1 April 2012, 09:37
Woo hoo I got three eggs today!!
Apparently you can get some the first day as they're allready in the pipes so to say, then they go off laying until there properly settled in, so we'll see on that score its supposed to take a couple of weeks for them to settle in, but that was for the old battery hens who were kept in tiny cages.
These ladies came from the new bigger cages so they seemed to like more or less like normal chooks as soon as I put them in the pen, aparently a lot of the older ex battery chooks were quite traumatised when you got them with hardly any feathers, these are more or less fully feathered, a bit scraggly at the edges but thats to be expected, I'm sure they'll grow back in due course.
But putting them in their coop wasnt as bad as I thought.
One started to roost by itself on top of the coop last night about half 8 ish so I left it a bit longer and my chooks were "gathering" near to but not going in their coop.
So I went in and put the quiet roosting chook which I presumed was tired into the coop, which I must say I was surprised it let me do as during the day you couldnt get near them.
One site said youd probably have to show them what to do for a few days till they got the hang of it so, a little bit of flapping later they were all in and the doors shut for the night.
This morning at dawn (6.30)when I let them out, I managed to stroke them in the coop and they let me nervously pick them up and place them outside.
I did however get a quick peck off the boss of the group, just to remind me whos actualy boss.
I opened all three coop doors for the day to air it out as I'll do everyday I think, and was surprised to find three eggs!! wow!! The breed they use is the best laying one to maximise profit so when happy and well fed they lay an egg more or less every day... I'm not expecting that from my chooks I got them for the practice and to save a few from the pie factory so the odd egg or two or whatever they give me is an added bonus for me.
Apparently you can get some the first day as they're allready in the pipes so to say, then they go off laying until there properly settled in, so we'll see on that score its supposed to take a couple of weeks for them to settle in, but that was for the old battery hens who were kept in tiny cages.
These ladies came from the new bigger cages so they seemed to like more or less like normal chooks as soon as I put them in the pen, aparently a lot of the older ex battery chooks were quite traumatised when you got them with hardly any feathers, these are more or less fully feathered, a bit scraggly at the edges but thats to be expected, I'm sure they'll grow back in due course.
But putting them in their coop wasnt as bad as I thought.
One started to roost by itself on top of the coop last night about half 8 ish so I left it a bit longer and my chooks were "gathering" near to but not going in their coop.
So I went in and put the quiet roosting chook which I presumed was tired into the coop, which I must say I was surprised it let me do as during the day you couldnt get near them.
One site said youd probably have to show them what to do for a few days till they got the hang of it so, a little bit of flapping later they were all in and the doors shut for the night.
This morning at dawn (6.30)when I let them out, I managed to stroke them in the coop and they let me nervously pick them up and place them outside.
I did however get a quick peck off the boss of the group, just to remind me whos actualy boss.
I opened all three coop doors for the day to air it out as I'll do everyday I think, and was surprised to find three eggs!! wow!! The breed they use is the best laying one to maximise profit so when happy and well fed they lay an egg more or less every day... I'm not expecting that from my chooks I got them for the practice and to save a few from the pie factory so the odd egg or two or whatever they give me is an added bonus for me.