Is your dog's unusual barking a secret code for something mysterious?

[bouldercroft]

I've had my for 3 months now and in the delivery they included some little cardboard boxes that look like they should hold 4 of something....any ideas what these are for??

 

 

come on girls I know it cold outside but can you just lay an egg - just one - to prove you can do it...

 

just the other day my hubby asked 'are you sure you bought chickens'

[Old Speckled Hen]

Wait till you work out how much that first egg has cost!

Still you could always tell your OH that at least it's more expensive keeping bees

[bouldercroft]

I already know how much that first egg will cost and it was never my intention to recoup the costs - but right now I appear to be running a luxury hen spa...oh but they are very cute and funny

 

....and I know how expensive bees can be - we kept a hive for a few years - it wasn't a good experience...

year 1 - they swarmed

year 2 - they were attacked by a bear

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51464436@N06/sets/72157625562501662/

year 3 - they just slowly disappeared one by one and hubby developed a bad allergy to bee stings

[Old Speckled Hen]

Crikey!

We have to look out for woodpeckers at the hives but a bear sure beats that

They are great pets though, chooks. I have five and a cockerel and I couldn't care less how much those eggs cost me either.

Now that first pot of honey....................................

[Margaret]

I know what the boxes are for.........

Saw Phi and Kirsty on tuesday evenings programme and they used them to make Santas Bells from

[daxigirl]

Blimey Bears in Boston, till I realised it was Boston USA.

[chezie13]

Sorry to be a bore but chucks need so much light to make the eggs if they don't get enough light they are less likely to lay I've taken to putting a yellow glow stick in with my three and I have had some eggs at least! but my pampered silkies haven't given me an egg since the snow has hit we've has about 1ft had to dig them out the other week and they just looked at me to say wheres the porrige but it's not that cold inside the eglu our cat has taken to following me up there in the mornings and jumping in the nest when I'm taking the glow stick out! he's big and fluffy just like the silkies

[bouldercroft]

Blimey Bears in Boston, till I realised it was Boston USA.

 

yeah - sorry I'm an impostor on this board but I am really English (moved to USA 12 yrs ago) and the US board really doesn't get much activity..

[bouldercroft]

Sorry to be a bore but chucks need so much light to make the eggs if they don't get enough light they are less likely to lay I've taken to putting a yellow glow stick in with my three and I have had some eggs at least! but my pampered silkies haven't given me an egg since the snow has hit we've has about 1ft had to dig them out the other week and they just looked at me to say wheres the porrige but it's not that cold inside the eglu our cat has taken to following me up there in the mornings and jumping in the nest when I'm taking the glow stick out! he's big and fluffy just like the silkies

 

I know I know...I'm asking a lot from them when its so dark and cold (-7c at night and -4c during the day)...

I don't really want to do the lights thing - nature has designed them to take a break at this time of year - but I never got anything to take a break from

[Alis girls]

I always wondered if those SAD lamps might work on chucks who don't lay due to short days - any one given it a try

[Chortle Chook]

I've read that it is all about light but in that case why do Silkies lay in the winter? I'm getting a nice set of eggs right now each day, but wonder if my chooks are going to stop in the summer. Are Silkies, well, sort of Australian, thinking that Xmas = sun?

[Olly]

Bouldercroft, you're not an impostor - we love hearing about chicken keeping from across the 'pond'! Your temperature variations are a lot greater than ours.

 

It is partly to do with light, but younger hens may go on through the winter - I'm getting one or two eggs a day from my 1-yr old hybrids, but the 2 and 3 yr olds have gone on strike for the winter. You could rig up lights, but I take the view that it's better for the hens to have a bit of a rest for a few weeks. In the UK they usually start laying again by Valentine's day. I'm afraid that young hens who haven't come into lay may not start till then! Those eggs are going to be soooo worth waiting for, though ...

[bouldercroft]

In the UK they usually start laying again by Valentine's day. I'm afraid that young hens who haven't come into lay may not start till then! Those eggs are going to be soooo worth waiting for, though ...

 

Hi Olly - we have about an hour's more of daylight that you guys up their in the dark north...I'm wondering if they'll be laying by mid-jaunary ?

But you know...the excitement and suspense of checking the everyday is kinda fun...

 

Right now I have bad chicken keeper guilt - I didn't realise that it wasn't going to get above freezing today - their water was frozen over by the time I got home. And it looks like their porridge froze before they finished it

 

So I got the bird bath heater out and made them a lovely home-made hanging seed block with pellets, nuts, seeds, coconut and egg shells. Hopefully they will have forgiven me enough to lay an

[txswanie]

Hi,

I'm also an impostor (expat) but in Southern California. I sort of hate to say this but I'm still getting 4 eggs a day so yes, the sun must have something to do with it. Sorry all you snowed in people, I had to take my cardigan off today when it got too hot..

Colette.

[C&T]

Don't give up hope. One of our first chooks laid their first egg on Christmas Day - a lovely pressie!

 

But then this particular hybrid was always a bit loopy, and loved to be different...

 

Our 2 year old hasn't stopped laying yet this winter - although she probably lays "only" 2 out of 3 days - which considering she has laid virtually everyday since she started is a bit of a break! If the chooks weren't laying I wouldn't do the fake light thing. I figure nature has it's reasons, and my chooks are firstly pets, not egg producers.

 

Having said that, I wouldn't enjoy having to buy supermarket eggs...

[LJ's Chooks]

Give it a couple of months and then look back at this note as all i ever seem to do is buy egg boxes these days!!!! err until DH thought he was being helpful and found an industrial quantity advertised on ebay, and now my house is full of egg boxes... under beds... in kitchen cupboards... wine racks full of the things and no wine

Keep every precious egg box you can and recycle .... you WILL need them, cos you'll end up with more chickens and more eggs than you know what to do with they are so contageous!!!

 

It makes a mokery of the joke ... which came first the chicken or the egg.... every omleteer clearly knows neither it was in fact THE EGG BOX!!!!!!!

[bouldercroft]

 

It makes a mokery of the joke ... which came first the chicken or the egg.... every omleteer clearly knows neither it was in fact THE EGG BOX!!!!!!!

 

 

love it! thanks for brightening my very cold egg-free morning...

[goodinparts]

I keep finding egg boxes on Freecycle/Freegle...Worth a look, surely - then I stick my own label over whatever is there already...

[Chortle Chook]

Has anyone found an egg box (or even other egg holder) that suits bantam sized eggs?