Surviving Minnesota!

I am thinking of getting those fake straw pads to put in there. The washable ones....The only hitch there was Judy. She says I can't wash them in the washing machine......When I said I could use the dishwasher she went full on crazy... I will never understand women...

I requested 220 electrical service for in the new hatchery, Ideally I would have put an old wash machine in for washing towels and barn clothing but my husband put a cabosh to that and said I fell over the deep end. Instead, he takes me to his parents farm and points to a working gas powered wringer washing machine and says, "here is your chicken washing machine." Guess who's laundry was piled up for 2 weeks?
 
When chickens lay eggs on the tundra how can you tell them from the tern and seagull eggs? What do albatross eggs look like?
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When chickens lay eggs on the tundra how can you tell them from the tern and seagull eggs? What do albatross eggs look like?
They don't. I told you, my chickies are good chickies.
Tern and seagull are pointy and shiny from the ice layer, albatross eggs are orange and taste good on toast.
 
My mad search skillz are failing on this board. Is there an article on here somewhere about how to prep for the first eggs?

Namely: are my chicks going to continually throw all the grass out of the nesting box? will they just "know" to go lay in there? do I assume since I have a rooster that eggs will be fertilized (if I want to let any of the hens brood)? should I put those fake eggs in the nesting box right off the bat? And all the other random things I haven't thought of yet. :) (they're only almost 18 weeks old now, I just like to get ahead of myself)

Your Brahma's may come to Point-of-Lay a little bit later than 20 weeks. And with the photo hours diminishing like crazy out there it might be Christmas or February. I had a few late May-June babies last year that didn't start POL until Feb. It was just the lack of sunlight on their bods and ovaries. You could push the ballot with added lights in the morning on a timer. (not night because when the lights go out and they are off the roost they are blind as bats)

Because they are all young girls they do not have older hens to show them how it's done you may have them searching for hidey holes and zooming around the yard like they are on a scavenger hunt. Flower pot assessments, on top of the work bench in the garage. Dog house...I've seen free rangers check out everything. And if you see them doing that-they're acting a little frantic- then just take them into the coop and set them in a box. Might have to close the door so they don't go back out-until the deed is done. Give them some privacy. Leaving Golf balls ( I imagine these are more economical then porcelain eggs) in the nest shows them that's where that hard thing coming out of their vents goes. And when they peck and test they understand that it's hard and not edible. (Egg-eating prevention measure for future)

I have nest boxes lined with a gray nest box liner (it's like short stiff plastic grass) So the egg doesn't crack on the wood of the floor in case they scratch out too much nesting materials. And then I clip tall grasses from the woods and ditches and wrap them into loose circle-wreath-like nests to make the well they like. My nest boxes have a 2 inch lip on the outside to contain the nesting materials. Because they'll scratch and fuss that first time to get that first egg out. First egg is the hardest one.
 

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