Sunday, February 3, 2013

[CHICKENS-101] laying

 

New this year to chickens. I have six beautiful red hens. I usually get 6 eggs per day. They have a red heat light in their stall which is also enclosed in heavy plastic since I live in WNY near Buffalo. Yesterday morning I got 6 eggs. Last night when I went to close them in one chicken was eating an egg that was in the hay on the barn floor. I seem to get a soft egg fairly often but I think even more often than I know because I think they eat those before I find them. I have never found a cool one always warm so I assume just laid. That would have made 7 yesterday. But, when I closed them into their stall I noticed one hen in the nest basket (I used a couple of old freezer baskets that I saved knowing they would come in handy someday and they were too "good" to throw away!) I have never seen one actually lay an egg. She seemed to be straining. I watched for a couple of minutes but no egg. I rounded up the rest and put them in and still no egg! I don't know how long it actually takes them to lay an egg but that one would have made 8 that day! I was kind of worried wondering if she was "egg bound" (a big fear of mine). I sent my husband out this morning thinking I may have a sick or dead hen! All six are fine and there were 5 eggs. Still adds up to 13 for 2 days. We also had six the previous day. So how long does it actually take to lay an egg? They get laying formula for their main feed. We give them scratch grains as a treat sometimes and whatever "scraps" we might have-as a treat only. They got leftover pasta today.

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