When will these freeloaders start paying the rent?!?

[Ol Grey Mare]

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Rent paid.

 

[mobius]

 

[aart]

Congrats!!

2. My wife, aka The Boss, read somewhere that the box herbs were more for people fun and made no difference to the birds

Agrees with the Boss

 

[DrFeathers]

Congrats!!

Agrees with the Boss

I ALWAYS agree with The Boss

 

[barred2rock]

My most mature BR started showing at about 16 weeks, she didn't lay until week 20. I'm still waiting on two of the five at almost 24 weeks.

 

[DrFeathers]

Second egg much greener and about 36hrs later. Same bird? I thought egg color wasn't variable for same bird but maybe that doesn't apply to first egg?

At 21 weeks these 2 eggs are still all we have gotten from 6 girls...

 

[DrFeathers]

Follow up question to the egg-sperts:

The Boss wonders if reason the two eggs have been laid 1. In a dirt bath hole dug under a bush and 2. In the run on the ground - she wonders if we need to put curtains on the nest boxes since so close to the pop door?

 

[aart]

Second egg much greener and about 36hrs later. Same bird? I thought egg color wasn't variable for same bird but maybe that doesn't apply to first egg?

From shape, it could well be same bird. What a nice color! Shape stays pretty much the same, but the brown coating on egg can vary from day to day, especially at first.....spray booth isn't tuned in yet. You may know but, green eggs are created with the brown coating over a blue shell base.

...she wonders if we need to put curtains on the nest boxes since so close to the pop door?

Curtains about same as herbs
Give them time, I see you do have fake eggs in the nests, that's good.
Have they been scratching around in the nests at all?
Might want to put straw or hay in nests to differentiate from the floor bedding,
but I'd give them time first.
Once one of them starts laying in a nest the others will adapt more readily.
It can take up to a month or so for thing to smooth out,
meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.

 

[RowanTheRed]

My Alpha leghorn was the absolute last out of my six to lay. Heck, my other leghorn was number 3 lol. But Miss Alpha Chicken also has the biggest reddest comb of the bunch.

My brown leghorns are doing the exact same thing! The alpha one has had a HUGE / FAT beefy red comb for at least a month now. They are both around 22 to 25 weeks old now (not sure of their exact age because they were the left over chicks that were being over looked for the tiny fuzzy ones at the farm store. They looked to be at least 3 weeks old at the time and I have had them for 19 weeks now). I have seen her squatting for my rooster but not a single egg has been laid!

this was her just short of one month ago. What a free loader!

 

[mobius]

Mine insist on curtains AND an interior decorator.

Remember: Apres moi, le deluge!
You may be singing a different song in a few weeks!