Laid at 10 A.M.
She seems to be trying out every possable egg variation.
See her last full egg: Different color and dark speckles, then compare to this one

Mrs. Nezbit's latest, I have definate confirmation this one came from her and am starting to doubt that, either of the other two have laid at all .

Laid at 1P.M.

I let the younger and older ones have a little time together again today, I'm figureing on putting them together full time in about 2 weeks- a month.. when Winnie starts to become mature.

Last edited by barg (09/13/2007 12:24 am)

They almost seemed like they would be friends.

Domineak decided they should put their nose to the wall, there was no argument from the younger girls on this point.

I seperated them again when the trigger on the super soaker gave out, the big girls ran out of treats to keep them occupied and I ran out of time to keep an eye on them.

I think they are getting closer to the day... I think.

When I finish with this thread I am probably going to take the information and put it on a permanent website for postarity.
I may add more information about the older girls in their younger days as well.

Actual color of the following photo's is closer to those shown above.
These were taken in indoor lighting without a flash and are to show size.
Domineaks 1st and 5th time laying

Mrs.Nezbits 1st and 5th

Domineaks laid around 10:30 A.M. Today (14th)
Nezbits laid around 4P.M. yesterday (13th)

Last edited by barg (09/15/2007 3:55 am)

We got two eggs before noon today, from the two confirmed layers, Domineak and Mrs. Nezbit, we're still waiting on the other two to start laying.

Switched the older girls food from layer pellets to layer crumbles today and they acted like that hadn't eaten in a month.

I think they only ate the pellets when they started to break down and fall apart; we still have at least half a bag of the pellets, I may put them in the food processor.

New pics tomarrow.

A New Idea
I don't remember if someone suggested this before or not, it seems like I might have read this somewhere and forgot about it.

I'm going to set up some obstacles within the run, probably using 2x4's, raised about a foot up across the run from one wall to the other.

I may also enclose the area under the coop and provide a small opening that the chickens can go in and out of.

I'll post the details of this experiment as it develops.

The more I think about it, it seems like someone suggested something similar to this somewhere.
I need to go back over posts and see if I can find it somewhere.

Seems like a good idea, whoever came up with it.

Last edited by barg (09/18/2007 4:16 pm)

Hazel@22 weeks, she may have laid her first egg today, were not sure if it came from her or Emerald

Domineak and Hazel are distracted by the recently rained on grass

While Winnie and Esther steal a snack

Winnie@14 weeks

Esther, looking for me to save her from the overbearing Mrs.Nezbit

I took the seperator wall down around 4:30.
I havn't had a chance to put any obsticles in the coop yet but I will be soon.

One of the older girls laid an egg in the doorway of the coop today. It looks like it may be a dominique egg but i'm not sure.
The other two that are laying did their usual thing in the nest box, so I know that one of the other two has started laying.

Added: In some of the previous pictures, it appears as though Esther and Winnie are the same size or larger then the older girls, this is Not the case.
At best, the younger ones are somewhere between half and 3/4's the size of the older ones.
I keep expecting the younger ones to catch up to the older ones but I think the older ones keep slowly growing and the younger ones have slowed down alot, but they are getting closer.

Last edited by barg (09/17/2007 11:00 pm)

Thanks for the compliment !

The idea is to stop the older ones from chaseing them.
I'll let ya know how this works out.