Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE => Topic started by: Jerrymac on September 08, 2008, 11:41:23 am

Title: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 08, 2008, 11:41:23 am
I know it is close to time for my hens to start laying. I have one that has been acting strange the past few days. This morning she is in the pen with all the little chicks. She has been checking out every nook crook and cranny. I finally got one of my over sized bee boxes I made way back when, put some mowed dried weeds in it and sat it on top of a non-working freezer. She jumped up onto it and has spent a lot of time rearranging the weeds in there. Is this typical of a hen fixing to lay her first egg? 
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 08, 2008, 12:08:32 pm
Yep, the hormones are starting to flow, could be tomorrow or in 3 weeks though.  Is her comb red?  Is she hunkering down when you try to pet her?  Try the Backyard Chicken Forum, they have tons & tons of info. Funny, the 1 mystery chix I have started laying a good 6 weeks before any of the others!  Now getting 8 + a day.  My hard thing is that they are free range on my property so getting them ALL to use the nests has been fun!  They pick the weirdest spots to lay.. :roll:  Jody
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 08, 2008, 12:15:57 pm
Yeah I'm thinking I need to close up the openings going under the house. That is where they spend most of the day. Have to send the grand kids in to find the eggs I guess  :-D
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: ArmucheeBee on September 08, 2008, 12:55:26 pm
Hens like to feel safe, secure, and concealed when laying.  I use 5 gallon buckets laid on their sides, with a piece of 2x4 cut to shape across the front to keep the hay inside.  They love 'em.  Something is over their head, sides, and tail.  They are also easy to clean and have a handle!!  I use them for bantams and standard hens.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: JP on September 08, 2008, 08:57:07 pm
Jerry's gonna be a daddy!!!


...JP
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Frantz on September 08, 2008, 11:56:32 pm
Yep, Jerry she will be laying soon. Keep an eye on her and make sure she gets the first one out. I have had a few have a rough time with the first one, don't know why. I am getting about 9 doz every 3-4 days now. It has been a good year. The kids all have their egg routes that they sell to and it has been a good summer. Good luck, and " keep on cluck'n"!!!
Also what kind of birds do you have?
Just wondering
F
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 09, 2008, 09:47:21 am
So what do you do if she can't get the egg out?     Drop kick  :shock:

Right now it is just the Rhode Island Reds that are of age.

I am going to have to look see what all the others are. Estes Hatchery had a special on rainbow egg layers. So I ordered 25 pullets. They sent 27.... they always send extras... and one turns out to be male. One I think got mobbed and died and another drowned (I think) as they all bunched around the waterer and possible got this one's head in the water. That's where I found it. So I got the 25 I ordered I guess. Also ordered 2 guineas at the same time and they sent 4.

From the first batch of birds I got from Gebo's, a total of 16, I lost one to unknown causes, lost two to the dog. Ended up with 6 hens and seven roosters..... until the other day. Now four roosters are in the freezer. See how they taste later this week I think.

So I have

4 guineas
4 roosters
30 hens
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: JP on September 09, 2008, 10:47:41 am
Never heard of chickens having trouble laying eggs, aren't they the experts on the subject?


...JP


Drop kick??   :-D :-D:-D
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: 1reb on September 09, 2008, 01:08:34 pm
I you want a breed of bird that will lay in about 10 week  and lay almost all year get you some of the coturnix quail .  I have 7 of them and I get 7 eggs most day
Johnny
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Frantz on September 09, 2008, 01:54:16 pm
They can sometimes get egg bound. It ain't pretty, but you can actually pick them up and help them coax it out. They get too many in the chute per say. At any given time a chicken will have 3-4 eggs in various stages in the chute. If for some reason the one that needs to come out doesn't they get backed up or "egg bound". It seems to me that happens about 1 in 30 or so. Sometimes their hips just aren't wide enough. Usually doesn't happen to the RIR's and the leghorns as they are bread to be laying machines. But can happen to the other breeds a little more often.
I think that Cindi even has had her sister? come over and measure the egg chute on her layers and those that don't pass go to the freezer. I could be wrong but you can measure the chute and tell whether they will be prone to binding up.
Sounds like you have a good group of birds.
Good luck and have fun.
We have moved into incubating our own birds and all kinds of fun stuff with the kids. It is as bad as having bees. You start to get a little crazy.
F
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: doak on September 09, 2008, 02:21:58 pm
That's a new one on me, never heard of a chicken being egg bound.
Two yolks, soft shell, double hard shell,  two eggs in one day, but they missed the day before or the day after, yes!!!!   Egg Bound??? I don't know. :roll:
doak
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 09, 2008, 03:11:26 pm
Any type of birds can become eggbound, as can lizards, snakes,turtles anything that lays eggs.  I've never had a chix but did have a cockatiel once, mineral oil  can help.. :-P  Just got a Far Side image of Cindi with her little tape measure..hee hee! :evil:
I got my chix from Estes too, all very healthy & 25/25 pullets!! Danish Leghorns, Americanas, Blk sexlink.  They are so funny & very very tame!  Jody
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Brian D. Bray on September 09, 2008, 03:48:56 pm
An egg bound chicken can die and appear to be death due to unknown causes.  If you find a chicken with the egg half out/in pick her up and press gently on each side of the vent just ahead of the tail, the egg should pop out.

Abut chicken can lay an egg every 23 hours so 2 eggs in 24 hours is possible, but they'll usually skip the next day completely when that happens.  I find that 20 chickens (various ages) produce about 15 eggs average per day....it ranges from 10-20.  Still that's more than my household (10 people) can eat so I have a widower friend we supply with eggs as well. 
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: ArmucheeBee on September 09, 2008, 04:34:36 pm
Sell those surplus eggs.  I have 11 hens and get avg. of 7 eggs each day.  I take left over work and sell them cheap at $1.50/dzn.  In each month I only make about $14-$16, which is just enough to buy a 50# bag of layer.  We started a small business with 20 Black Australorps a few years back, but I could not make enough then to cover the feed costs.  I would have to let them range and there are too many dogs out here in the country!!!  Oh, my coworkers return my egg cartons, when I had the 20 BAust. I had to buy cartoons.  That and feed take all your money.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 09, 2008, 05:10:06 pm
I did get a book about chickens. It does mention something about being Egg bound. Some petroleum jelly, stuff it into the vent, and egg slides out.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: JP on September 09, 2008, 05:18:04 pm
Hey, you do know why a chicken can't lay half an egg, right??


...JP :-D
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 09, 2008, 07:15:19 pm
I sell mine at the CSA I belong to.  The lady pays me $3dz, & then she sells em for $3.50.  I can get cash or credit to my shares.  I also have people @ Church begging me..think I'll have to get more next spring, 16 isn't enough! :evil:  Bruce will be bout as thrilled as Brian's wife was finding the ram in their goat pen!~! :roll:  Jody
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: randydrivesabus on September 09, 2008, 08:36:18 pm
the eggs at the farmers market are selling for $3.50 a dozen and anyone who brings them sells out easily. i got the market manager upset by saying that they sell so fast i don't even need a cooler. i've had hens get egg bound and if you can't tell that they are they will die from it. but it doesn't happen very often.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 09, 2008, 09:36:08 pm
I got egg!!!

Real nice purddy brown egg.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 09, 2008, 10:45:22 pm
YAYS!!  :-D  Nothing beats home grown eggs!  Day by day the others should be on board!  Jody
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Frantz on September 09, 2008, 11:25:51 pm
Congrats Jerry, Nothing like the first egg. Especially if you raised them from peeps. It seems like the wait is going to take forever.
All that Egg Bound talk for nothing, well almost nothing, now you know something about it and how to deal with it if it ever comes about.
Good luck.
We also sell ours for $4.00 per dozen here. My kids go all over the block and sell them. We always have about 15-20 dozen in the egg fridge and we rotate accordingly. Its good for them and its good for the feed bill. About a bag a week plus scraps and about 80 lbs of flax seed per month. So we do a little better than break even. Not much though. We do ok selling the chicks that we incubate as well. Just raising kids.... Ya know.....
Congrats again Jerry
That is great.
Here is our first egg from a few years back.
F
(http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/902/p1000708wx5.th.jpg) (http://img122.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000708wx5.jpg)
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: JP on September 10, 2008, 12:39:28 am
Hey Frantz, when I enlarged the pic my entire screen was filled up with the same pop up Annette and I were talking about in another post.


...JP
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: ArmucheeBee on September 10, 2008, 09:30:38 am
I went to put my hand in a nest last night to get the eggs and came out with a 4 foot grey rat snake!  It had 4 eggs in it!  I put it in the car and drove about 2 miles away and turned it loose.  No profits this month!
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 10, 2008, 12:26:43 pm
I went to put my hand in a nest last night to get the eggs and came out with a 4 foot grey rat snake! 

So that's why I got the guineas.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: thomashton on September 11, 2008, 01:45:13 pm
Eggs go for $4 for regular sized larges with x-large going for $5/doz at the farmer's market. Smaller banty size for about $3/doz.

Right now I sell to a local bakery for just $2/doz. It is steady and I drop them off once per week. At the farmer's market you HAVE to stay the full time--9am to 1pm whether you are sold out or not. Then you pay $5/week for the booth plus I believe $25 yearly registration fee.

Right now the cheaper rate is more worth it to me as my time on Saturday is extremely important and I would sell out by 9:30am and sit there for hours on end. Perhaps when I have a free summer when the Army doesn't take me away for months on end I can grow the garden I want and offer up more more so it will be more worth my while.

Until then I have a steady customer who will take any and every egg I have any day of the year summer or winter so I am contented.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 11, 2008, 02:23:58 pm
I went to put my hand in a nest last night to get the eggs and came out with a 4 foot grey rat snake! 

So that's why I got the guineas.

I havn't seen rat snakes but Miss Ginny lets me know if anything is even thinking of coming near my pastures!  They don't miss a thing! AND she is a prolific layer for my "niche" market of adventurous eaters!

Jody
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: ArmucheeBee on September 11, 2008, 02:34:57 pm
How do you find your ginny nests?  I found a neighbor's ginny nesting in our yard last year and put the eggs in an incubator and hatched them.  Those things stay "wild" no matter if they are hand raised.  they're crazy.  I like that 'niche' market idea.  I bet you charge top dollar if you have to find those nests!!!
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 11, 2008, 03:58:40 pm
 YEPPERS, $4 for 6 eggs!! Just luck I think..as you know it's hard to hone in as they "throw" their voices!  I know how she sounds when she is laying, & remember where she likes to go.  Guess it's too much to hope that she will EVER lay in the henhouse.. :roll:  I mark the oldest eggs & leave 3-4 in the nest cause she changes location every time I clear one out. That way she will stay in one place for a couple of weeks.  Can't let her see I'm snooping either or she will move! :-x  That reminds me I've gotta call the guinea lady & get her a friend or few! I use the older eggs myself, they stay good for baking forever if you  wash as you are using em.  Brendhan & Janele ate some mixed with my chix scrambled while they were here. Good luck!

Jody
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 11, 2008, 05:52:53 pm
My guineas are 7 weeks old. How do you tell male from female? One looks like s/he has more stuff popping out of the face around the beak.

Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 11, 2008, 09:25:00 pm
Jerrymac, I don't know! :?  I think the males are more cone-headed?  I only knew Ginny was a girl for sure when she layed eggs!  She was the smaller of the 2 I had left & more femenine looking, if you can call one femenine..They look like the Skexis from the Dark Crystal to me! The lady I got em from has more of a clue than me so that question will be asked when I pick up my new ones. If I can see what she's talking about then can pass the info on!  She raises all sorts of things, rare pheasants, pied & white peacocks, weird turkeys...quail...it's always an adventure over there! BTW, one of my hens lays HUMONGEOUS eggs duck sized or bigger!  Will take a pic before selling.  Still waiting for the EE's to start.  One is doing pale pinkish, I like the green/blue ones.   :-D Jody
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: Jerrymac on September 12, 2008, 07:19:29 pm
There was another egg today. Not sure what happened but it was outside the nest box, broken open and there was no yoke in it. I'm wondering if the hen was sitting on the side of the box and dropped the egg and then one of them ate the yoke.  :?
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: randydrivesabus on September 12, 2008, 09:19:43 pm
they ate it. surprised they didn't eat the shell.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: SgtMaj on September 13, 2008, 12:23:52 am
Yeah, they definately ate it... mine do that a lot... sometimes it's good, like when I went on vacation, and knew they would run out of food 2 days early... I knew they'd be fine because they'd just eat the eggs.  Sure enough, they were just fine.
Title: Re: Laying?
Post by: poka-bee on September 13, 2008, 12:27:17 am
Make sure you get broken eggs out fast as you can or they will connect the dots & eat the eggs!  If you are going to feed back any old ones you find, boil em & chunk em up so they don't look like eggs.  I put em in the vitamix so the shell chunks are very small.  Got 6dz this week so the girls are starting to work on their debt!! :-D