Who's laying?

[vanridge]

Ok please don't laugh at me, I'm a cow girl and chickens don't do the same thing as cows! Anyway, this is my first batch of laying hens, I have 1 SLW, 3 GLW, and 1 SLW rooster named Smokey. They are beautiful birds. End of October, I was getting 1 egg a day for a week, then it got cold outside. When I say cold, I mean snow, -20 C. Winter. Snow. Canada. I put a heat lamp in their coop, although I know of chickens that have to fend for themselves up here and they do quite fine. Anyway, they stopped laying for a few weeks and now they have started to lay again. For a few days there were 2 eggs a day. Now, I can't tell who is laying the eggs. I'm quite confident its not Smokey! Is there a way to tell, or do you just guess. They are never near the egg when I come to the coop. Some have been quite cold... Would they start laying more when the weather warms up?

 

[dandelionheart]

Yeah, I'm confident it isn't Smokey as well.

The three of mine that are laying right now (2 EEs and our RIR) are squatting like crazy, are more affectionate, and their combs are redder. I've heard you can feel around their vent and I guess it is wider or something if they aren't laying... but I don't feel like doing that.

The 3 BOs are more skittish and aren't squatting for me (but DID when they *were* laying).

Hope that helps. And yes, as soon as it warms up and they get more sunlight... more eggs. Also, we've had a uptick in egg count and I wonder if is due to the snow - the light just bounces around because of it...

I also have been giving warm oatmeal and cayenne pepper...

 

[vanridge]

Ok I'm gonna see if I notice a difference in behaviour, see if I can spot the squatter. Warm oatmeal and cayenne pepper???? How do you make it and why?

 

[oldchickenlady]

Out of 11 hens I am only getting 1-2 eggs a day right now. I did put a light in their coop earlier this week to see if I could up the egg count a bit, but can't tell that it has helped any yet. The light comes on at dusk and stays on 4 hours, so is on till roughly 8:30pm. Last night I went to check for eggs when I got home at 8:30 and a BO was just jumping off the bag of shavings that I have in the coop, they like to lay eggs there for some reason, even though I have other nests for them to lay in. There was a still warm egg in the sack! Yay! Hopefully they will pick up soon...1 a day isn't enough!

 

[Uzuri]

My layers are REALLY obvious at the moment -- they're the two with the bright red combs. Everyone else is shrived and pathetic looking, including my BO pullet, who started laying for about 3 weeks, then molted, weird little thing. But there's no question as to who is currently active, not like last year when I had six coming into lay and they all looked about the same.

It's possible that all yours are laying, just on a reduced schedule, too.

 

[dandelionheart]

I've been just sprinkling the cayenne pepper powder in their regular food mix... and then each morning I take some old fashioned oatmeal (from the cylinder type container), shake a couple of cups over the kitchen trimmings (usually old apples, bananas, beans...), add some cinnamon (don't ask me why), pour some water in to where it is kinda thick soupy... and then stick it in the microwave for 4 minutes, let cool a bit, but where it is still warm, then go out there and put it in their treat pie plate. If I don't have enough kitchen scraps I'll shake in some raisins.

Our hens are pets, so I *do* spoil them a bit. But the pepper is supposed to make them warmer, up their metabolism and I guess get them laying better... I heard about that on here. And the oats are just to make them happy... especially with the cold. If I were out there I'd like some hot oatmeal too. We aren't heating anything but their water.

 

[vanridge]

kitchen scraps...funny thing.... we moved our pigs to brother in law and chickens got fresh greens again. I thought their store bought food was enough... they actually wait for me by the door now and 2 days after they got the scraps, they started to lay! Definetly doing the oatmeal thing, if its good for my boys, why not the chickens? My chickens actually encourage me to eat more salad so that I can give them lettuce and etc.! OK so I will look for red combs and squattin' squawkers. .....Sounds like I am not the only one puzzled by the chicken

 

[bburn]

Turnip greens....lots of calcium
Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS) lots of protein
Plain Yogurt....calcium and probiotics

all good for chickens

 

[vanridge]

Thanks for the tip! Just one more quick question. I just went to the coop and someone had laid an egg. Yay!! However it had blood on it.... it was large egg... equivelant to a store bought large egg... is that bad, should I be worried?

 

[Uzuri]

It happens sometimes -- no need to worry unless it starts happening a lot.