Feeding & housing poultry

5 Responses to Feeding & housing poultry

1. Anonymous says:

   July 27, 2012 at 6:28 am

   Hello! I’ve been reading your web website for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Kingwood Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the great work!

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   • Inspired Ink says:

     September 26, 2012 at 1:23 am

     Thanks, and howdy back, neighbor.

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     • Ramona says:

       November 24, 2012 at 6:02 pm

       I have 4 hens all different they are now about 20-21 weeks old and have been lainyg poulet size eggs for abot 3 weeks now. Except 1 my Speckledy, she laid between 8-9 double yokes in the first 2 weeks of lainyg. My problem is for the past 3 mornings 1 has been lainyg a soft shell egg very early before they are let out. Consequently they all have a peck at these shell-less eggs. Initialy I thought it may be the Speckle but yesterday morning after they had been let out they laid 4 perfect poulet sized eggs inspite of having the soft shell in early morning. They all appear healthy and get plenty of grit. Should I be overly concerned?

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       • Inspired Ink says:

         November 30, 2012 at 1:00 am

         Hi Ramona,

         Sometimes it takes young pullets a while before things begin working smoothly as far as egg-laying. I have had young pullets lay double-yolked eggs for a while with no problems.

         The shell-less egg can be more of a problem. I’m a bit confused if you have 4 hens, and you’re getting 4 good eggs and one shell-less one. The most likely case is that the one that has been laying double-yolked eggs is laying the soft egg.

         The problem you can run into is with them pecking at it. Hopefully they don’t see regular-shelled eggs as being the same, but they COULD learn to eat eggs. If they do, they can easily teach each other and you can wind up with hens that need a roll-away box or hens that must be replaced.

         If it were me, I’d put the Speckled hen in a box or nest of some kind that you can close her into, to see if she’s the one laying that egg. If she is, I’d keep her separated (only at night until she lays her soft egg) so you can prevent the others from pecking it. If she doesn’t start laying normally, you may have to replace her, or keep her separate at night.

         There are several causes of soft shelled eggs – calcium deficiency, illness, disturbances in the henhouse. Since it’s only the one hen, and she’s laying early in the day, my guess would be that she’s being upset or startled in some way, causing the egg to be laid early before the shell has a chance to form. The same thing could be happening just because she tended to lay double-yolkers and just isn’t on a regular cycle.

         Can there be some predator, rats, cats, etc. bothering them in the coop? A loud noise that is disturbing her? You say the hens are all different, maybe she is just a more flighty breed than the others? (She’s not a speckled sussex is she? I had one that was TOO flighty and never laid well as a result.)

         But my best guess is that it’s because of the double-yolkers she tends to lay. Sometimes they become regular, sometimes they don’t. There’s not much you can do to affect that, but just try to make sure she feels safe, and keep her separated as long as she’s laying soft eggs so the others don’t learn to eat eggs.

         Good luck with her!!!

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   • Randolph says:

     November 24, 2012 at 9:25 pm

     hi i have had 3 hens for about 2 years now all seemed well unlitl about a month ago when the egg supply stopped but i have been finding what looks like yoke in the coop and the run does this mean they are eating the eggs and if so is there a way to stop them was thinking about getting some more hens as we have increased size of run but worried that they would have their eggs eaten or start the same practice themselves any advice would be great havent found any shell remains

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