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Hi all - Nancy, Edith and Barbara - my cream legbars bought in June - are all doing great, enjoying their rabbit-palace home, and running around on the patio and jumping about in the flower pots. Barbara and Edith are quite placid, but Nancy is the wild one - running up behind them, tweaking tail feathers and running away again, chasing sparrows and flies and generally getting into mischief, and living up to the 'nutty' reputation of CLs. They are quite friendly and will feed from my hands. They don't like being picked up, but are happy being held and stroked once the picking up bit is done, especially Nancy.
I love having hens, but am wondering - shouldn't we be having eggs by now? From what I've read, the age to start seems to be anything from about 18 weeks to about 32 weeks, and I gather it is down to the amount of light too. Mine are about 27 weeks old, have red combs and wattles, Nancy's big and floppy - the other two a bit smaller. I've recently noticed a bluey-green tinge to their earlobes, which indicates egg colour - does it also indicate eggs soon?
They have a darker nesting area in the house, which would have been the rabbit bedroom but is divided into two nests of straw - and their perch is in the main room of the house. They like their perch, but don't go into the nests much. They usually get a cup of wild bird-food and a slice of bread between them as treats, the rest of the time its a mix of growers and layers pellets, and greens - grass, weeds etc. Is that too much treats? Has anyone else had cream legbars maturing this time of year? Are there any signs to watch out for, or any tips to get them started? Any advice gratefully recieved.
I love having hens, but am wondering - shouldn't we be having eggs by now? From what I've read, the age to start seems to be anything from about 18 weeks to about 32 weeks, and I gather it is down to the amount of light too. Mine are about 27 weeks old, have red combs and wattles, Nancy's big and floppy - the other two a bit smaller. I've recently noticed a bluey-green tinge to their earlobes, which indicates egg colour - does it also indicate eggs soon?
They have a darker nesting area in the house, which would have been the rabbit bedroom but is divided into two nests of straw - and their perch is in the main room of the house. They like their perch, but don't go into the nests much. They usually get a cup of wild bird-food and a slice of bread between them as treats, the rest of the time its a mix of growers and layers pellets, and greens - grass, weeds etc. Is that too much treats? Has anyone else had cream legbars maturing this time of year? Are there any signs to watch out for, or any tips to get them started? Any advice gratefully recieved.
There's a few ways to tell if she's about to come into lay (or ready to anyway). One is to put your hand on her back, if she crouches down, then that's an indication that she's ready to receive a cockerel (if she sticks her bum in the air as well, she's a hussy 
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