Isa Browns in Quokka

oldute · **Posted:** Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:39 pm

Recently bought some isa browns out of the quokka.
Was told they were 30 weeks old.
The old lady selling them delivered them, wouldnt let me pick them up.
30 weeks old my a*s*.
They havent laid an egg in 2 weeks.
More like 3 years old I reckon.
:anger:

earthbound · **Posted:** Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:50 pm

You can generally tell the age of a chook by the size of it's comb on the head. The comb on an isa brown will be reasonably tall when they are laying age. if the combs are small like the one in the banner at the top of the screen (look at top of screen) they may still be under age...

Or they could too old as you say....

Have you got pics??

I have bought Isa's from city farm before and we will be stocking chicken that are at "point of lay" in the not too distant future as well..

oldute · **Posted:** Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:11 pm

fully grown combs. And they are moulting. The lady that delivered them had an even older lady (must have been her mother) with her so I didnt feel like telling her to take them away.
Hopefully they will come good but I wouldnt reckon so until spring.

fizzyj · **Posted:** Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:55 pm

was she kind of rough looking and had an old ute with the chickens in cages in the back?
I had some from someone like that, would only deliver said they weren't caged birds - as you say my a**s. They did eventually come good and laid quite a few eggs and recovered from their "malting" which too me looked more like losing feathers through sticking their neck through a cage.

Simo · **Posted:** Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:10 pm

give them a while to adjust to their new home and they might start laying again. I have one Isa Brown we raised from a day old chick to 4 years old and still lays a egg a day.

oldute · **Posted:** Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:52 am

She was in a landcruiser and had the birds in what looked like bread tray cages (only about 6 inches high). I'm sure they'll eventually come good but they are being free loaders at the moment. Buying "30 week old" ones I was expecting them to lay immediately.

dufflight · **Posted:** Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:00 pm

The ones I got were ment to be just on laying age but it took a while for them to start. Now they will not stop and I'm lazy and don't check the eggs all the time so the dog gets most of them. Eats them whole. :shock:

pistolknight · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 11:44 am

we get ours from Mt Barker delivered, they look a bit scraggly when they arrive and feathers missing like bald patches, guy say's they grow back and generally do, ours lay for a couple of years and cost $6 each, it takes a couple of weeks for them to start laying, put some straw in a corner of the pen and they will make a nest, ours roam free during the day and every now and then 1 or 2 will lay in the garden somewhere, if yours have run of the garden maybe the same scenario, eggs are usually well hidden, the commercial guys generally don't keep them for more than 9 months so they probably are around 30 weeks, unless they are pirates, get a bag of laying pellets and feed them plenty of scraps, they will lay soon, when they feel at home, they have probably been caged up for some time and need to get use to freedom

oldute · **Posted:** Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:40 pm

Put a heap of hay in the pen last weekend, only one has made a bit of a nest but no eggs.
None of them sit on the perch or eat old bread or kitchen scraps. I put a half a watermelon in there which should last 5 minutes and it was untouched for days till it turned to mush in the heat.
They eat the pellets though. Spend most of the day inside the pen. I think they are physcho chickens, totally screwed up by how they were kept until I got them. Poor bast*#ds.

pistolknight · **Posted:** Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:46 pm

Oldute sounds like they have been penned up for a long time, they probably haven't seen scraps before, but hang in for another week, feeding pellets is fine, but they should start to roam, they won't lay whilst stressed, and you have moved them to a new planet, albeit a much nicer one, they should adapt, if not chase the seller down, but the fact they are building a sort of nest would indicate they might be settling

Maybe hook up with CD when he makes another trip and I should be able to get some from our guy, he comes to town once a month

chillidude · **Posted:** Thu Feb 25, 2010 11:39 am

pistolknight wrote:

Maybe hook up with CD when he makes another trip and I should be able to get some from our guy, he comes to town once a month

He means that his guy comes to Narrogin once a month, not me !!

pistolknight · **Posted:** Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:52 pm

chillidude wrote:

He means that his guy comes to Narrogin once a month, not me

My liver couldn't handle you once a month :cheers:

Oldute missus reckons our first lot took a month to settle and learn new tricks and that lot came from our Local AG College for $2 each, they have no idea on age but 3 out 4 stopped laying after a year and carked soon after, the last is still going strong after 2 1/2 years, they weren't caged and were fed grain and scraps, the others I got from Mt Barker guy took about a week to settle but they had at that time 2 experienced girls teaching them, was a couple of days fighting but once pecking order sorted things were fine, I left them penned for a couple of days, they have free run of most of the yard except where we relax and they go back to the pen at sunset and we lock them in mainly because of foxes,

oldute · **Posted:** Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:23 pm

WooHoo! I finally got an egg from these chooks.
Just one and a bit of a crappy shell but its a start. :rock:

pistolknight · **Posted:** Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:55 am

the will get better oldute, they are just getting use to new world, ours were quicker in adjusting but first egg had shell that thin it broke when it was laid, plenty of laying pellets mixed with a bit of shell grit will fix things

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