Utah!

[the-bird-man]

Quote:
thanks! well its not every day but close. i guess she is at the same rate as your girl. but she is so much better than the other 2 ee i have and is even doing better than my leghorn who is laying right now. my black stars are my best layers and i will always have them in my flock

 

[Cynthia12]

I know what you mean about those sex links. I have the red one..every day, like I said. Pretty eggs too.

Well, I go in this morning to do the regular things for them, one of my hens comes in pecking around in the coop with me, I see that she has something different in her mouth, not a wood chip. What?! It's a peace of soft egg shell. I am sure a lot of you here know what that looks like. You know what that means. My Partridge laid her first..maybe first egg, and they ate it because it was that soft shell. She probably dropped it on the floor while roosting, not knowing what in the world was happening. I've had that happen a few times, and luckily, they got smart and started going to the nest box. Hoping she will when that egg gets harder! I knew she was ready! I looked and looked for other signs of egg, but with that many chickens locked in there with the heat lamp on..I'm half tempted to turn the light out, leave the little door open so they can get out in the morning, but not sure how they would do without it now.

 

[Cynthia12]

Well, couldn't leave my girls without heat..I know, some believe in nooo heat..even my husband said WHAT? No heat? lol... That made me feel bad, so I went out and plugged the light back in. She will get the hang of it.
Where is everyone? Out Christmas shopping..ha, I have mine all done..

 

[the-bird-man]

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well since you already gave them heat this year, you gotta give them the heat. call me crazy but i dont think heat effects how thick the egg shells are? she just needs to eat oyster shells. i had a girl drop a soft egg onto the poop board before, and i am happy that is where is was layed because of easy clean up. i took her and showed her the oyster shells and got her to eat some and (knock on wood) have not had much of a problem since. but anyway i have been good. made a compost bin yesterday out of some free pallets i got and took a 3 inch pipe that has holes in it and drilled even more holes and put a grate cap on and it is in the center of the bin so the compost will get some air in it. total price of the bin is about $7

christmas is coming and i am not ready for it yet lol

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Been so busy! Cynthia, you are awesome to be all done. I finished yesterday, now on to wrapping....but I had to write to let you know my little black babies have names now. LaVerne and Shirley

They are doing great! The 60 watt light bulb has been fine. I have turned it off even during the day, the garage stays a lot warmer than outside, it is probably 50 out there during the day. They do not seem to mind the cold so far, even when the light is on they really do not hang out underneath like they are cold. The fatter one is filling out nicely, the other one is getting a little taller, and neck longer....still a little skinnier....uh oh.....still looking about the same through the feathers though so I am crossing my fingers. The fattest one we will call Shirley because we are so sure she is a hen. The other one, La Verne, I suppose we could shorten it to Vern if it goes south....haha

Still thinking hen, but because they are growing a little differently we will be cautiously optimistic.

I switched my chickens to mash from pellets, they seem to like the mash a lot more. Been laying great this week, the mash seems to have perked their spirits up. Still playing with that bale of straw I threw in there....my broody is off the nest, it looks like she is done, has not sat for a few days now! Still no eggs from her yet. Crossing fingers for some by Christmas! Of my 4 that are laying, I got 26 for the week. My BO and SLW held out on me one day. My EE and my GSL were egg machines. My sex link HenRee, she lays giant eggs, every day for a few months at 6 am sharp. She has given us 6 double yolkers that were whoppers. 4 in a row once, then two in a row a month or so later. Usually the day after her doubles are done, her regular big egg will fall out right on the coop floor before she gets up in the morning. Poor thing! I worry about her burning out fast because of how much her little body goes through! The Sex links sure are nice though as far as instant gratification for us newbies, she started at 17 weeks and missed a couple days her first few weeks, then on to her 6 am ritual. She spoiled us because we thought that was the way they would all be, until I started reading on the BYC to see that she was not the norm. The only other time we got a double was from our BO, one time, and it was probably the same size as HenRee's regular egg.

I think I will always keep at least one sexlink in the flock, just because of their predictability! And I do give oyster shell too, mine do not eat it if I keep it separate and offer it free choice, so I throw a little bit in their regular mash each day. And all the eggs we use I give the shells back to my girls. So far so good.

 

[Cynthia12]

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Ha, great names, I especially like the name LeVerne. That's because it was my mom's name! She spelled it with an e behind the L. And that's a great idea for using Verne if it's a boy, but they can be different sizes if they are girls..you know that already. A chubby one and a skinny one.

I'm with ya on having a sex link in the flock at all times, or..I will see how my NH's turn out. They are supposed to be like the sex links..but I really like the red. My girls is so pretty..to me. I will have to post a picture of her. I am hoping my NH are from the German line, they are pretty.
I don't get too may double yolkers..did from my white leghorn when she started, but that was it.
I have been giving my girls the oyster shell free choice..soo, think I will put some in the mash. I have the mash outside, the pellets inside the coop. My little bantam loves the pellets! She's laying real well right now. Man, you should see the size of this Partridge Rock! She's as big as a brahma, or a Delaware. I had no idea they got so big. My barred rocks didn't get this big. She sure is pretty though, oh those reds and blacks..and in the partridge pattern! Stunning.
Good luck everyone on getting your Christmas done! Have fun while doing that.
I have my little Yorkie going in for some surgery tomorrow..those extra teeth need to come out..a lot of the baby teeth never fell out. Makes my second dog I've had to do this with. Oh well, will be babying a little one tomorrow.

 

[Cynthia12]

Quote:
well since you already gave them heat this year, you gotta give them the heat. call me crazy but i dont think heat effects how thick the egg shells are? she just needs to eat oyster shells. i had a girl drop a soft egg onto the poop board before, and i am happy that is where is was layed because of easy clean up. i took her and showed her the oyster shells and got her to eat some and (knock on wood) have not had much of a problem since. but anyway i have been good. made a compost bin yesterday out of some free pallets i got and took a 3 inch pipe that has holes in it and drilled even more holes and put a grate cap on and it is in the center of the bin so the compost will get some air in it. total price of the bin is about $7

christmas is coming and i am not ready for it yet lol

hey..that compost bin sounds pretty nice. You must have a big veggi garden coming up this spring?
I am going with what you and Lisa are doing with the Oyster shell now. I am pretty sure she is just passing off soft shell eggs because she is just starting to lay. I have yet to get a nice egg from her. Soon...soon.
Get ready for Christmas....now!

 

[Sphinx]

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Kyle, congrats on your first egg!!!!

I have a pallet style composter too! It's been really pretty nice.

Well, my eggs shipped Wednesday. They should have arrived Friday, but there was a mailman snafu, so I ended up picking them up Saturday morning. I let them set for a while, then put them in the incubators. I figured they'd sat on the shelf at the post office overnight, so I didn't need to do the whole 24 hours thing. Initially I thought only one had a detached air cell, but today I checked again, and I think there's actually 3 with detached air cells. There's also a couple with kind of porous shells, but maybe they'll be fine. I can't get over how much easier GLW eggs are to candle than EE eggs!! Ultimately, I want 2 GLW pullets, so I'm not being too unreasonable, given I have 12 eggs on the incubator.

 

[the-bird-man]

Quote:
well since you already gave them heat this year, you gotta give them the heat. call me crazy but i dont think heat effects how thick the egg shells are? she just needs to eat oyster shells. i had a girl drop a soft egg onto the poop board before, and i am happy that is where is was layed because of easy clean up. i took her and showed her the oyster shells and got her to eat some and (knock on wood) have not had much of a problem since. but anyway i have been good. made a compost bin yesterday out of some free pallets i got and took a 3 inch pipe that has holes in it and drilled even more holes and put a grate cap on and it is in the center of the bin so the compost will get some air in it. total price of the bin is about $7

christmas is coming and i am not ready for it yet lol

hey..that compost bin sounds pretty nice. You must have a big veggi garden coming up this spring?
I am going with what you and Lisa are doing with the Oyster shell now. I am pretty sure she is just passing off soft shell eggs because she is just starting to lay. I have yet to get a nice egg from her. Soon...soon.
Get ready for Christmas....now!

yeah i love to have a big food garden, it feeds the family and the animals during the season, we still buy stuff from the store but we buy a whole lot less at the store during that time

you can also put oyster shell in your scratch mix so they think its a treat, i have had girls eat it that way

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

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So sad I hope your dog gets through ok! Yorkies are so adorable..you should share a pic of your dog AND your partridge rock.....then we can see the whole family

I love that your mom's name is LeVerne! That worked out great lol! I want to try NH too, I read from another BYC'er that they lay great like the sex links but in her flock she has to cull the sex links after 18-24 months and the NH in her flock go 5 plus years. She has been raising chickens for over 20 yrs I guess and says her fave for longevity and great laying are White Rock, NH, and BA. Sounds like she knows her business, so that is where I got my wishlist, I thought I would try those breeds out when we get more chicks in the Spring. I hope you have good luck with yours! They are pretty, like the red hens in the kids stories my Grandma used to read me

It is so fun to have different kinds and be amazed at how different and pretty they all are...I am like a kid in the candy store and I want one of every flavor. It is so addicting