Changing over to layers pellets

Both Smoke and Ebony have been laying since half way through December. This is normal for Smoke but unusually early for Ebony. Ebony is usually the earliest to start laying other than Smoke though.

Ebony started laying half way through January last year and Flame and the rest of the little girls started laying in February.

This morning I found a soft shelled egg from Ebony, in the chicken shed, underneath her roost spot. This is her first ever soft shelled egg. I know that this is due to the girls being on growers pellets which don’t have the calcium of the layers pellets.

The chicks are now seven months old and have red faces and combs. I think they are now old enough to safely progress to layers pellets which will be better for the whole flock as they come back into lay. I have decided to change the dishes over to layers pellets at the end of today.

I was already intending to give the girls a fish treat today. I decided to scramble Ebony’s egg with a little olive oil and water and mix it in with the fish. The girls may as well benefit from this extra treat.

The flock rushed to the treat with just Sugar and Shadow hanging back a bit. Sugar is definitely the braver of the chicks and was the first of these two to go to the treat. Once the main flock had started to move away Shadow got her turn.

Unfortunately I will have to waste the remaining growers pellets that I have but it is never easy to time the right amount and it’s a small cost in the scheme of things.

I think this is the right move for the health of the flock and I feel sure that there will be more egg laying happening soon. One thing is certain and that is that the girls enjoyed their extra treat.