anyone got eggs yet! we got 4 eggs yesterday and 4 again today, so we are very pleased they are finally earning their keep again!
koru_designs,
Jun 26, 9:56pm
Yay for eggs :) Ours aren't laying just yet - still too early for our hens who are getting over their moult & the others are pullets, so not laying just yet. But I'm guesstimating we should start getting eggs in a couple of weeks.
jules.,
Jun 28, 2:15am
yesterday we got a teeny tiny egg, we decided to crack it open, the kids were excited to see if it was all yolk, all white or just normal. but to our surprise, it was full of blood. does anyone know why please!
jules.,
Jun 30, 11:23pm
OMG! 5 eggs today! does anyone know about the little egg as above please! i would love to know why this happened.
koru_designs,
Jul 1, 12:35am
Did it have a yolk as well or was it just blood (no yolk or white)!
jules.,
Jul 1, 3:52am
not 100% on that, when i cracked it and found blood, i opened it a bit then decided the kids didnt really need to see what may have been in there, and quite frankly, i didnt want to see either. but as far as i could see was just blood.
javlin,
Jul 1, 4:20am
Hello chook people We have three New Hampshires here. I have had plenty of shavers in the past but found them too noisy and flighty when we shifted to town. The New Hampshires are very quiet cautious birds. When I let them out they stand in the doorway of their house for a while peering out and discussing among themselves whether it is safe to venture out LOL. They are all off the lay at the moment. One is moulting. I'm very fond of them.
javlin,
Jul 1, 4:26am
Roosting in trees We had some shavers who used to do that. We used to gently poke them with a long stick until they flapped down to the ground with much squawking. We did this because we wanted them in the house overnight so that they would lay in their house and not in the garden. Having said that I don't think they would have come to any harm spending the night in the trees. They used to roost very high up.
javlin,
Jul 1, 4:27am
further to 288 They are BIRDS after all.
jules.,
Jul 1, 5:41am
further to 285, the small egg was very chalky/porous, not nice and smooth like a regular egg and small like a quails egg. i thought it may have been from our pullet, being her first egg! she is laying lovely eggs now. dont know who it was from, was just a guess it was her. certainly gives us all something to talk about. the kids have told everyone about it, they were very interested.
jules.,
Jul 1, 6:00am
i just tried to google about blood in eggs. all i could come up with was blood spots, they are due to a blood vessel bursting while the egg is coming down the oviduct before the shell is formed around the egg. but nothing at all about an egg filled only with blood. oh well.
koru_designs,
Jul 2, 10:29am
Jules. yeah.I was going to say may have just been a blood spot but if you think the whole thing was full of blood, maybe it was a clot or something that had managed to get trapped when the shell formed! Keep an eye on your birds & make sure their diet is good.if nothing seems untoward in their health then it's probably one of those "oh, that's interesting!" moments :)
jules.,
Jul 3, 4:49am
yeah, have been keeping an eye on them, they are all looking really good. 5 of them are laying again (YAY!). they eat pretty well, rather like queens, they have food scraps and ive been feeding them NRM mash mixed with warm milk or water to keep them nice and warm. in the summer they get peck n lay pellets and loads of fresh water. well, hopefully it doesnt happen again.
jaywai,
Jul 6, 4:33am
Have just found this thread Thanks for all the great advice. We've just got 5 3 month old chookens and can see them from the kitchen window. Not a lot of work being done! Can't stand out there for too long as it's wet and cold. Will try Farmlands for the chook chow, it sounds good. Keep the advice coming.
jules.,
Jul 8, 4:56am
after our very poor hatch rate of 2/8 eggs, in february, due to the useless sarogate mother hen, we have now come out with 2 bl**dy roosters! so they have to go. havnt told daughter that her precious 'girl' that she carries around everywhere is in fact a boy. she will be gutted. i was convinced it was a girl as its so friendly, but have looked at pictures and decided he is a he and he is starting to crow now too. its been a great experience for the kids and i have loved having the chicks too, but maybe we will just stick with the big girls for now :(
koru_designs,
Jul 8, 7:56am
Aw.what a shame. Yeah - our rooster is really tame & a lovely wee thing (he likes to sit on my shoulder & walk round the house). It's one of the sad things about hatching eggs.
jules.,
Jul 9, 4:50am
well today was the day we decided the boys really had to go! we came to that conclusion at 4.30am when they started crowing! i did some ringing around and was given some people to call and found a family that had hens and were after some roos. so with a lot of tears from daughter, she gave them lots of cuddles and kisses and we put them in a box and set of on our journey south. we got there 45mins later and were greeted by a lovely family that had 3 hens (and were getting more), 2 sheep, 2 dogs and 2 kids. we put them in the paddock where the hens were and off they went as happy as ever, YAY! on the return trip there were plenty of tears from both son and daughter, but i kept reminding them that it was a lovely home and they would be well looked after and very happy. i cant wait for the sleep in in the morning and i bet the neighbours will be pleased too! :)
tractor9,
Jul 9, 5:31am
My crowing hen is moulting drastically. Poor girl looks like a number 18 Tegal. I'm sure she's feeling the cold! Nature can be so cruel.
purplegoanna,
Jul 9, 8:09pm
ooooooooooooh got 2 eggs yesterday.so that leaves one chicken left to lay and my wee banty and we're off again.
moovinup,
Jul 9, 8:21pm
How much pellets do you give hens I have brown shavers 38 of them and they get let out of their shed for about 4 hrs a day to eat what ever else they can scratch up I had been giving them 100gm/chook but wondering if thats enough TIA
jules.,
Jul 9, 10:37pm
My feed says 1 cup per chook per day, I give mine 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the late afternoon.
I have been getting 4 eggs a day lately from my 10 girls. They have all been thru the mault now, so hopefully the rest will start again soon too :)
purplegoanna,
Jul 10, 6:11pm
I feed mine 'scratch' which i make up myself, its equal amounts of oats, barley, pellets & kibbled maize with some grit thrown in for luck. I feed 3 chickens and 2 bantys 2c a day + scraps.
jules.,
Jul 11, 7:15pm
oh tractor9, you will have to knit her a coat, lol i have had to put a tarpolin up for my girls, they insist on standing in the rain, silly things.
tractor9,
Jul 12, 3:01am
Yep, I thought about the coat thing ! I store some hay in the carport by the back door, she spends a bit of time there during the day - or under the car with me while I'm working on it.
jules.,
Jul 14, 2:47am
the chooks got new sawdust yesterday! the kids and i got a trailer load of sawdust from the landscape supply place just down the road. we spread it all thru their area and they had a blast scratching around in it. it was so wet and boggy and SMELLY with all the rain we have had, we had to do something to try and fix it a bit :) one of our silly girls has just started to lay, now she thinks shes going to hatch them. i checked on her this afternoon and she was looking at me all dopey so i took her off the eggs, man was she mad! she went around making all sorts of noise when i took the eggs (from the other hens) then went back in to sit on the now empty nest. ill shift her again tomorrow so she will get them message over the next few days hopefully :)
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