Hello!!

[Mother Hen]

Some of our girls that are permanently on Hemcore, have a dustbath box with a turf in it, they love to scratch it to pieces have great fun turning it into dust.
The soil is good for them too. It's better to give them a turf than loads of cabbage and scraps that has little feed value to a hen.
Our Leghorns completely decimate a huge clump of soil grass attached, that my husband puts in their run for them to play with.
When they get the sprinkling of corn in the afternoon, really scatter it well all over the Hemcore it keeps them occupied finding every last morsel, and as husband says they cannot count so always assume there is more there somewhere. Also the corn scatter feed doesn't seem to make them agressive towards each other.

[Artychik]

Thanx Wizzard and Mother Hen!! I love them to pieces, always a source of amusement to me and I tell people I meet all about them too. Had some real large eggs with double yokers!! Gorgeous!! On Saturday I spent a couple of hours in the garden with one hen in my arms and my cat on my lap!! It was so lovely to be in the garden, if I didnt have the girls I would have been stuck inside hoovering or ironing!!! The chickens still like their massages!! I put Patsy back in the run then got Mildred out for the same treatment. She also loved it but pooooed on me, which Patsy has never done!!! Lack of respect, I put it down to!!! Im glad you think Im doing ok, my girls certainly seem happy and healthy. Cluck cluck for now!!!!!!!!!!

[Artychik]

Hi all. We got 3 normal eggs today in the nesting box. Nothing strange about that, but wait.... When I took the side off to clean up the poop, there were 2 very strange eggs there, paper thin shells that had popped and spilled out the contents. This cant be right can it? When hubby looked in the run he found an odd thing which was like a bag with egg contents. Not sure how long that had been there as it was covered with the hemcore. The 2 eggs in the roosting bit came between yesterday morning and this morning. Any ideas??

[Mother Hen]

Yes don't panic it could be that the last hen is coming into lay, she could be the one that had the big egg, obviously her egg laying packing department is not quite settled yet.
Take care that they don't start to eat them they will realise that they taste good so always get them out of the ark as soon as you can.
I'm sure everything will settle, it can be shock or diet but I don't think so?
We now do a super corn with grit and oyster shell added so if they persist feed them that it might give them that little bit extra.

[Artychik]

Thanx Mother Hen. This morning we had 3 eggs and one in with the poop that had no shell. Looked like it would if you put it in a frying pan to be cooked. I always get it out as soon as I can. Ionly feed them the layers mash and there is grit and oyster shell available. No kitchen scraps have passed their beaks! Keep you updated....

[Artychik]

All girls doing well, all laying properly now. Hope everyone is ok.

[Mother Hen]

Hi Artychik, yes we are all well, pleased the girls are laying.
We are all looking for better weather, actually managed to have some time in the veg garden yesterday, it looked better for a quick tidy.

[Artychik]

Hi Mother Hen, got a prob with Edie, I think. one hen has not laid for about 3 weeks now. We kept making excuses for her but now its been going on too long. Checked her over and she seems to be losing some feathers, her egg exit looks ok, same as the other girls, she is eating ok etc. Can you throw any light on it? Is it normal for them to lose feathers, I know that pure breeds do it. The girls only have layers mash, corn ad hoc, but we let them in the garden occassionally. There are no plants or compost accessible to them. HELP!!!

[Mother Hen]

Hello Artychik nice to hear from you, sorry to hear that Edie is not laying, can you think of anything that may have changed in the last three weeks, sometimes shock or it could be the hot weather.
If you let them out you cannot monitor their diet as closely as you can when they are confined.
They don't usually moult but it is that time of the year, are there any signs of mite anywhere. Is she the bottom of the pecking order and are you being a good girl and no treats!!!

[Mother Hen]

Hello Zamoey, how is it going? after the difficult beginning with the other birds, is it going well. We would love to know.