- Mar 25, 2007
- 1,310
- 10
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In April, I got two Barnevelder and two Welsummer chicks. I am 100% certain they were day-old chicks (OK, 2 days old at most). They were all fuzzy without a pin feather to their names. Definitely day-old chicks, hatched the first week of April.
I kept them in a brooder box in the house for a little while, and when they had some more feathers I put them in a separate pen in the barn with one of my Cochin hens. The Cochin hen stopped laying a couple weeks after becoming a foster mom, and soon was guarding her adopted daughters fiercely.
They have been eating Blue Seal non-medicated chick starter. They occasionally get treats of scratch and cottage cheese. They have a mix of pigeon grit and sand, which is the same pigeon grit and sand all my other chickens have always gotten.
This week, I thought, "Maybe next week, since they will be about 11 weeks old, I should start introducing them to layer pellets and a wider variety of food." They are pretty big, as big as my Buttercup hens. Their combs are kind of pink-y. They look very handsome, glossy.
Yesterday, OK, yesterday, I put down new shavings in their pen, re-filled the feeder, cleaned and re-filled the waterer, checked for eggs and found two brown eggs. I figured, you know, the Cochin is back to laying off-and-on, these must be hers. I put the eggs in the fridge (I am very sure of this) and didn't think any more about it.
Today, I get home from work to do the routine food-water-eggs check. I look in their little nesting area that they all like to huddle in. There are EIGHT--EIGHT--as in, 8--brown eggs in there! Mostly little ones.
There is no way, no matter how backed up she was, that my Cochin could possibly have laid all those. No way!
And yet I just find it really really hard to believe that 10-week-old pullets can possibly lay 1-2 eggs each. Is that even possible? What is in the Blue Seal chick starter, is it made of pure Clomid?
I mean, they are big and fluffy enough to lay. They look mostly grown, as big as a smallish hen. Their combs are slightly pink. But EIGHT?
I kept them in a brooder box in the house for a little while, and when they had some more feathers I put them in a separate pen in the barn with one of my Cochin hens. The Cochin hen stopped laying a couple weeks after becoming a foster mom, and soon was guarding her adopted daughters fiercely.
They have been eating Blue Seal non-medicated chick starter. They occasionally get treats of scratch and cottage cheese. They have a mix of pigeon grit and sand, which is the same pigeon grit and sand all my other chickens have always gotten.
This week, I thought, "Maybe next week, since they will be about 11 weeks old, I should start introducing them to layer pellets and a wider variety of food." They are pretty big, as big as my Buttercup hens. Their combs are kind of pink-y. They look very handsome, glossy.
Yesterday, OK, yesterday, I put down new shavings in their pen, re-filled the feeder, cleaned and re-filled the waterer, checked for eggs and found two brown eggs. I figured, you know, the Cochin is back to laying off-and-on, these must be hers. I put the eggs in the fridge (I am very sure of this) and didn't think any more about it.
Today, I get home from work to do the routine food-water-eggs check. I look in their little nesting area that they all like to huddle in. There are EIGHT--EIGHT--as in, 8--brown eggs in there! Mostly little ones.
There is no way, no matter how backed up she was, that my Cochin could possibly have laid all those. No way!
And yet I just find it really really hard to believe that 10-week-old pullets can possibly lay 1-2 eggs each. Is that even possible? What is in the Blue Seal chick starter, is it made of pure Clomid?
I mean, they are big and fluffy enough to lay. They look mostly grown, as big as a smallish hen. Their combs are slightly pink. But EIGHT?
