About 3 weeks ago my hens completely stopped laying, a few days later I got a random egg here and there. At the moment, instead of 8-10 a day, I am getting about 5 a day, mostly from the bantam coop.
I walk into the main coop yesterday to see if there were any eggs to collect, I look up and there stands one of the stupid hens I bought at auction, chowing down on the biggest of the 3 eggs in the nesting box
So now I am wondering just how many eggs this chicken has eaten and has she had accomplices?!
I snagged the last two eggs, tossed her out of the nesting box and watched for a minute. In comes my Gold Pencilled Hamburg which starts trying to get into the nesting boxes. I am thinking, ok, theres one of her partners in crime, but the egg eater proceeds to chase the GPH out of each nest. I grab the egg eater, take her outside and toss her in my empty rabbit hutch. Go back in and see the GPH in one of the nests....not looking for eggs, but fixing herself up a spot to LAY an egg!! She is only the second of my original group to lay me an egg (the first was a little black jap bantam). While I stood there the GPH laid me an adorable little cream colored egg
(which I thought would be white, due to her white earlobes)...so I guess she hasn't been laying for long.
So now I wonder, was that her first? Do I have others laying their first eggs, but they were being eaten? How many eggs have I been losing each day? Was that the offenders first crime?
Ugh, I am so mad! I am not happy with this hen to begin with, she pecks at me when I go to pet other chickens and she bullies the others, but she is unique color wise and was laying nice big eggs so I held onto her. Now I don't know whether to cull her or take her to auction, which isn't for 2 weeks. I do know she is going to spend her days in that rabbit cage!
Sorry for the long post, just needed to vent. This is my first experience with this!
I walk into the main coop yesterday to see if there were any eggs to collect, I look up and there stands one of the stupid hens I bought at auction, chowing down on the biggest of the 3 eggs in the nesting box
I snagged the last two eggs, tossed her out of the nesting box and watched for a minute. In comes my Gold Pencilled Hamburg which starts trying to get into the nesting boxes. I am thinking, ok, theres one of her partners in crime, but the egg eater proceeds to chase the GPH out of each nest. I grab the egg eater, take her outside and toss her in my empty rabbit hutch. Go back in and see the GPH in one of the nests....not looking for eggs, but fixing herself up a spot to LAY an egg!! She is only the second of my original group to lay me an egg (the first was a little black jap bantam). While I stood there the GPH laid me an adorable little cream colored egg
So now I wonder, was that her first? Do I have others laying their first eggs, but they were being eaten? How many eggs have I been losing each day? Was that the offenders first crime?
Sorry for the long post, just needed to vent. This is my first experience with this!
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