finally lol

**Scattymum** · 09-13-2008, 11:21 AM

the chickens finally decided to lay

we got 1 mon, 1 tue,none wed, 2 thurs, 1 fri and 1 today

Yay!! Im so happy!!! I am assuming that we have 2 laying as we got 2 eggs on the same day?

I think you were all right and it was probably stress that was holding them off laying

**Starlight9803** · 09-13-2008, 12:31 PM

Glad they started laying for you. Yeah, chickens get stressed very easily. They also slow down laying during cold weather and when they molt (which causes them stress lol) Enjoy your fresh eggs!

**Darlene** · 09-13-2008, 12:37 PM

Yeah! :eggs:

**madhen** · 09-13-2008, 06:37 PM

Congratulations! I average about ten every other day from my girls. I have found that they lay best in weather that you or I would find comfortable, and when they are in the best of health. Typically, they lay one every other day, but some of the good layers can pop one out daily. If these are their first eggs, you will probably see them get bigger, as well. My hens' first eggs are always teeny little things. Now I have one (haven't figured out which one) who lays such large eggs, they don't fit in regular egg cartons! Luckily, I find one of those only about once every other week, as I can't imagine they are fun to lay!

I give my birds vitamins and extra calcium supplements, and people always joke about how hard it is to break the shells when they use my birds' eggs. My sister has a story about whacking one on the kitchen sink and the egg being unphased by it.

**Missy** · 09-13-2008, 07:44 PM

not to hyjack the thread...madhen, what sort of calcium and vitamin suppliments do you use? I have seen so many options!!

Hope your hens keep up the good work scattymum!!

**janis362529** · 09-13-2008, 10:38 PM

Yea on them finally laying

**madhen** · 09-13-2008, 10:46 PM

I use products from the Birdcare Company (Bird Park Essentials and Calciboost), but any avian vitamins are a benefit. If you check out your pet stores, Nekton is reasonably priced, because you use only a small amount. I give my chickens fresh food almost daily, and on Sundays, I mix up a big batch of corn, pasta, etc and mix in the vitamins/calcium. Because my girls are free-range, I also worm them semi-annually. Earthworms are hosts for a number of parasites that can hitch a ride in when the bird eats the earthworm, and will then use the chicken as a host, which won't kill them, but which WILL reduce the amount of eggs they lay. After I worm them, I don't eat the eggs for several weeks, but I find that the birds' egg production goes up enough overall to make it worth while.

One cheap way of adding calcium to their diet is to save the egg shells (I boil them), crush them, and add them back into the birds' diet.