Rae my red star laid an egg at exavtly 20 weeks -- the day after I gave the group oatmeal.
no eggs from the other chicks though although they are the same ages. Other chicks are buff orpingtons, black Australorp, barred rock, easter egger, and one gray polish.
Only 1 of 2 red stars are laying and she has laid 1 small egg daily Mon, Tues, Wed, no egg Thurs, egg on Friday. My 2nd red star hasn't started laying nor have my other breed chickens.
The Wait Is Over!!! Not sure which of our girls laid these, but it happened in the last couple of days. Why so unsure of when? They didn't lay in the nesting box! They laid in the cavity under a huge log in the chicken pen! No way to tell if they are from the same hen or two different ones. but we are just SOOOOOOOO excited! (My wife, who's chickens these are, said "Hooray! No more freeloaders!" LOL!!!)
NOW, how to get them to lay in the nesting boxes?
The boxes are about the same size as the cavity under the log. We keep them nice with fresh straw and pine shavings, we even have a ceramic egg in each to show them where to lay. Unfortunately, one of the younger girls has been sitting on the lip at the front of the boxes when they go in to roost at night and she has done her business in the box. How do we stop her from doing this and how do we get the elders to use the boxes for laying?
ANy help would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, PS. I don't think we can eat these because they may have frozen (could have been out there for 1 to 3 nights) and the last few days have been somewhat warm until last night. Should we chance it?
Finally the first egg from my SLW at 26 weeks yesterday:
Surprisingly her egg is larger than the others who have been laying for about a month. She was gobbling up powdered eggshells yesterday, smart girl. I was starting to worry!
I went out this morning to clean out the chicken house, and gollee! There it was in a nest box! I have two boxes - one is a drawer, then other is just a cardboard box lid. She chose the box lid. I don't care! I had breakfast!
I was so happy, that I prepared a pomegranate for a treat and went back out to the house. I'd let everybody out to free range, and there was one of my girls in the drawer! I gave her some privacy and a few minutes later - music! And a cute tiny warm egg!
7 girls and now two small eggs. Guess the factory is getting started! Woohoo!
Quote: No advice on getting them to stop pooping in the nesting boxes, mine do it too. I just change the straw out fairly often in them and don't make the straw too deep so there isn't a ton of waste.
If you're too iffy about the eggs, crack them open, scramble them up, cook them, and feed them to the chickens. That's what I do with no shell eggs. I haven't had any hidden eggs, just a few no shell.
The Wait Is Over!!! Not sure which of our girls laid these, but it happened in the last couple of days. Why so unsure of when? They didn't lay in the nesting box! They laid in the cavity under a huge log in the chicken pen! No way to tell if they are from the same hen or two different ones. but we are just SOOOOOOOO excited! (My wife, who's chickens these are, said "Hooray! No more freeloaders!" LOL!!!)
NOW, how to get them to lay in the nesting boxes?
The boxes are about the same size as the cavity under the log. We keep them nice with fresh straw and pine shavings, we even have a ceramic egg in each to show them where to lay. Unfortunately, one of the younger girls has been sitting on the lip at the front of the boxes when they go in to roost at night and she has done her business in the box. How do we stop her from doing this and how do we get the elders to use the boxes for laying?
ANy help would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, PS. I don't think we can eat these because they may have frozen (could have been out there for 1 to 3 nights) and the last few days have been somewhat warm until last night. Should we chance it?
Maybe you could add a perch on the front of the nest box out away from the nest. I have perches on mine and sloped roof on top. I assume you have the roosts mounted higher than the nests.
