Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[bikerchicky]

Thats such a wonderful thing to hear. I'm very happy for you!

Aww. Thanks. Me too. Especially now that my son has moved out. Much less stress in the house.

 

[CarolynF]

Hi hi hi everyone!

I am looking for some advice: as many of you know (because I posted it here), my 3 hens finally started laying this week! YAY!!!

A minor issue, my Americauna has laid about 5 eggs and every single one of the has had a thin shell. So thin in fact, that two of them have been cracked and the rest were sort of "dented." They're a gorgeous pale blue, but I am so sad that they're not coming out quite right. The other two ladies have been laying firm shells, no problem there.

I have put oyster shell out for free-choice, but what else should I do? I have heard this is very common in new layers, but what can I do to help it?

Thanks for advice, as always!

I've heard of adding a crushed TUMS to scrambled eggs for a calcium boost.

 

[CarolynF]

SarahKatie... I'll try to find a photo that illustrates what I'm talking about. My concern is that if the CW is only buried, not attached to the walls of the pen, a dog or coyote can dig down and squeeze in.

 

[CarolynF]

SHHHHHH, no one say anything!!!!

 

[CarolynF]

So twice this week I've found an egg that has fallen out of the nesting box and become cracked. Do I have too much bedding in the nesting box? It's a shame to lose the egg, since we only have one girl(our bantam EE) laying.

Hi! It's hard to tell without actually seeing the box, but we had something similar happen last year. DH put a taller lip on the front of the nest box to make it harder for the hens to push it out. YES they would actually push/pull/wiggle it or what ever you want to call it, until the egg was out of the nest box! The taller lip solved it.

 

[drumstick diva]

Sweetlilbaby your puppy is absolutely gorgeous does he have a name yet?

 

[drumstick diva]

Prick ears stand up

 

[KMoran]

When I sell a dozen eggs for eating, I charge 3 bucks.

How about we round it up to 5 does that sound good?

 

[bikerchicky]

I replied. Hope I can get this. It would save me lots of time in trying to convert the one I have now.

I talked to the poster. It doesn't open so I passed.

 

[ChaeBird]

Hi! It's hard to tell without actually seeing the box, but we had something similar happen last year. DH put a taller lip on the front of the nest box to make it harder for the hens to push it out. YES they would actually push/pull/wiggle it or what ever you want to call it, until the egg was out of the nest box! The taller lip solved it.

The box has a lip on the front, but apparently not tall enough to keep the egg from being pushed out! I'll have to see if Mr. Bear can put a taller lip on it. Marie likes to sleep in the nesting box, too. I didn't think that would cause her to want to push it out of the box since she doesn't lay until the afternoon.