Switching feeds & nest box questions

[DonyaQuick]

Apologies for bundling in more than one question in this thread and if I've put it in the wrong place. My home Internet has been out for a week with no ETA on repair so I'm relying on occasional coffee shop wifi. It makes my chickens very happy since I am out with them more than normal, but it's not so good for looking things up! So, apologies in advance if my questions would be easily answered by searching - it's not something I can do very easily right now since my time in town with connectivity is limited and I can only get in briefly every 1-2 days (if I'm guilty of asking what would have been easy to search I would still appreciate even just a link to what to read next time I get connectivity).

Question 1
I have 6 buff Orpingtons that are somewhere around 20 weeks give or take a bit. I saw on the feed back of chick starter that this is about when I should start transitioning them to layer feed so I have started doing that a bit at a time, mixing the remaining chick starter with some layer feed each day. They were showing interest in oyster shell grit recently so I thought probably not a bad thing having the extra calcium if they are wanting it, but unfortunately most of the oyster shell I have is in too big pieces for them (and they basically ate all the smaller bits already). I'll probably have them switched to 100% layer crumbles in 2 weeks. Am I on the right track with this?

Question 2
I know Orpingtons are slower to start laying, but I went ahead and put in a nest box in the coop a few days ago - just one though. I built it in a way that I can slide it over to basically create two nest spaces if I need to (one being the box itself, the other being coop wall to box wall). One chicken was very interested in the box as soon as I put it in, others not so much. The one chicken has been going in and sitting in there a bit periodically but the box is staying completely clean so far. Is just the 1 box ok for now since the others aren't interested?

Question 3
Perhaps unrelated, but I saw an unusual poo from one of my birds today. It looks mostly like I'm used to but has a very small little red glob on it that looks sort of like jelly - doesn't look bloody really. The red bit is quite small. Is that the shed intestinal lining thing I have read about? If yes, does it have anything to do with starting laying? (don't have a pic on my laptop; I will try to post a pic from my phone after I post this but not sure if it will work)

 

[DonyaQuick]

Trying to post from my phone; this is the unusual poo I mentioned inthe post above.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1. I personally don't switch to layer until the majority of the birds start laying, however some folks just follow the feed bag instructions and switch per the instructions.
2. I'd personally put in both boxes if that was your original plan, just so they're already in place when the birds are ready to lay. The more opportunity you give them to explore the boxes beforehand, the more likely it is that they'll use them, as they've had time to consider them.
3. Probably intestinal lining, as it's a small amount, though it's quite red.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Got my Internet back, whew!

1. I personally don't switch to layer until the majority of the birds start laying, however some folks just follow the feed bag instructions and switch per the instructions.
2. I'd personally put in both boxes if that was your original plan, just so they're already in place when the birds are ready to lay. The more opportunity you give them to explore the boxes beforehand, the more likely it is that they'll use them, as they've had time to consider them.
3. Probably intestinal lining, as it's a small amount, though it's quite red.

Thanks!

One of my chickens, Buddy, is extremely suspicious of any new food even if the change is subtle. I was running low on a 50lb chick starter bag and had to pick between getting another 50lb of the same (smaller ones were out of stock) or a 10lb layer feed, so I figured since the bag said to switch I'd go with the small layer bag to mix in slowly. Sneaking the layer feed into the mix over time seems to have worked with Buddy and her weirdness but I guess I'll keep the mix 50/50 for now. If I don't see eggs when the 50lb bag is about to be out I'll see if I can get a hold of another small bag of the starter feed to keep it a mix until eggs are showing up.

I'll slide the box over to make the two-area setup when I give the coop a clean today.

Haven't seen another strange poo like that one so far - been keeping an eye out for it. I'm also wondering now if it could have been some weird undigested thing one of them ate. During the mix of Internet and power outages over the past week, I was letting the chickens out for supervised foraging a lot more than usual and over a larger area than they typically explore, and they sure did find some weird things during that.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So... I'm not fond of Layer (LOTS of reasons) and would suggest you transition to an all flock instead, with free choice oyster shell on the side. If there is a size concern, put on your eyes and smash the OS (gently) with a hammer, a brick, whatever. Doesn't take much.

Agree with @rosemarythyme , set up for two boxes now. I consider two to be the minimum for a backyard flock - and also all you will need till you hit around 10 birds or so.

Continue to monitor the poo situation. One of the things you rapidly learn as a chicken keeper ais that the two best indicators of your flock's health are behavioral changes and poo condition - and of the two, the poo is a more reliable measure.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I slid the box over so now there are two spaces, one the box itself and the other box-to-wall about the same size. I also got some ceramic eggs to try to head off egg pecking since I have a couple chickens that will hit new things quite hard to see if it's edible. I realize the ceramic eggs may not completely stop that but seemed worth a shot to teach them that brown, egg-shaped things aren't new cools treats before real eggs arrive. It was pretty funny watching the initial reactions to those things. I put both fake eggs in front of my biggest chicken and she alternated rolling them towards herself and giving me this confused look and crazy "oooOOOO?!" like she knew she needed to collect these things under her but didn't know why lol.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Still haven't seen any eggs - or any more of that one strange poo! Lots of "The Squat" but that's all. I can't crush the oyster shell I have smaller so rather than switching fully to layer feed I got a rubber feed tub to be able to offer starter and layer separately - starter in the regular feeder and layer in the pan. They can pick now. A couple seem to prefer the layer and others prefer the starter, so I will keep it that way unless/until I see the layer feed getting gobbled more exclusively.

On a related note, nobody told me I was going to get covered in twerking chickens every morning as part of this process. When I sit down in the run in the morning, I get chickens piling onto my lap as normal and at first they really want a hug so they stand up tall just like they always do...but they also really want to do The Squat, but they also really want a hug, but they also really want to do The Squat, but they also really want a hug...

 

[DonyaQuick]

EEEEEEEEE!

from this lovely girl:

 

[3KillerBs]

One of my chickens, Buddy, is extremely suspicious of any new food even if the change is subtle.

I never allowed my children to become picky eaters and I refuse to have any picky chickens.

I do mix new feeds in with the last of the old feed, but I expect them to eat whatever I put into the feeder -- layer or all-flock, pellet or crumble, Kalmbach or Nutrena or Purina or whatever.

I prefer an all-flock feed of at least 18% protein if I can get it.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I never allowed my children to become picky eaters and I refuse to have any picky chickens.

I tried my best to not have picky eaters, but Buddy is hard to work around with that. She will just let the other five chickens eat whatever she doesn't like and wait it out. I like to give my chickens variety beyond just feed crumbles, which unfortunately plays into Buddy's pattern since she knows something else will be coming eventually. Her preferences have also been impossible to predict once she finally eats a new thing. Grapes? Nope. Coffee she's absolutely not supposed to have? Oh yes - even disassembled my empty cup once to get some extra licks on the inside. Mealworms? Sometimes. Earthworms? Yucky. Bits of steak? More please! I did see her distinctly favoring the layer feed today but she's gets periodic extra protein from other things, so I'm not too worried about the protein percentage in the crumbles.

At the other end of the spectrum, another of my chickens called Dingus tried very hard to eat a whole paper towel once just because it was in my hand. That's more what my others are like.