Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[ronott1]

My chicken run might be complete by the end of the week. The wire on top was a pain and I thought DH might kill me....

Girls free ranged again for most of the day Thur/fri and no sign of the hawk.

I'm getting about 3-5 eggs a day out of 18 of laying age.

That is a very fancy run!

 

[Scrambles55]

TWO!!

 

[BullChick]

Zero. :-(

 

[lindz8504]

I got 3 today in the rain! I do have to say that wet chickens STINK!

 

[cheeka]

ooh lindz! they sure do! LOL

I didn't get any eggs today, but I got 4 yesterday... we didn't get to have free range today - and it was nice and clear this morning, warm... then yucky and grey in the afternoon... but this is why we had no outdoor time at my house...

 

[gilcamp4]

21 eggs today,
we can not do free range here, but if i could afford to fence in our yard i would fix some for just that, i have a cocker spaniel which is my baby and since they are hunting dogs he dose go after the chickens if they get out, he did kill a peep, not sure if he was trying to play with it or what as he is a good dog

 

[BriardChickens]

I'd only want to free range under supervision. We've got foxes, lots of them plus I've had a skunk on my deck just a few weeks ago.
Maybe in the spring/summer I'll go for a stroll with them!

3 eggs in the last few days per day, plenty for myself and the dog, hubby doesn't eat egg on it's own.

More for me!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

The good thing about living in our little rural neighborhood is the reduction in predators. We've been really lucky (so far), and now that the dogs are chicken-proof (so far), I can leave them in the same area as predator deterrents. (so far = knock on wood!

) Most of the hawks seem to have moved on, but I still wait until later in the day to let the Seramas free range. They all bunch up at the door waiting to get out when they see me coming, and burst through the gate all at once. So cute! The trade off with the neighborhood is having neighbors.

Some of whom are not fond of noisy chickens.

Never had a red tail get low enough to be threatening. We have some very aggressive scrub jays guarding their yard. It is acorn season, and they are busy planting acorns all over the property. They only recover about 50% of them, and most of the rest will sprout into unwanted saplings this spring.

Only 1 large egg yesterday. That's it.

 

[mortie]

I have found that supervision doesn't necessarily equal safety. I was supervising when Steven was in the neighborhood and that jerk STILL swooped right through the yard right above my girls' heads. Thankfully, he went away.

Okay so....it rained all day and now it's all wintery mix and the temp is going down. I'm a little concerned about the girls, they're pretty wet. I'm half temped to put a little lamp in their coop to help dry them off but I don't want to drive them out of the coop because the're scared of it or too warm....but it's getting cold and they're really wet.

Or will they be fine? overnight low is 22 which isn't much colder than it is right now. Was in the mid 30's all day. I obviously wouldn't be concerned if they were dry.

 

[mortie]

I just went out to see how they are. Someone had just laid an egg hours after it got dark lol. She even felt her way into the nest. I could tell because she was still not on the roost and the egg was warm.

They're still damp but it's not super cold out, holding steady a little above 30. I felt their bodies and they seem warm and dry in spite of their backs still being wet. Darn birds.