, but I don't know which one! Maybe have to give everyone a little Vit D bread and see what happens.

My mob has a strange aversion to carrots, raw or cooked they're a no-go, but I could try it with kale or collards. Lots of that in the garden. Powdered milk is a good idea, never thought of that, and mine is getting old, so that would be a good use. Have to give that a try. They're suckers for treats, and not picky, except for carrots!

Oh, and strawberries, of all things. I would think chickens would love strawberries, but mine leave them out to rot. Weird birds.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

W4W, I know what you mean about the hatchery birds... they burn out so fast - my RIR is only 2, but her eggs have been off since she resumed after her short winter break. they are incompletely coated so they aren't evenly colored, wrinkled from time to time...but she's still pumping them out. I prefer the EE's who seem to lay about 4 eggs a week each. so I don't get the highest counts, but longevity is worth a lot more. I got another new customer today, now I'm beginning to worry about letting these people down when a) I move or b) when October hits and #'s drop back to a dozen a week. I'll hatch as many as I can, I actually have folks looking to get some of my chickens too... but I can't part with any grown birds except the Fosters and I think many if not all may be spoken for. one of my friends uncle wants them. I'm torn... I am fighting chicken hoarding. but if I hatch, I need the space for my babies... and I need at least a dozen, for the winter egg boost!

good luck with the Serama roolet, I'm sure things will settle down in a few days and I can't wait to see pics of the new setup and the flock!

I was just talking to hubs tonight saying that I probably wouldn't get hatchery chicks again except for EEs. And maybe Australorps and BRs. They don't seem to burn through all their eggs at once, so will hopefully stay productive over time. The only downside of getting breeder/heritage stock is ending up with too many broodies, although I suppose most breeders incubate, so maybe it is more of a breed trait. Anyway, a nor-cal BYC person is downsizing her silver pencil rock pen, and if I had room I'd get some of those. They are so beautiful! Hubs wants something HUGE like we saw at the show- Brahmas, Jersey Giants, English Orps, Langshans... So many! Hahaha Don't know why I'm thinking about more chickens now. No room in the big coop, and we still haven't hatched any Serama eggs!

....but I can dream, can't I? (You have to sing that last bit.

)

Maybe this chicken hoarding/chicken dreaming is catching this time of year. It must be Spring!

 

[Cp366]

I feel so at home in this forum lol, thought I had too many birds and can't figure out why only half my birds are laying. Now i am not so worried

 

[chickenlindz]

Umm we have snow on the ground!!!!