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Is the growth of the comb/wattle an absolute for a pullet to begin laying? I have a red sexlink, specific age unknown, who is squatting, has gotten loud and chatty, checking out the nest boxes and shows interest in the golf ball "eggs", is really red in the face and earlobes, but her comb is...

August 2, 2017

August 2, 2017

August 2, 2017

August 2, 2017

First Flock, Summer 2017

Thank you again, everyone! I will continue to keep a close eye on her. I'm very grateful for a community to help when I don't know what to do. Thank you for sharing your expertise!

Follow-up question. Could this behavior have been caused by the hen's pre-first-egg stress? She laid her first egg this afternoon and has stopped pulling out other chickens' feathers, as far as I have seen. I watched her for hours (lazy Saturday afternoon!) and she was much calmer and sweet to...

Those eggs are so cute! Congrats on 2 days in a row! No, I wouldn't be able to guess which girls laid eggs. The girl who laid today was acting really, really spooked this morning so she caught my attention, and if I hadn't seen the girl lay yesterday I would have been clueless. :)

Lady#2 laid her first egg today! Unlike Lady#1, who was serene and calm and sat in the nesting box and laid her egg then loudly proclaimed her victory, Lady #2 paced around the coop/run for about 3 hours looking for a place to escape, clawing at corners and bawking non-stop. She eventually laid...

I'll look for 22%+ immediately. Thanks!

Will do. The highest % I found on the shelf was 20% and that was a chick starter.

Thank you, everyone! I checked the crude protein level of my feed and it's 17%, while the grower feed at my local supply store was at 15%. What is ideal for this phase of their development? I did buy a flock block and I can definitely supplement with scrambled eggs - I eat them every day myself...

Thank you for the information. I'll cut back on mealworms and I'm on my way to the store to get Grower feed.

Yes, I have had them on Layer feed, so protein deficiency sounds likely. I've been giving oyster shells free-choice and give them mealworms as treats daily. They free-range for about an hour a day. I have 6 birds with a ~40sq.ft. coop with an additional ~50sq.ft. run attached. Any other...

One of my 20-week-old Marans/EE girls has started sneaking up to the other Marans/EE girls and plucking feathers from their backs. I read that this can be boredom- or stress-related. She started this yesterday, the same day we got our flock's first egg. All 4 of my M/EE girls are ready to lay...

That's amazing! What a fun story. :)

Nope. She's the first of my 6 girls, 4 more are ready any minute. The last one is one of the lighter of my two Red Sexlinks. She seems to be more immature than the other and survived a dog chase last weekend, which may have set things back even further. :(

When I grabbed the egg, she hopped down into the coop and sang her egg song LOUDLY! She was just as proud as I was. Or relieved to finally have laid the egg. :ya

First egg this afternoon! One of my Marans/EE mixes laid a teensy 1oz egg. I went to check on my girls and found Mrs. Featherbottom in the nest box, so I camped out by the coop door for about 20 minutes before she stood up and popped out her egg. She'll be 20 weeks old tomorrow. Proud Mamma here!