Texas

[yinepu]

finals today and tomorrow! got a C on my k9/feline... but im worried about my clin path grade! that subject kicked my butt! still is! got a 56 need 4 pts to move up to passing and she has a test she hasn't gotten to from Friday... well a project worth a test score... if I do good on that it could put me at a D and I still have my final to pass... but im not sure how she will grade them... the waiting is killing me!!!!

Aww.. come on Sarge.. that stuff is easy peasy.. you should pass with no problems at all

Is this a guinea egg? It is extremely small but the second one that has been deformed like this.


You can see the deformity here. I have oyster shell always available, what else would cause this?

I can't get the pics enlarged.. is the one side smooth? (can't tell from the lil pics).. anyway .. if it is it can be caused by stress, disease or changes in lighting.. if it's not smooth and the entire surface is bumpy then figure on inadequate nutrition being one of the main causes.. (bird's age will also play a factor).. the excess calcium will cause the bumps.. so if it's white patchy / bumpy then back off on the calcium

 

[yinepu]

Ok.. I was just going to come on here and ask what would make chicken eggs so small! The ones I am "chicken" sitting have been giving normal sized eggs then tonight there was one about 1/3 of the size! I can't see deformity on ours but in the two months we have been watching them, this is a first here.. no guineas here either! Totally can't wait to see what the experts say!

no worries if the egg is a bit small.. new layers will often start out with small eggs.. occasionally one of the older girls with give you one too.. but it's pretty common in first year layers

Quote:
X2

Quote:
Yup.. depends on the breed and also the boy's fertility... best thing to do is check the eggs and see how the fertility is running if you are planning on hatching.. if you have no plans to hatch out eggs then you don't even need a roo at all

Quote:
What kind of soil do you have?

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
nice! I have been wanting to add a sink to mine

 

[Cockle-Dood]

Aww.. come on Sarge.. that stuff is easy peasy.. you should pass with no problems at all


I can't get the pics enlarged.. is the one side smooth? (can't tell from the lil pics).. anyway .. if it is it can be caused by stress, disease or changes in lighting.. if it's not smooth and the entire surface is bumpy then figure on inadequate nutrition being one of the main causes.. (bird's age will also play a factor).. the excess calcium will cause the bumps.. so if it's white patchy / bumpy then back off on the calcium

yeah it is smooth on one side then the back side almost looks like ti was still soft when it was laid then hardened as it was sitting in the box.


As far as my soil, i have ALOT of red clay. i plan on breaking ground this weekend to see what it really looks like!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
Ah.. ok.. so it would be an issue with stress (are they over crowded or new arrivals or major changes?).. disease or sudden changes in lighting

When you break ground let us know what you find.. I have way too much limestone here, so we have to add sulfur to help with nitrogen uptake. To help counter it I am slowly adding in more organic matter.. helps with water holding capacity too

 

[Cockle-Dood]

no big changes other than heat...space issue perhaps. if that truly is a guinea egg (still havent gotten confirmation on that) they are laying them in the smallest nest box in the coup. other than that i am within my rule of thumb spacing requirements, and they are just laying their first eggs as well.

 

[yinepu]

no big changes other than heat...space issue perhaps. if that truly is a guinea egg (still havent gotten confirmation on that) they are laying them in the smallest nest box in the coup. other than that i am within my rule of thumb spacing requirements, and they are just laying their first eggs as well.

could be heat stress... if it continues then look into offering them some sort of relief from the heat and see if it helps

 

[jesirose]

There is no magic number - but there are less problems with fewer males to females. It all depends on the flock dynamics, which can change quickly, sometimes seemingly for no reason. You just have to watch for problems, be proactive as much as you can.

As others already said it depends a lot on the breed, the individual chickens, the environment (ie, how much room is there for the girls to run away). There are people who have really low ratios and multiple roosters in a flock, there are others who keep it really high. (My neighbor has 2 roos and a small number of hens, I've only seen one hen actually but she seems fine, and the roosters are mature, so maybe they're just really old and calmer than a teenager rooster? lol)
It sounds like your friend knows it's not a good setup but hasn't had a chance to sell the extra roos yet. So that's good to hear at least. Is there anyway for you to separate them until he gets back?

We currently have 29 chickens, out of which 6 are confirm roosters and 4 are suspected. I'm shopping for more adult hens and also chicks to get a ratio better for me, but I think we'll end up with between 6 to 8 hens per rooster (and each group will have their own pen). We also have a rooster only pen that's far away from the hens so we can separate roosters or use if we have way more than I think, and some smaller individual pens if we need to give girls a break (I hope to not do so though because I want the rooster in there to help with protection - I think my neighbor actually had a few more hens before and we have a fox or some other predator [which one of my roosters was able to escape from it's attack])

 

[Cockle-Dood]

could be heat stress... if it continues then look into offering them some sort of relief from the heat and see if it helps

will keep an eye on things, thanks yinepu

 

[back2simplelife]

As others already said it depends a lot on the breed, the individual chickens, the environment (ie, how much room is there for the girls to run away). There are people who have really low ratios and multiple roosters in a flock, there are others who keep it really high. (My neighbor has 2 roos and a small number of hens, I've only seen one hen actually but she seems fine, and the roosters are mature, so maybe they're just really old and calmer than a teenager rooster? lol)
It sounds like your friend knows it's not a good setup but hasn't had a chance to sell the extra roos yet. So that's good to hear at least. Is there anyway for you to separate them until he gets back?

We currently have 29 chickens, out of which 6 are confirm roosters and 4 are suspected. I'm shopping for more adult hens and also chicks to get a ratio better for me, but I think we'll end up with between 6 to 8 hens per rooster (and each group will have their own pen). We also have a rooster only pen that's far away from the hens so we can separate roosters or use if we have way more than I think, and some smaller individual pens if we need to give girls a break (I hope to not do so though because I want the rooster in there to help with protection - I think my neighbor actually had a few more hens before and we have a fox or some other predator [which one of my roosters was able to escape from it's attack])

I sure hope so! I honestly have no idea what his plans are. I know right before we moved in, a coon took out like 14 of his flock so he may be getting more hens? not sure! He has two of his hatchlings ready to be released and every time I THINK about doing it, a stinking rat snake appears.. and after loosing one of his pullets to one, I am afraid to risk it! No, no extra place at all and I am not moving them in mine (mine are still in the brooder and we are working on the coop) as I honestly have no idea which ones he wants to keep or not! How they are acting, I am not sure if the old roo would let them back in so I might make a huge mistake if I take out the wrong ones! Old white is def the king.. he is SO tame (to us) that I think he as one of their first and totally a 'baby' but the two (not sure what they are but have black feather with a blue-ish tint and wheat/gold around the neck.. totally beautiful!) are very umm.. acting like teenage males! Even refused to go in the run and coop last night for bed! The lil red roo hasn't hit that yet and the "line bred" roo already seems to know his place and has settled. So we are letting them free-range more so the hens can get away and old white "roo" can step in! I am def learning a lot by watching these! A lot on what NOT to do but learning just the same! Thanks ya'll for helping me! This newbie is kind of overwhelmed at the moment