YO GEORGIANS! :)

[Flowerbh]

Practice makes perfect

. Seriously, some roosters start getting obnoxious earlier than others.

I had a rooster that started crowing at 8 weeks, banged everything at 17 weeks and after we rehomed it at 19 weeks, I hatched 29 of his babies from 10 different hens!

 

[ChickDancer]

Aren't they too young for that though? The girls haven't even started laying yet.

Nope. Hens usually start laying *around* 16 weeks (sometimes later though). But roosters mature faster, and want their share before the hens start laying. At least this way you know her very first egg will be fertile!

 

[ChickDancer]

I am getting excited! Only three more weeks before I start gathering duck eggs to hatch! Then another week after that and I will be looking for chicken eggs to add to the bator with them! Hope there will be some good ones available at that time! I guess it is pointless to look at eggs on ebay/craigslist now. It is killing me! WANT THEM NOW! hahhaha... ok, I admit it.....I am addicted!

Still haven't figured out if my young hen is an egg eater or not. No real change in the amount of eggs I am getting. Only 10 today. Only one brown egg out of 7 brown egg laying hens! No white eggs out of 2 white egg laying hens. It's just so frustrating not to be getting eggs.....and most of these hens are less than a year old!

You separated her, right? Try putting some eggs in a nest with her, and see if she eats them then or not. If she seems to leave them alone, then maybe you can try other hens that way, one at a time. Better yet, you could try the roosters that way, and see if one of them is breaking them, first.

All of my hens will eat cracked eggs. But none of them purposely break eggs that are in their nests. It's so funny because if I go to grab an egg, the moment it floats out of the nest, the hens are on me like "ARE YOU GOING TO BREAK IT FOR US?!?"

But as long as it's in the nest, it's a no-touch zone, unless it's already broken.

 

[valleychicks]

Nope. Hens usually start laying *around* 16 weeks (sometimes later though). But roosters mature faster, and want their share before the hens start laying. At least this way you know her very first egg will be fertile!

Omgosh! They are 15 weeks now. We are going to work on the nest boxes this weekend weather permitting. After the nest boxes are built should I just leave the nest box open then or not until they are 18 weeks? And do I need to put a golf ball in the nest box and if so when?

 

[ChickDancer]

Have one new chick from a friend. The chick is about 6 weeks old. Seemed fine when I got it. Now it is all hunched up. Any ideas? No bloody or runny poops. Should I treat it with something? What? Could it be just stressed? All her other chicks are fine and all my other chicks are fine, Chick eats and drinks, but then just sits all hunched up again. I have it by itself.

If it's still eating and drinking, then it's most likely NOT Cocci. That's one of the first signs of cocci infections.

I'm still waiting for answers from the GA Poultry Lab on my five chicks. But the veterinarian that performs the necropsy told me I could go ahead and treat them with oxytetracycline (brand name at TSC is Duramycin) at the level of 800mg per gallon of water (roughly half an ounce per gallon - or half a small shot glass) as a preventative.

And that seems to be what is saving the latest chick to fall ill. I still don't know WHAT it has, and won't trust selling chicks or eggs, or getting new chickens or eggs, until I know what it actually is. But it's working to save this one, and that's what is important for now.

 

[ChickDancer]

Omgosh! They are 15 weeks now. We are going to work on the nest boxes this weekend weather permitting. After the nest boxes are built should I just leave the nest box open then or not until they are 18 weeks? And do I need to put a golf ball in the nest box and if so when?

Leave it open then, and let them get used to it. I did make a mistake though, and meant to say "heavy" layers usually start around 16 weeks. So things like leghorns, RIR's, etc. - breeds known for laying a lot. Others *can* lay that early. It's never too early to prepare though! And clearly your rooster is more than ready!

But once you make the nest box, go ahead and leave it open for them to get used to it, and leave the golfball in there right away. That way, they will become familiar with that nest box holding "eggs" and hopefully use it that way in the future.

 

[ChickDancer]

My poor turkey poults didn't get their fun in the sun today. The sky was threatening us with rain all day, and we got a few sprinkles. But the sun wasn't out until the end of the day.

I'm trying to take them out there somewhat often, because I've heard a Vitamin D deficiency is one of the problems others came across when raising poults. While everyone suggested "supplements" I know most living things get the Vitamin D that they need from plain old sunlight. So sunshine it is!


Except today, I guess

 

[Flowerbh]

You separated her, right? Try putting some eggs in a nest with her, and see if she eats them then or not. If she seems to leave them alone, then maybe you can try other hens that way, one at a time. Better yet, you could try the roosters that way, and see if one of them is breaking them, first.

All of my hens will eat cracked eggs. But none of them purposely break eggs that are in their nests. It's so funny because if I go to grab an egg, the moment it floats out of the nest, the hens are on me like "ARE YOU GOING TO BREAK IT FOR US?!?"

But as long as it's in the nest, it's a no-touch zone, unless it's already broken.

Yes, she has been in a crate inside the coop for three days now. She lays an egg and it is still there when I check on her during the day.....so maybe she isn't an egg eater. I just guess I have lazy chickens who just want to eat and not lay eggs! And, I looked at everyone very carefully today. Their combs are tomato red! I take that a good sign of a healthy chicken! And, CD, no roosters here.

 

[valleychicks]

Leave it open then, and let them get used to it. I did make a mistake though, and meant to say "heavy" layers usually start around 16 weeks. So things like leghorns, RIR's, etc. - breeds known for laying a lot. Others *can* lay that early. It's never too early to prepare though! And clearly your rooster is more than ready!

But once you make the nest box, go ahead and leave it open for them to get used to it, and leave the golfball in there right away. That way, they will become familiar with that nest box holding "eggs" and hopefully use it that way in the future.

Thank you for your help and Mrsdszoo and Flowerbh. He bit her again tonight. After looking at the coming weekend weather for our area my husband said we will try to work on the nest boxes tomorrow, grass cutting tonight. I will do what you said and try to find a golf ball or something like that to put in the nest boxes and leave them open. Blondie the hen that got bit, is either a RIR or Production Red. We have another hen that I have a picture of for my avatar that is a RIR we call Red. Blondie looks more orange than red so I think she is production. Both are very smart. Red is the head hen. Our other two hens are an Australorp and an EE. I'm going to look up heavy layers now to find out who may lay first.

 

[BlackwoodHollow]

Picked 9 young birds and >25 fuzzy butts today in Thomaston from Carroll Abbott.
Guy definitely gets my seal of approval. Extremely nice and you can tell he cares about his birds and breeding.
Glad I found him.
Pics later.
Woot!!