I have eggs finally!

[RacetrackReject]

My chickens, they are so sneaky....

I have been about ready to pull my hair out over the fact that my chickens had still not started laying eggs. I tell them daily that DW's chickens are the same age and they are laying eggs and if they dont' give me eggs to eat, I will have to start eating chickens. =)

So Saturday, I thought I heard a cackling hen from inside the house so I ran outside and looked everywhere since my chickens get turnout during the day when I'm home. I even dug through the hay barn with a flashlight, but no eggs. Yesterday, I hear a chicken again, so I run back out and catch a hen coming out of the hay barn cackling. After moving about 50 bales of shavings I found it. A nest with 8 eggs in it- 4 greenish-blue and 4 brown eggs. Happy happy joy joy!

My mother ate the first one last night and said it was wonderful.

This morning I had a hen missing, but I found her, in the hay barn. When she got up to move away, I had a nice warm brown egg =), no cackling.

[foggybok]

Congratulations on your first eggs!

Now you are going to have to get inventive about what to do with all those eggs........

We are now up to our ears in eggs...just gave 18 to the hay guy. Even though the days are short, we are getting 7-10 eggs a day out of our 9 chickens.... They are good little girls!

[Ltc4h]

Be warned, they don't like laying being a spectator sport.
Trust me I know, 4 of mine have decided to lay anywhere but the nesting boxes. And when I find them within a day or two, they have moved on.
I used to think hide and seek was a fun game.

[deltawave]

:)

Welcome to the club. ;)

[lolalola]

I wish mine would start laying - my husband is SO annoyed that we have 25 hens and I had to buy eggs this week...

[rmh_rider]

Ya'll keep it coming. I LOVE the chicken talk. Chickens seem like they are very comical and interesting.

My husband might start laying eggs himself if I get any.

So, I will live my life of chicken envy through you all.

I am warming him to getting some Dorper sheep. Which will be very soon.

Keep the chicken talk coming! You all know so much about chickens - AMAZING.

[cholmberg]

My husband apparently drove at least one hen to work a few times. Wasn't til I was cleaning out the bed of the truck where some old hay had been stuck under the toolbox that I noticed a nest with about twenty eggs in it. . .and a hen in there, and I think he'd driven them to work at least once. . .and the hen stayed in the truck. Some were roooootttttteeen. I threw them all away and made sure to keep the truck bed very clean after that!

[2DogsFarm]

Nyah Nyah Nyah!!!!
My pullets are Good Girls - they have never laid outside the nest boxes. :D

OK - once when I was late getting home and the door to the coop blew shut.
They were all roosting on a pile of firewood that is inside their yard and one had laid an egg.
It was resting on a log and miraculously had not even cracked.

Now that it's colder production has dropped to 3 or 4 a day form the 5 of them.
The foofy Houdan - the only white egg-layer - has not given me anything for weeks.
That is A-OK - I am running out of ideas for using eggs.
So far friends & coworkers are not running from me when I appear with a carton.

I believe Backyard Chickens BB said you can freeze eggs - either separated or whole - for later use.
I know someone on there beats them (the eggs, not the chickens) then freezes in ice cube trays.

rmh_rider:
Come to the Dark & Downy Side!
Chickens have a ton of personality!
Who knew?
They take minimal care and are well worth it for the amusement value.
And then you get eggs!!!

[foggybok]

I use dummy eggs in the nest boxes. They seem to prefer laying in the boxes with the eggs, so you might try it...

And 2Dogs, I think my friends are starting to hide... I still get 7-9 per day from my 9 girls...if this is slow, what's gonna happen in the spring? DH told me he was gonna stop feeding them because they just lay more eggs..... Of course, now is eggnog season, so that should get rid of a few :)

[rmh_rider]

I can't quit reading ANY of the chicken threads. They are very entertaining, and informative. Oh yes, I know chickens are very amusing. My arab loves chickens. They are so much fun to watch for him. They do all kinds of stuff (he thinks) and don't have a care in the world. My friends have chickens, and he is so delighted to watch them - all!

What is an easy breed to start with? Shh don't tell my husband!

One of my friends has ginnie's, and chickens are more interesting. They have more of a brain than the ginnie, imo.

Keep the chicken tales coming. The one of the husband taking the hen to work with all her eggs. ha ha ha..

[RacetrackReject]

Chickens are hilarious! I have 2 hens that, as soon as I let them out for turn out in the morning, they grab a bite of scratch, then both run for the hay barn as fast as they can to drop their daily egg.

Out of 5 mature hens (about 15 juvenile =O) I get anywhere from 2-4 eggs every day. 1 brown every day and 1 green every day, then 2 extra greens every other day or so. Two lay in the hay barn and 2 lay in a nesting box. Although yesterday I found one just laying on the ground in their pen. I think someone threw it out of the nesting box.

I have a few extra roosters and I'm not going to eat them so I would like to give them away. I don't really want them to go the meat homes though. Any suggestions on how to find them good homes? One is a multi-color dark Easter Egger, no beard, but with a rose comb. The other is a really neat looking Black rooster with white polka dots all over him, not barrring, actual polka dots.

[cholmberg]

Due to a mixup when the feed store ordered for me once, I once wound up with ten roosters, at once. OMG the poor hens, the fighting! Two were killed by other roosters. Then the Jersey black giant rooster jumped on me one time too many. . .. . . my aunt came over and we rounded up all but my two favorites (One I gave to a breeding home) and she made chicken and dumplings out of them. I didn't feel one bit bad or sorry for them either. All they did was chase the hens relentlessly, and fight amongst themselves and got 'cocky' with people once too often. The one I kept was both handsome and well behaved, and probably pretty darned happy. I was pretty attached to my hens though, most had names. I was getting over a dozen eggs a day, I gave eggs away to -everyone-! Blue-green, white, brown and one little hen laid cute smallish pinkish eggs.

[JSwan]

No more roosters for me, thanks. Not unless I can put them in the freezer. ;)

I had a house full of guests the past week. Lots of guests. They eventually left, and I think it's because of my cooking.

Guests: What's for breakfast?

Me: Scrambled eggs.

Guests: What's for lunch?

Me: Egg sammiches.

Guests: What's for dinner?

Me: Chicken

Next day:

Guests: What's for breakfast?

Me: Scrambled eggs

Guests: What's for lunch?

Me: Egg sammiches

Guests: What's for dinner?

Me: Chicken

and so on..... :D

[foggybok]

No more roosters for me, thanks. Not unless I can put them in the freezer. ;)

I had a house full of guests the past week. Lots of guests. They eventually left, and I think it's because of my cooking.

Guests: What's for breakfast?

Me: Scrambled eggs.

Guests: What's for lunch?

Me: Egg sammiches.

Guests: What's for dinner?

Me: Chicken

Next day:

Guests: What's for breakfast?

Me: Scrambled eggs

Guests: What's for lunch?

Me: Egg sammiches

Guests: What's for dinner?

Me: Chicken

and so on..... :D

LOL, sounds like my house, except no chicken for dinner yet. I only have girls now (since my rooster ran away with the eagle), so no reason to be stewing anyone just yet...

Don't forget the eggnog for dessert! :)

Oh and these fresh eggs make darn good Yorkshire pudding!

[Trixie]

JSwan, do you want to lend me one of your layers for a few weeks to try and encourage my ladies in the right direction? :lol:

They are so NOT having this egg laying thing. Mrs. Kravitz, who was laying for approximately 14 days this summer, has flat stopped (went broody, then seemed to recover from that when placed with other chickens but hasn't laid since) and the rest never started. I'm thinking about trying to stick a solar light in their coop to try and trick them into longer days (anyone have any suggestions?) and they appear otherwise healthy, have a freakin' handmade chicken palace (complete with hen ladder and fancy tiled roof) and farmer's market vegetables, and they're just. not. doing. it.

Anyone had any luck with a light? Or am I SOL until next spring?

[Dressage Art]

I have 4 chickens: 2 americanas and 2 winedots. Americanas are moulting during the fall and do not lay egs, but they pick it back up when they are done. My winedots are young chicks from this year and they didn start laying yet - I dont know when to expect them to start laying their brown eggs.

So Im with 4 chickens and still buy the eggs from the store now!

[RacetrackReject]

Trixie- Not a chicken expert here, but when my hens weren't laying, I put a light up in their coop area and left it on 24/7 (and it's still up). The date I approximate they started laying is not long after I added the light. Of course it's not evidence of one having to do with the other, but I am wondering if it helped.

JSwan- You are hilarious! I love it.

Foggy- I also have ceramic eggs in the nesting areas.

Luckily, I have an egg eating household and we normally go through a dozen or so a week with just my flatmate and myself. I do have people already calling dibbs on any extras I have although they aren't too sure about the green eggs..lol.

Edited to add: My flatmate just called to say they picked up 5 eggs today. Four green and 1 brown. This means that all of my "of age" hens are now laying. Yippee!! Now I just have to figure out how to sneak home so I can gather the eggs..lol. This was our big entertainment over the 5 day holiday. =)

[JSwan]

Your pullets are suffering from what I call, SED. (Seasonal Egglaying Disorder).

Put a light in their coop. Really. Only need it for a few hours a day. My chickens are foraging outside -even in this nasty yucky weather. And their coop is an old stall in a converted machine shed (cue banjo music)

I just came in from the coop -22 eggs this afternoon.

Eggs - It's What's for Dinner.

And breakfast, and brunch, and lunch, and supper........ :winkgrin:

Oooo - yorkshire pudding. Gotta google a recipe!



Anyone had any luck with a light? Or am I SOL until next spring?

[MunchkinsMom]

I guess since I know little about chickens and egg laying, that this thread is educational for me.

I do want to share this story. Years ago, when married to my ex-husband, we bought a property out in the country with the plans to clear the land and bring the horse home (got divorced before that happened). Our neighbors next door had chickens, and one morning I opened the back door to let the dogs out, and in a pile of leaves next to the stoop was a clutch of eggs.

So I called the neighbor to tell her, in case she wanted them. She said "oh, you can have them". I told my ex-huband about it, and he said (and I am not lying) "We can't eat those - they came out of a chicken!"

When I got done laughing, I had to ask him where did he think the eggs came from that we bought at the grocery store?

Yes, he was a city boy.

[Dressage Art]

I heard that putting a golf ball in the nest also may promote egg laying.

[Trixie]

We gave them a fake chicken egg that was originally given to Mrs. Kravitz as a surrogate when she began laying. Mr. Trixie officially decided I was nuts the day that small wooden chicken eggs showed up in the mail.

I'll try a light. Maybe I can find something cheap and solar on amazon.

[Thokki]

I had read that chickens need 12-14 hours of daylight to lay eggs. So, I have a light on a timer in the coop. It comes on at about 4 am and goes off at 9 am. The hens take themselves off to bed in the coop at dusk. So far it seems to be working as the three of them are still laying, usually 2 eggs a day. There is also a heater in the coop to keep their water from freezing. We are in the frozen north and my husband heavily insulated the coop when he built it. We just started getting snow this week and the chickens don't like walking around in it very much! Fortunately, the area under the 4 x 6 ft coop is enclosed with clear plastic, so they go underneath to scratch around. This will be our first winter with the chickens, and horses at home, for that matter!