Cute!!! Plus a question...

[TPeers]

Just had our three-year-old come into the room holding an orange woollen glove above her head, making clucking noises! Entire room collapsed with laughter... Sorry, no photo - she ran off too quickly.

On a less frivolous note, we have noticed that our chucks are only laying about every other day at the moment. Since they only just started, we're guessing this is normal, but it would be good to confirm this with all you experienced hen-worshippers...

TP's OH (I stole the keyboard while SWMBO was getting a coffee refill! )

[Squirrel]

If you are talking purebreeds they seem to lay every other day. Most chooks lay every 25 hours with the ability to hang onto the egg until the next morning if it is too late in the day! (or so I have been told!)

Such a shame you couldn't get a picture of your three year old - had a chuckle imagining that!

[TPeers]

Stole the keyboard back! Cheeky man!

No, the hens are both hybrids a speckledy and a bovens nera. we got them on 26th March and were told they would take a week to settle before they laid, on Sunday 1st April we got our first egg, on the 2nd Hazel watched while the bovens nera laid in the run thus identifying the first egg as hers. The next egg was on 4th April and was a much darker egg so we assumed that it came from the speckledy, and we have had a egg a day since then but all of them have been brown, some with a rough finish, some smooth, some plain, some slightly speckled but none like the first two which were tinted with some speckles.

So I have no idea which hen is laying, or if they are taking it in turns and while I was expecting that they would lay an egg a day each, this does not seem to be the case.

We have dusted both the hens and the house for mites and given vermex as pecautionary measures, but we are very new to this game and I don't know what to expect!

Short of teaching the hens English and getting them to cluck on command, how do I know which hen is laying, should I be expecting more eggs, i.e. one from each per day. Or am I worrying over nothing?

Yours truly confused

Terry

[Squirrel]

You will find that once you get to know your hens well you can identify the noise each one makes when it sings the 'big big eeeeeg' song! The egg colour will change the more they lay. The pigment get lighter. When hens first start laying and until their systems get used to it, you get all sorts of funny lumps and bumps. Don't worry, it will sort itself out. Your speckledy should lay slightly darker bown eggs than your other hen - I think!

I feed mine layers pellets ad lib during the day and then about an hour before dark I go down and give them a handful of grain. The layers pellets ensures that they get a properly balanced ration for optimum egg quality. Hope this helps!

[TPeers]

Thanks! I didn't know the egg colour could change! I got a sack of layers pellet from the suppier when I bought them so as to keep the same food and not change everything at once!

I put the feed into a hopper thing and leave it in the run for them to pick at as wanted, same with the water thing which is a pain as it either leaks everywhere or doesn't supply water at all - must be doing something wrong but I've yet to work that one out! There is also a cat bowl full of mixed grit which is always available to them and refilled as necessary (about once a week at the moment).

We give a handful of corn about 1 1/2 hours or so before sunset - I'll think about making it later - and they are allowed out of the run if Hazel or I are in the garden (getting them back in is fun!).

If I am understanding you correctly I have nothing to worry about, I just need to wait for them to settle and go into 'full lay' what ever and when ever that may be, and listen to what they 'say' to learn their habits and patterns.

Ok, having typed all that and reread it -I *think* I understand...


here's hoping

Terry

[Squirrel]

Yes you've got that right! If you can't get them back into the run, just through a little corn in - they will come running. Each evening when I grain mine I call them (even though they are at my feet) with a light 'kip kip' as I throw it around. Then when I want them, just call and most of them come running! There is always the odd one .....

[chickenjane]

Just wanted to repeat what squirrel said.
They associate noises & food in apavlovian way.we have a metal bucket for thefood & thay go mad whenever it clanks.
Af you can't get them into the run ,just open the door & watchwht happens at dusk.No chasing tem round with arms out wide-they just stroll back to bed.
Ps chick have about 600 eggs in them,& you never get them all out.
if they lay daily for their 1st year then that's about 200 gone.So 2ndyear will be fewer etc.
If they only lay 150 in 1st year you might get a less marked drop off in yr2.
Don't worry,they've only just got going & as long as they are healthy & happy & talked to they'lldo thir best for you

[yoanbob]

Agree, dont worry, even when they are in full swing they only lay one egg every 28 hrs, so you will get days when they dont lay.

[TPeers]

Thanks for the advice - I'll stop worrying! Sounds like the longer they stay on an egg every other day, the longer they will lay in terms of months, years, etc... Which is good as far as I am concerned!

Just have to get more chickens.......

[kirsty b]

We have 7 hens, (4 Warrens, 2 Rhode Island and a Bantam). I get 3 large eggs a day, from which ones I don't know and the Bantam lays roughly every other day.
Was wondering if they were in full lay yet, but it seems as though they already are! Lovely eggs, regardless of quantity.

Kirsty