YO GEORGIANS! :)

[Highcotton]

Go ahead and kick us while we are down!  hahahahha!  That's great that you are getting so many eggs this time of year!  Are you using light in your coop?  What kind of hens do you have?  I only get 6-8 eggs a day from 12 hens, but 2 are molting and one is broody.  I think the shorter daylight hours have gotten to some of them, too.  I have some pullets that are 27 weeks and 33 weeks that haven't started laying yet!  Ugh!  Also have a few that are 19 weeks old.  Only one looks really red faced.  She is a Exchequer Leghorn X Crested Cream Legbar mix and should lay blue eggs.  I guess because of the Leghorn in her, she may be the earliest to lay of any bird I ever had!  I had one silkie who was 49 weeks old before she laid her first egg!  Then she went broody 2 months later!  hahaha!  I also have a new set of chicks that are 8 weeks old and more eggs in the bator!  I probably have at least one hen from every breed!  (Not really, but quite a few different ones!)  Love the different egg colors!

I am glad I have staggered ages because I love the excitement of having a new egg layer!  Always so fun to see what color eggs I get!

I am not doing anything other than feeding and watering daily. I have a feeder for layer pellets and I let them free range usually 2 or 3 days a week. I feed them scraps like turnip green cabbage and cole slaw. We have had alot of that lately since our Lions Club had a barbeque a week ago and we fed the senior citizens yesterday and served cole slaw both times. The chickens love it. We fed them pumpkins when we cut the halloween pumpkins. Th grand kids got the seed. I have 3 White Leghorns, 3 Red Sex links and 1 Australorp. The Red Sex Links are my favorite. They are all consistent layers but the Red Sex Links lay the largest eggs and they are the friendliest. When we are sitting out and feeding them the Red Stars come up the closest. One of the jumped up in my lap for the fiirst time yesterday. I love the colored eggs. We have 3 Mallards that lay beautiful sage green eggs. They are medium and large in size. So they look just like hen eggs andtaste like hen eggs. They think the Banty rooster is their mama or something.

 

[ohju1ia]

 Oh my god. I am so sorry for your loss! That dog would be gone if it did that to mine. Straight to the pound and would be getting shot with a BB gun everytime it stepped on my property if the owners got it back. One of the ladies down the street has a dog just like that. Luckily she only got one of our hens and we started keeping a BB gun right by the door. A few weeks later she learned to steer VERY clear of our house.

I've shot the **** thing with my BB gun several times! It keeps coming back. I really like my neighbor. He's a sweetheart. I don't want to drag his dog off to the pound. Fortunately I am out of 9mm ammo, or else I probably would have killed it last night.

 

[Kyochan]

I've shot the **** thing with my BB gun several times! It keeps coming back. I really like my neighbor. He's a sweetheart. I don't want to drag his dog off to the pound. Fortunately I am out of 9mm ammo, or else I probably would have killed it last night.

Oh ouch. Well sadly some dogs just don't learn. Could you maybe ask him to chain it up?

 

[RedBugPoultry]

I've shot the **** thing with my BB gun several times! It keeps coming back. I really like my neighbor. He's a sweetheart. I don't want to drag his dog off to the pound. Fortunately I am out of 9mm ammo, or else I probably would have killed it last night.

Sad to say but the dog probably needs to go. If it is that determined it will come back. Even if chained they seem to get loose and remember where that chicken dinner is....I am very sorry about your chickens and hope you can keep the rest safe.

 

[Jharper]

Okay, so I'm looking for another laying hen and I am hoping to find a young maran or welsumer. I'm just wanting some really dark brown eggs. I'm just looking for a local pick up. Thanks! Tell me if ya have any for sale or if you know someone who does.

 

[Kyochan]

I'm right down the road from you. I'm hatching black stars and white rock x rir in a month or two. The Cochin roosters fertilization needs to pass.

Ohh I didn't see your post before. Some Black stars would be very nice to start up our laying flock with. Not sure about the cross breeds. I know RIR lay very well but what about the white rocks?

 

[christine9]

My neighbors dog killed 10 of my 20 chickens tonight. I literally ordered by hardware cloth today and have been steadily securing my coop. The dog killed his masters chickens yesterday, and I told him this morning that once a dog tastes live chicken he will always go for more. I put the girls inside their coop, inside the run, and secured it, which I've never done before, but I wanted them to be safe. He tore through the chicken wire, chewed off the latch, and lifted the 10lbs wood door with his head. I caught him before he killed the last of them. I'm left with 2 28 week old white rocks, 1 19 week old EE, 1 18 week old white leghorn, 4 9 week old silkies and 2 4 week old BOs. The silkies and the BOs are in their own little box, inside the coop, so they were safe.

I hope your hardware cloth arrives before you experience any more loss. It is really sad. I have to say hardware cloth is the only reason I knew I could have chickens. My dogs would have eaten my chickens if it wasn't for that stuff. It's pricey, but really worth every penny in peace of mind. Good luck.

 

[ohju1ia]

Ohh I didn't see your post before. Some Black stars would be very nice to start up our laying flock with. Not sure about the cross breeds. I know RIR lay very well but what about the white rocks?

My white rocks lay 5 eggs a week, and are decent meat birds too. Their eggs are fertilized by either my cochin or the RIR at the moment, so I don't know how the chicks will turn out.
Unfortunately my RIR was taken last night, along with my barred rocks, so until I buy another rooster, and more started pullet barred rocks, I won't be hatching anything. I plan to buy them as soon as I fortify my coop. I'm going to build a fence around it, with a roof and a door. Once that's done, I will buy more.

 

[h2ofowllovngrl]

I've shot the **** thing with my BB gun several times! It keeps coming back. I really like my neighbor. He's a sweetheart. I don't want to drag his dog off to the pound. Fortunately I am out of 9mm ammo, or else I probably would have killed it last night.

Oh ouch. Well sadly some dogs just don't learn. Could you maybe ask him to chain it up?

There is a forum somewhere on Here regardimg training dogs NOT to attack chickens. This sounds awful, but apparently a lot of people have success with carcass training. They tie one of the dead chickens to the neck of the dog with the collar, & the dog has to drag it around for like a day or so.. Supposedly it is quite shaming for the dog and they learn not to attack chickens. I would imagine that it works best on dogs who are attacking chickens for sport. Might be something for you to talk to your neighbor about. As horrible as it sounds, I think I would be willing to try anything. Good luck to you.

 

[Flowerbh]

My white rocks lay 5 eggs a week, and are decent meat birds too. Their eggs are fertilized by either my cochin or the RIR at the moment, so I don't know how the chicks will turn out.
Unfortunately my RIR was taken last night, along with my barred rocks, so until I buy another rooster, and more started pullet barred rocks, I won't be hatching anything. I plan to buy them as soon as I fortify my coop. I'm going to build a fence around it, with a roof and a door. Once that's done, I will buy more.

I am sorry about your chickens. I lost a bunch of chickens to a bear a few months ago. We have now added an electric wire that goes around the whole coop. We already had hard tack that is even buried 12 " deep. The bear tore off the door! Anyway, you may want to add an electric fence. A few zaps and that dog may not want to come back! We have actually heard several yelps at night since we added the fence!

Speaking of that, we were lucky last night. We went to a friends for dinner before the chickens were locked up for the night. Our coop door is only 14" X 12". Right after we ate, I asked my husband and our friend to go close the coop up and turn the fence on because it was getting dark. They arrived to find a bear and her cub in the coop with all the chickens! The runner ducks were no where in sight. The bears were eating from the feeders while the chickens sat on the 6' high roosts! My husband saw the bears squeeze thru the tiny door! The mom ran up the hill, the baby ran up the nearest tree 3 feet from the coop! Ugh. So while that baby was up the tree, I went to the coop, counted the chickens and closed the door and set the electric fence. Then we hid behind a car and watched the baby slowly climb down the tree and run off to find it's mom! Then we went looking for the ducks. Finally found them down by the lake. They wouldn't come so we had to leave them there all night. They are all ok. (Runner ducks are more like chickens and go inside to sleep so this was unusual) Anyway, we are so glad that we must have gotten there right after they got inside the coop. All is ok.