VM
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first eggs - one a bit weirdHooray! Yesterday we had our first ever egg from chickens who have been with us for about 6 weeks now.
It is rather small and blue. People keep asking what it tasted like, but we haven't eaten it yet - just put it in a bowl in the middle of the dining room table so we can admire it.
This afternoon when we were down at the allotment, we witnessed a hen laying an egg which turned out to be a soft-shelled one (same sort of size as yesterday's). Am I right that this is pretty normal when they first start?
Also she looked rather miserable for a while afterwards - stayed in a corner away from the others with feathers all fluffed up and looking uncomfortable. Is this also normal for hens when starting out? I kept an eye on her for a while and by the time I left at 6.30 pm she seemed to be joining in a bit more with the others, eating and scratching etc.
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Jonnyboy
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Odd eggs at the start is normal, one of our first was the size of a hazelnut.
Soft shelled eggs might be a mineral deficiency if it continues.
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Penny
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They're always a bit odd to start with. I had loads of double yolkers, thin skins, no skins, when they first started.
Are you feeding layers pellets?
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VM
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Yes, feeding layers pellets, though I have the impression that they only eat them when they can find absolutely nothing else in the run to eat! May be my imagination but sometimes I think I even see them spit the pellets out! And they're organic as well...
But yes, there are layers pellets out in a feeder all the time and then I give them some mixed corn later in the day, as various people have suggested. As well as assorted greens, I put grit out in a dish, but it often gets turned over - so have scattered some of the grit around on the ground in the hope that they'll find it if they need it.
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Jonnyboy
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Sounds like you have them well fed, prob nothing to worry about.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| VM wrote: | | I put grit out in a dish, but it often gets turned over - so have scattered some of the grit around on the ground in the hope that they'll find it if they need it. |
We've always gone by Alison's clever suggestion of filling a small plastic plant pot with grit and pegging it down in the run with a tent peg so they can't knock it over. Has served us well in the 4 years we've had chickens
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colour it green
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yeh always odd eggs when they first come into lay, in my experience.
I thought grit was for the crop.. did not actually go into the making of eggs. for that you need soluble calcium, layers pellets should have ample.
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VM
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Today we have a second small blue egg. Hooray. We had a very petite fried egg each for lunch - so exciting.
Re: the grit/calcium - yes I think the grit is for their crops, but the mixed poultry grit seems to include oyster shell as well.
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