Chicken bald back

[vegboi]

Morning

 

I've 6 hens I'm getting the odd egg, I've had them a week just wondering if anything wrong ? Also my bantom is squarking all the time and I wanted to ask if this was normal.

 

Any advice appreciated

 

Mark

[Valkyrie]

I'm assuming they are pure breeds. If so not to worry about no eggs - they stop for the winter for the most part. You may get some young ones that will do an odd one here and there. When I first had mine I had a few eggs for Christmas, but not since.

 

Yelling could be down to all sorts - sparrowhawk in the area, cat, rat or just a difference of opinion and they are settling their pecking orders. Sometimes it's to get attention. My old orpies used to stand at the gate and start whingeing and gradually get louder to the full blown bokking yell until I used to go out to see them and then they'd just potter around normally.

 

But if you still have one laying it's probably more of a case of "I've laid an egg!" - which is what a couple of my pekins do/did. Not all will announce for that - one pekin didn't.

[Beantree]

You do get some noisy hens Vegboi, but squawking ALL the time isn't normal. May simply be that she is being bullied away from the feeder and drinker and is just hungry, so you will need two of each. She is clearly irritated by something. Our Wyandottes make a lot of noise well before they go into the nest box to lay which I think is to warn other hens to leave them alone. Perhaps that's it?

 

Presume these are all young birds in which case some may not lay this year and will wait until Spring and the days getting longer. That's not a bad thing as a late starting layer is usually a stronger bird. We have three Marans that we've had a week and at 25 weeks should be a week or so from laying. I think it will be too late in the year for them to start though.

[Valkyrie]

Beantree - our first Maran was a lot older when she first started - but 2nd of January that was. The orpies were laying on and off over the December and then had a break in January until Feb. So you may get your eggs before Christmas!

 

Oh yes - how could I forget the Nest Box Wars! Our buff Sussex will not tolerate anyone in the vicinity when she wants to lay. Sadly "Ooops, word censored!"ody takes any notice and she has to settle for sharing when she can't cross her legs any longer! I don't know why she still does it after all these years - 5 of her laying and even with her sister and her aunties!

[vegboi]

Thank you everyone I feel reassured . Hilda has stopped squawking I think your right there sorting there pecking order out.

 

How can I add pictures?

 

Mark

[Valkyrie]

I use Photobucket. Upload the photo you want to share, click on it and then it gives a list of 4 methods at the side. Click once on the "IMG" with "[url etc" in the box. The box will turn yellow and say "copied". All you do then is paste the pic onto the reply on here. Some people use Flickr and I have done when Photobucket is being messed around, but somehow I've changed the settings on that one so "Ooops, word censored!"ody can see when I want to share. Um, not exactly techno wizard here. I hope that's helped, but other people are much better at explaining things on here.

 

Edited to add it's photobucket.com that you join - free. I don't upload all my pics though, just the odd few to share.