Devonviolet Acres

[Devonviolet]

Well, our sweet, little, bullied Khaki survived the night. She was up and running this morning and left us an egg by the stall gate! She also ate all the feed we left her last night!

We ended up with FIVE Khaki eggs this morning! So half of our girls are laying eggs now!

 

[BoboFarm]

Yay!

 

[CntryBoy777]

....

 

[Baymule]

Your duck said thank you for saving her life with an egg!

 

[farmerjan]

A couple of things about the hens that start treading other hens. Yes it is partly a dominance thing, but there is a hormone shift and they actually will take on the characteristics of what is known as a "hennycock" . In fact there are some breeds, especially the games, that will usually have one or two females that look and act more like a cock bird. They will even fight them as the hennycock will confuse the other cock bird. But they will mount other hens, will crow, and can be very aggressive.
The production reds are not supposed to become "old birds". They are bred strictly for the production and at 2 are "physically" old and used up. They lay themselves out. And some strains are also aggressive. I have 2 that are of a production strain that were given to me and one will peck me every time I open the pen door to do water. I grabbed it after getting a nasty pecking , by the neck and shook it up pretty bad. Tried to kill it but didn't manage so it went back in the pen and ran in the house. Maybe it will discourage it for awhile. I have no time to be processing a hen or 2. It will go to the swap meet if we go in early May and be dinner for some ethnic group. I need the room to raise some more Langshans.

You can check the Barred Rocks to see who is laying. There will be at least a 2-3 "finger space between the bones at the "cloaca" which is the opening for the eggs and chicken poop. Easiest way is to hold the hen in one hand/arm with her head like tucked under your arm and her feet/legs between your fingers so she is resting on your palm. Take your other hand and spread the feathers so you can find the two bones and see how many fingers you can lay side by side there. 1 means not laying, 2 means possible, 3 or more means definitely laying. Also their combs get very red when they start laying and usually get a bit bigger and plumper looking. A non laying hen usually has a smaller and "withered up" looking comb, with it being paler and kinda scrawny and wrinkled. After a hen has laid a long time she will get paler around the comb and face.

 

[Devonviolet]

Thanks for that explanation, @farmerjan. I'll have to check out the combs and on the chickens, that I think might be laying, I will check the cloaca, to see if they have the space for egg laying.

I knew the Reds aren't laying. They are three years old and I knew they are really only bred to lay for 2 years. The plan was to butcher them late last summer, but time and HOT weather got away from us, and we just didn't get birds butchered. We also have a crabby turkey and a Muscovy drake that we have been wanting to butcher.

 

[Devonviolet]

Our little, bullied Khaki hen is back to normal and with the flock. However, we have bad news. Yesterday, when DH returned our little girl, he counted heads & we have 10 Khakis (including the returned hen), instead of the 11 we should have. I counted this morning and I get 10 too. DH walked the outside perimeter, and didn't see any dead birds. So, we aren't sure what happened to our missing bird. The good news is, that we still have the Khaki drake.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Oh no!!.........keep looking....we were missing one and I found her in an old rolled up piece of rusted fencing and had to cut her out of it to free her. She had gotten into the center and laid an egg and couldn't get out....they can fit into some small spaces and I wouldn't have found her had she not talked to me when I was standing close by....I was calling and talking to her trying to locate her....and I heard her low chittering. I sure hope ya find her.....

 

[Devonviolet]

Thanks @CntryBoy! Since we didn't find a body, we will continue to look for her. Although, we do have a lot of hawks & vultures flying overhead all day long.

Since we had been gone most of Wednesday, no telling what could have happened in our absence.

 

[BoboFarm]

I've lost several hens that have gotten caught in rolled fencing to lay eggs. We didn't find them in time and they died. Chickens find the craziest of places to lay eggs. Keep looking. I hope you find her