Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[okallthis4eggs]

Because Dad is so great
We lay for him eight
He thinks it's the pie
(shhh please don't tell him)
But we cannot lie
(instead, tell Dad that we love him)
It's the life we live
It's our purpose to give

(But for Dad we'll sure try
So we get some more pie!)
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Oh you just wait cheeka the guilt trip they will put you on when you go in to collect those eggs. They all stand watching you like" OH NO!!!!....please don't take our eggs!!!

So you try to make it up to them in some way like a pie or some other treats to help with your guilt . I have been trained well by these knuckleheads.

 

[cheeka]

i'm prepared! you've shared, i've read... i'm ready for the egg songs to begin... really, i would love one of the girls to become broody next year, i have room for 6 more chickens now!

back in the 90's, i rented a place that had chickens (the landlord hadn't built the new coop yet at his new house). it was fairly easy, give them food, fresh water, clean straw for the nests and take the eggs... i even let them free range in the fenced in part of the yard a little. bc they weren't "mine" and i really didn't know anything about chickens, i didn't get too attached. they were regular layers, and now i know that the buff orpington WAS a broody hen. I didn't understand why she was so "lazy", and there was no rooster, didn't she know that there weren't chicks??? anyway, i used to take a badminton racket with me to (gently) knock her off the nest so i could take the egg, or eggs if it took me two days to successfully get her out...
if i had known then what i know now... i would have gotten some fertilized eggs for her to sit on and hatch out. poor baby... i was so rotten..
it took my landlord a year to get around to building the new coop, and he did a crappy job apparently because they were in their new home for only 2 or 3 days before a raccoon got in and killed them ALL.

just for laughs, i did peek in the nest box today... but it was empty...

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Ut oh, egg fever has struck...peeking into the nest box is the first early symptom. Ha ha. Soon you will find yourself glancing in corners, because, maybe there's one over there. You know, there is no return from this,...soon you will be making pies, and rhymes....oh wait! You already are! Too late!
Thanks for the inspiration, hay will be good too, for putting down over the snow, it will be mulch come spring. Hope it's not a brutal winter....

 

[aoxa]

Does anyone have girls that stop laying when it is this hot out? Either my cochins are taking a break, or they are hiding their darn eggs on me!!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I can't imagine it's hotter up there than here, but you can rest assured that prolonged stressors will affect egg laying...but typically hours of day light affect laying the most. When I start to notice a shortage of eggs it can mean alot of different things...a hidden nest, an egg eating predator like a snake, ug, for some, maybe a molt, but I've never had one...so I don't know...but a total molt is brought on by conditions I think...mine loose some feathers here and there and replace them daily, never all at once. Right now I suspect that one or two of my game hens is laying in a hidden nest, but since I have a few layers I'm not too concerned. They won't announce their location either.

 

[aoxa]

I can't imagine it's hotter up there than here, but you can rest assured that prolonged stressors will affect egg laying...but typically hours of day light affect laying the most. When I start to notice a shortage of eggs it can mean alot of different things...a hidden nest, an egg eating predator like a snake, ug, for some, maybe a molt, but I've never had one...so I don't know...but a total molt is brought on by conditions I think...mine loose some feathers here and there and replace them daily, never all at once. Right now I suspect that one or two of my game hens is laying in a hidden nest, but since I have a few layers I'm not too concerned. They won't announce their location either.

The two cochins I am talking about are a favourite of the roosters. They constantly look like they are in a molt

This all started when I put new nesting boxes in the barn. They don't approve. I am sure she is hiding them somewhere!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

The two cochins I am talking about are a favourite of the roosters. They constantly look like they are in a molt

This all started when I put new nesting boxes in the barn. They don't approve. I am sure she is hiding them somewhere!

Sorry to butt in, but I have to say the two pictures you posted for the BYC calendar are both awesome. I'll be surprised if at least one isn't choosen!

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Does anyone have girls that stop laying when it is this hot out? Either my cochins are taking a break, or they are hiding their darn eggs on me!!

Have you ever made them a pie? It works for me.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Here is what I found laying in my path on my way to the chickens. Normally when they see my truck (that means treats) my BO turned peacock starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Roger does the dying chicken act...so on and so forth. Today was different nobody was saying anything they were all just standing still not a peep out of any of them. I had the treat bowl in my hand and that alone should of had them acting crazy so I was focused on them as I was walking wondering why no excitment. I noticed the snake when I got about three feet from it and I just kinda froze and the snake didn't move either. Then all hell broke loose in the run. Now I wonder why they were so quiet. Here is what I think

#1 they wanted to see the snake scare the hell out of me
#2 It didn't work so their next concern was I would give their treats to the snake
#3 OR this bunch of knuckleheads would have loved it if I threw the snake in with them so they could try
to eat it so thats why they got excited when i got close to it. "THROW IT TO US DAD"

This snake was easily over 6 feet long. You can see one of the BO's in the background inside the run. The darker birds are there but you can't see them well

 

[cheeka]

omg, that snake is BIG!

I think they were terrified, and hoping Dad would come and save the day, and he did! so they were just cheering you on!

my cats bring home baby copperheads... i've only seen one that was about 4' long, the ones the cats bring home are about 12". i'm not afraid of snakes, but copperheads... need choppin' up!