Cyn, when did your girls start doing this? Is this something that started out of the blue, or when an addition was made to flock, time of stress, etc.? Is there any discernable "turning" point? Just wondering if there are any signs the rest of us should look out for in our own flocks.
My girls are sooooo mouthy I have to admit that I'm starting to get a little nervous about my two boys. They are both so sweet and gentle that I can imagine the exact same thing happening. Ugh! They only stick up for themselves with each other. In fact it's more like Kermie waits until Gonzo is not looking and then "romances" one of the girls. As soon as Gonzo figures out what's happening Kermie runs and hides behind me.
Quite the comedians those two.
On a good note I did a fertility check of my Del and EE eggs today. Out of a dozen eggs they all were obviously fertilized except for one questionable one. This is very exciting as only two hens were laying 2 weeks ago, and now we are getting 2 dozen eggs a day. I was really surprised at the Del pullet eggs. We only had a couple small ones. All the rest have been the same size asthe girls that started laying last summer.
We still have another 40+ hens that should start laying sometime soon. Silly me kept back some of my Dixie Rainbow hens (non hybrid meat bird) and they have turned out to be excellent layers. Not as good as the Dels
, but worth adding to the layer pen.
My girls are sooooo mouthy I have to admit that I'm starting to get a little nervous about my two boys. They are both so sweet and gentle that I can imagine the exact same thing happening. Ugh! They only stick up for themselves with each other. In fact it's more like Kermie waits until Gonzo is not looking and then "romances" one of the girls. As soon as Gonzo figures out what's happening Kermie runs and hides behind me.
On a good note I did a fertility check of my Del and EE eggs today. Out of a dozen eggs they all were obviously fertilized except for one questionable one. This is very exciting as only two hens were laying 2 weeks ago, and now we are getting 2 dozen eggs a day. I was really surprised at the Del pullet eggs. We only had a couple small ones. All the rest have been the same size asthe girls that started laying last summer.
We still have another 40+ hens that should start laying sometime soon. Silly me kept back some of my Dixie Rainbow hens (non hybrid meat bird) and they have turned out to be excellent layers. Not as good as the Dels
, but worth adding to the layer pen.
