First egg

[Dob]

We've done a couple of things - the golf balls have worked for us. Also, as time goes on they tend to wander a little more - they have basically a horse stall with "laying shelves" (a board about 16" wide x 8' long with a 1' back and a 2x4 front), and the door to the "coop" rarely gets closed. When they begin to lay enmasse outside, we just keep them in the coop for a couple of days (they do have a small screened run to go out into), that seems to "remind' them where to do their business.
Good Luck!

[pbenven]

I want some Buff Orpingtons but I'm having a hard time finding a local breeder. The ones they sell up here at the COOP are all sex-links. Not a "breed" I consider worth owning for the backyard. The few Canadian breeders I have found all want about 6$ per chick - not gonna happen.

[LazyJ_Arabians]

We got a 3 yo RI Red rooster thats very savvy and keeps his biddies safe and can flat wake you up at daylight. The hens include Red Leghorns, Aracuans, and Barred Rocks. The Barred Rocks are big egg producers but are dumber than a stump and prefer pellets over scratching for bugs. They're all turned out mid-morning and invariably deposit a few eggs each day up high in the haystack to be found by me pulling a bale down from above my head.

[RichZ]

We've got one Barred Rock hen that sometimes jumps into the space between bales of hay in the barn to lay eggs. Then she can't get out. Every night when I lock up our hens at night, I count each variety we have. If one Barred Rock is missing, I have to go in the barn and shine a light inside all the spaces between our stacks of hay bales. Eventually I will find her. Before I realized that she was doing that, she was once missing for several days. She never learns!!

[Hayseed]

My grandparents, being the thrifty folks that they were, found a few egg shaped stones and put them in the nests. I remember finding one when I collected eggs as a kid. I guess I was dumber than the chickens... I collected it up with the eggs and took it in the house. How my grandmother laughed at me when she discovered it! She said she figured I must have been hungry for a really hard boiled egg that morning! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Hank]

I have an innocent question. We don't have any chickens, so I am wondering why poultry breeds have such strange names (or maybe the poultry folks think dog breeds have strange names, as well [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] )

Barred Rocks...where does that come from?

Is Orpington someone's name, or a place name??

Just curious.

[LazyJ_Arabians]

Full name "Barred Plymouth Rock" "barred" as in "striped"

"Orpington" is a city in the UK

The origins of most of todays breed are from England or New England. Then you have the Silkie breeds developed in Japan for their silky feathers. Some of the prettiest originated in the Caribean Islands and the Brazil/Chile area, hence the Dominique and the Red Chilean breeds. A Dominique egg being the best tasting fried egg I've ever tasted and they are very majestic birds to look at.

[barticus73]

My wife uses those plastic easter eggs that are hollow. Puts one in each nesting box and has worked great!!!

[AndyF]

It's time to dig out the fake easter eggs and golf balls. I found the first egg this morning on the floor of the coop. The hens have spent some time in the nest boxes, but still need to learn to lay their eggs in them.