Who else is waiting for that first egg?

[beginnergirl]

It can be difficult to judge whether a chicken is too fat just by looking at it. A bird fed a balanced diet, and has lots of room to scratch and run around should be fine. If you have a bird that isn't very active compared to the rest, is a sporadic layer, and/or has trouble breathing you may have an overweight bird. If you happen to have a larger/rounded girl that looks and acts healthy, there is likely no cause for concern. Treats should be fed in moderation. Things like mealworms and leafy greens will not cause excess weight. Things like scratch grains, sunflower seeds, and corn do convert easily to fat, so be careful about how much you offer.

Thanks again!! Mostly the pullets get greens, tomatoes fruit and mealworms but they do get a little oatmeal. No corn or scratch because they eat Scratch and Peck which has grain in it.
My chickens are only outside for two hours a day because we have hawks that breed a block from my house and raccoons. So I am with them. I am trying to get all the girls to come when I call them so I can let them out in the morning and get them back in the coop before dusk. So they are getting treats like 1/4 of a grape, mealworms, raisins or pumpkin seeds for coming.
My barred rock seems chunky looking. She runs around following me for tomatoes. Here is a bad picture:

I hope she isn't too fat

 

[bbhorsefly]

well my ladies were 23 weeks wed. have been checking pretty regularly for eggs for about 2 weeks . Nada Nothing . about 4 days ago they started getting in the 3 lower nest we have 3 on bottom and they would be about mid shin off the ground. you could see where they were indented as if someone had been testing out the beds in my three bears. They started at the far end from the door. They are the plastic nest that attach to the wall and can be removed for a cleaning in a tub. Checked last night at 8pm when i went out to let the door down ( oh buy the way each nest has its own little flap door so i can check nest by nest without them sneaking out to go visit the chickens next door without me knowing about it. haha.) but i digress. Went out this am to let the girls out in there outside area can't let them free range wish i could but my husband gathers the grass as he cuts it enough for them to have pretty fresh grass for a couple of days then he goes and gets more. They are treated like queens because when he catches it in the bag all the dirt that is loose any bugs anything he goes over that is edible by them gets cut up in bite size pieces. ( we have wild dangerous predators around my husband has seen a fox or to we do have some deer running around no hunting on our property so they know they are safe on our land . and we have heard coyotes. as much as others around us are selling there land and putting in subdivisions you would think thyey would go away. back to my story sorry. sometimes i do that. oh we have about 50 acres. like i was saying went out this am to refill the feeder outside one due to we had a real hard rain last night and some on the food was wet and puffed um. when i went through my routine to a point i put the feeder on the roost at the cross boards when i bent over to check the nest i started at the door and was heading to the other end when low and behold i looked sort of raised up thought wait a minute did i just see what i thought i saw . I bent over again and all the time the girls are picking at my blue slide ons they look like crocks but they are another cheaper brand i got at the beach at the camp ground we where staying at. back to the story. i looked again and low and behold i did see what i thought i had seen there was not only one but 2 eggs in the first nest. one small and normal shaped and the other was more round and on the bottom it was a soft shell it was twice the size almost to the first as soon i i can figure out how to post pictures i will. They are light brown on the  smaller egg and about 1-2 shades darker on the second one. they were cool to touch but there was some or a little bit of what appeared to be water probably layed earlier this morning i am not an early riser as the chickens are i went out about 8:30 this am. I have 6 sex links one of them is a red and the other are black. not sure which girls stepped up to the plate first just glad they did. 

You win the internet today for me.

 

[Diney]

OMG, just went outside and there was a coyote in the backyard. Think it was looking for chicken dinner. The gang was out free ranging... How scary. Locked them all back up in run. Guess they can only have supervised free time from now on.

 

[beginnergirl]

OMG... You are lucky. Thankfully.

 

[Diney]

I know, luckily chickens were up by the house.

 

[Mutt Farm]

OMG, just went outside and there was a coyote in the backyard. Think it was looking for chicken dinner. The gang was out free ranging... How scary. Locked them all back up in run. Guess they can only have supervised free time from now on.

It WILL be back! Promise! I don't want to scare you, but I kinda do. My neighbor has been hit twice. He lost a few the first time, the second time he lost 12 chickens, 8 turkeys and his little dog. He lets his free range and didn't lock them up.
Big pack of coyotes here last night. I woke up at 2am to a large pack of screaming coyotes. Couldn't tell if it was my property or my neighbor. I flipped on the house lights and went out which seemed to scare them off. I think they were just behind the fence and after my other neighbors chickens or goats. I know they'll be back. My barn dog Aussie didn't alarm so I know they weren't near my coop but...they are cunning. They will get your chickens.

 

[Diney]

I will definitely be on the lookout and won't let them out unless I am out with them. I figure coyote will be back tonight, about 1o minutes after I scared it off I heard it howling. Figured he was telling rest of pack he knew where chickens were. Went I put coop and run up, I put wire about 2 ft wide around the outside of the run so nothing could dig under the fence and get in. I also lock chickens in coop at night.

 

[chickendreams24]

@Mutt Farm
Well we were running 3 roos to 19 hens and they were doing really really well however we lost one of our beloved roos to a freak accident last night he jumped missed and broke his neck. Thankfully he died instantly but although it give us comfort in that he didn't suffer he will be sorely missed. He was a porcelain d'uccle and he was just reaching maturity. Stunning and sweet he defended me against a roo we had that was intensely aggressive and twice his size. The other roo has since gone to freezer camp. But our "Blue" boy was supposed to stay. The only comfort I has is that he didn't suffer. We also are integrating another 8+ birds so I think we're okay on ratio. Also of our now two roos only one is a lf.
I figured that was why we got the soft-shelled egg. I read somewhere on BYC that sometimes it's best not to push them into laying sooner. So I decided not to start layer feed until I saw the first egg. They were started on the switch the next day. Especially considering our oldest girls are Isa browns I did not want to cause stress to their bodies unnecessarily since they have a shorter life span anyway.
I plan on locking them up as it cools down a bit more. I think the heat is supposed to break after tomorrow. And today we finally had a breeze that helped a lot. And we got our second egg not in the nest box although I did see someone had been in the boxes rearranging them. I'm hopeful they'll learn the right place.
Thank you for all of your help.
How much color difference can be expected from one new layers eggs?
Will post a pic so everyone can see and give me an opinion if its the same girl or not.

 

[Spice Chicks]

you were lucky. I would love to free range but again due to wild animals. like it was either a wolf or a fox. my husband said that where we live they are protected and the only way you can shoot one would be if they were heading toward you to attack or were after your live stock or in this case chickens but here again a lot of the property is natural a lot of trees like walking in the woods. so if any of the chickens headed into the woods i would more than likely be missing 1 or more depending how many went and i would more than likely not get to them intime to shoot the wild animal to protect them . So i bring the grass and stuff to them they love it it meats there needs and it also keeps them safe. as posted earlier the runs were bought at tractor supply and are not as big as they probably should have been but they were getting so big so fast we had to get the coop and some kind ou out side containment together so we could get them out of the house.Well went out tonight and let the run door down so nothing could get to them and i went in side to check for eggs. I was not really expecting to find anything since i found 2 this am . checked the top 3 nothing started at the door where i found the eggs this morning and nothing . which would not have suprised me i almost unlocked the door to go back in the house and i thought no you had better check the other 2 nest so checked the middle lower nest nothing not surprised. checked the last lower box furthest away from the door what do you think i found ? You would be right a small brown egg. this one wascloser to the color they should be . I don't know if one of the 2 that laid this morning decided to try the other nest or if i have a third chick that is also starting to lay.I took a picture of it as well. I have tried to send from phone to here in another post i hope it goes through

 

[Spice Chicks]

Well here are some pictures of the girls and the first 3 eggs I have gotten today from newest to the very first . The darkest one i got to night from a different nesting box than the first 2. or rather since after mid night last nigh well will have to send later got the pic of the girls to put as my avitar and did download the eggs to computer but i guess forgot to save. now i don't know how i did it in the first place will have to work on it some more.