Pets chickens

Remove this Banner Ad

Whilst my chickens are only 16 weeks old and 4 weeks into their egg laying career, I am still disappointed with the quality of the eggs.

The Leghorn's egg whites are really cloudy and the yolk is really quite dull. Same with the Austrolorp's yolks, really really dull.

The eat organic laying pellets every day as well as heaps of greens and meet scraps.

Maybe I am being impatient, but I may change their pellets to a corn based variety.
 
PastiesPeake said:
Whilst my chickens are only 16 weeks old and 4 weeks into their egg laying career, I am still disappointed with the quality of the eggs.

The Leghorn's egg whites are really cloudy and the yolk is really quite dull. Same with the Austrolorp's yolks, really really dull.

The eat organic laying pellets every day as well as heaps of greens and meet scraps.

Maybe I am being impatient, but I may change their pellets to a corn based variety.
Click to expand...

You might be treating them too much. Cut the extra crap out for a little while to see how things go.

Too much extra food can put them off their layer rations will means their egg quality can drop off.
 
PastiesPeake said:
Whilst my chickens are only 16 weeks old and 4 weeks into their egg laying career, I am still disappointed with the quality of the eggs.

The Leghorn's egg whites are really cloudy and the yolk is really quite dull. Same with the Austrolorp's yolks, really really dull.

The eat organic laying pellets every day as well as heaps of greens and meet scraps.

Maybe I am being impatient, but I may change their pellets to a corn based variety.
Click to expand...
Juggalo might be right about the chickens not getting enough layer food- which has important stuff like calcium in it, though that doesn't mean stop giving them scraps altogether.
The cloudiness of the eggs is nothing to worry about as it just tells you that your eggs are fresh. Maybe put a couple of eggs aside for a few days to a week, then crack them to see if the cloudiness has gone. Otherwise just enjoy your fresh eggs- there's nothing tastier!

The yolk is a different matter- as it usually gets brighter orange with the more greens that the chickens eat- and they really only need a couple of weeds each to get a bright orange yolk- at least that's about what mine get. Perhaps they're eating more pellets than green stuff?

I use a seed poultry mix now, which also has pellets and shellgrit mixed in with it, but found that once I'd changed from the pellets, the chickens left the pellets from the poultry mix and ate only the seed. A friend of mine feeds plain wheat to her hens - but she probably has shellgrit available as well. Whatever works best for you, I guess.

There are a few forums you can go on to, which might come in handy for resolving any problems that you're worried about. One forum that I used to use is www.backyardpoultry.com

Good luck with your chickens. Post pics if you have any :) I love looking at chick pics!
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Teriyakicat said:
Mine did as well but I thought it was because I wasn't feeding them any green stuff. I had them only on layer pellets.
Click to expand...

It took a while before she would eat the greens.

Eventually I just told her that she doesn't get any other treats until she eats the salad. She got the message but I think it was more just her getting used to it being food.

I would feed her the bottom of those baby Cos lettuces, she would peck at it for a while until there was just a little left.

I actually moved house recently and had to leave the chook behind. I've moved closer to the city here and have limited space and a small yard. I miss her :cry:
 
Juggalo Balla said:
It took a while before she would eat the greens.

Eventually I just told her that she doesn't get any other treats until she eats the salad. She got the message but I think it was more just her getting used to it being food.

I would feed her the bottom of those baby Cos lettuces, she would peck at it for a while until there was just a little left.

I actually moved house recently and had to leave the chook behind. I've moved closer to the city here and have limited space and a small yard. I miss her :cry:
Click to expand...
That's a good idea- "if you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding"!!

Yeah, fast forward 6+ months and I'll be all :cry: :cry: too.... bye bye chickens!
And bye bye goat :(

We can take a couple of chickens but I'd rather give them to my friend who's on 5 acres (though she loses some to foxes every year, so it's going to be tough to let her have them!) and my daughter's friend would love the pekin to hang out with her 2 pekins. I just don't have room to keep them in the backyard at our new place. :( I'm sure I could advertise them and get rid of the girls straight away- even if they ARE 3-4 years old.
 
Kram81 said:
Haha, that bloke was a bit of a character. Gave us 13 pedigree sussex eggs an also chucked in 3 buff pekin eggs for $20, good deal most people would want a lot more.
Click to expand...

Nice. Hope your mama hens do a good job.
 
Kram81 said:
Haha, that bloke was a bit of a character. Gave us 13 pedigree sussex eggs an also chucked in 3 buff pekin eggs for $20, good deal most people would want a lot more.
Click to expand...
Good luck with the hatchlings!!! I think it's a good idea to split the eggs into two groups. You know the old saying... "Don't put all your eggs under one chicken..." ;)
 
hairy lasoo said:
Just culled my two meat chickens, tasted good. My egg laying chickens when culled are given to my dogs as treats. That how it works in the country.
Click to expand...

Meanwhile I just picked up some chicken breast from the supermarket. Doesn't look that fresh really :(

How does it taste compared to shop chicken?
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Kram81 said:
8 eggs under the one in the backyard
6 eggs for the one under the house
2 eggs for 'Senior' sitting in its pen

Now it's the waiting game for 3 weeks..
Click to expand...
:) Sounds like a great plan!!
I remember how amazing it was when our chicks hatched. Make sure you cross the days off on your calendar.
The night before ours came out fully, we could hear little pecks happening inside the shell and even little "peep peep"s, though no chickens had actually emerged. Make sure you pop out and have a listen in the quiet of the night before the chicks are due to arrive, to see if you can hear anything.
 
Teriyakicat said:
:) Sounds like a great plan!!
I remember how amazing it was when our chicks hatched. Make sure you cross the days off on your calendar.
The night before ours came out fully, we could hear little pecks happening inside the shell and even little "peep peep"s, though no chickens had actually emerged. Make sure you pop out and have a listen in the quiet of the night before the chicks are due to arrive, to see if you can hear anything.
Click to expand...
Yeah I will keep a keen eye on these ones as they are all new mothers and I really want these ones to work, unfortunately my expert mum is already busy as she is 100% reliable, wouldn't even bother checking on her. lol it was absolute mission to crawl to the one under the house, in hindsight I would have put more under her as she was quite vicious when I tried to 'steal' her eggs to replace them which is a sign she will be good.
 
Hahaha! I hadn't even thought of how you got the eggs under the chicken that was sitting under the house. :D Now I'm picturing it, it's pretty funny! The things we do, hey?

We had a snake at our side door yesterday- a dugite, about 3-4' long. It'll be a while before I stop tiptoeing around looking all around me. There'd be no way I'd go under the house (if I even could) right now!

If you wanted to change the number of eggs under the chicken under the house, it isn't too late- just make sure there's plenty of room for extra.
 
Teriyakicat said:
Hahaha! I hadn't even thought of how you got the eggs under the chicken that was sitting under the house. :D Now I'm picturing it, it's pretty funny! The things we do, hey?
Click to expand...
Yeah not pleasant at all, although I've already had the misfortune of spending a fair bit of time crawling around there installing electrical wiring for a new kitchen and computer cabling.

Had snakes in the yard before but it's pretty rare, probably get one about once every 4 years.
 
Kram81 said:
Yeah not pleasant at all, although I've already had the misfortune of spending a fair bit of time crawling around there installing electrical wiring for a new kitchen and computer cabling.

Had snakes in the yard before but it's pretty rare, probably get one about once every 4 years.
Click to expand...
Next door has birds as well as chooks and she gets prob half a dozen 6' dugites every year, usually in or around her bird cages. I try to keep the rats and mice down- we probably average 1.5 snakes per year, with one big snake every couple of years. The neighbour swears that we send our snakes over her place. :D

Last summer my hubby put snake repellers around our house and we had no snakes for the first time in 10 years. Unfortunately we stupidly left them out over winter and now most of them have stopped working. Grrr!
 
Since the hens have come on board I have seen a massive increase in rats / mice.

What is the best way to control these pests? Poisoning is an issue as the hens (and my dog) are very free range.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top