I purchased day old chicks around Halloween and have been (un)patiently waiting for them to start laying.
We went to a flock swap a couple weeks ago and a guy (who honestly seemed pretty sketchy) was selling "1 year old" Easter Eggers for $15. It's really hard to come by laying chickens so I took his word for it that they were 1 (even though they looked older to me, but it could have just been because they were dirty). I asked if they both laid and he said yes, but not this time of year (which was odd because we live in the South and everyone I know with chickens get eggs year round even in winter). But we took them home.
One laid an egg within 10 minutes of being in the new pen. And I get about 5 HUGE green tinted eggs every week (we've had them about 3 weeks now). The other (who is bigger, has more ruffled feathers, and takes the most gigantic poos I have ever seen- like the size of my dog!) has NEVER laid an egg. I am 100% sure the eggs being laid are all from the one hen.
Do you think she's aged out of laying? When does that usually occur? How much longer do they live after they stop laying? I could never kill a chicken, but I hate to have this huge, messy bird taking up coop space and eating all my food without laying. I was thinking of trying to rehome her if someone just wanted a pet chicken. Also, would this be upsetting to my laying hen that came with her? There seems to be a slight separation between the 2 of them and my other 4 hens and 1 silkie bantam roo that were already there.
Also, I have 10 baby chicks in my down stairs bathtub with a heat lamp. They're about 4 weeks old now and on warm days we let them go out into the run (I guess it's a run, we have a 15'x20' fenced in area in our yard that the coop enters into but it's not closed on top so my chickens fly out of it all the time then go back in). The 4 month old hens always attack the 4 week old chicks. When can they live out there peacefully? I really don't want 10 large chickens in my downstairs bathroom for another couple months.....
THANKS!!!!
We went to a flock swap a couple weeks ago and a guy (who honestly seemed pretty sketchy) was selling "1 year old" Easter Eggers for $15. It's really hard to come by laying chickens so I took his word for it that they were 1 (even though they looked older to me, but it could have just been because they were dirty). I asked if they both laid and he said yes, but not this time of year (which was odd because we live in the South and everyone I know with chickens get eggs year round even in winter). But we took them home.
One laid an egg within 10 minutes of being in the new pen. And I get about 5 HUGE green tinted eggs every week (we've had them about 3 weeks now). The other (who is bigger, has more ruffled feathers, and takes the most gigantic poos I have ever seen- like the size of my dog!) has NEVER laid an egg. I am 100% sure the eggs being laid are all from the one hen.
Do you think she's aged out of laying? When does that usually occur? How much longer do they live after they stop laying? I could never kill a chicken, but I hate to have this huge, messy bird taking up coop space and eating all my food without laying. I was thinking of trying to rehome her if someone just wanted a pet chicken. Also, would this be upsetting to my laying hen that came with her? There seems to be a slight separation between the 2 of them and my other 4 hens and 1 silkie bantam roo that were already there.
Also, I have 10 baby chicks in my down stairs bathtub with a heat lamp. They're about 4 weeks old now and on warm days we let them go out into the run (I guess it's a run, we have a 15'x20' fenced in area in our yard that the coop enters into but it's not closed on top so my chickens fly out of it all the time then go back in). The 4 month old hens always attack the 4 week old chicks. When can they live out there peacefully? I really don't want 10 large chickens in my downstairs bathroom for another couple months.....
THANKS!!!!
