Eggs

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Forgive me if I didn't read all the posts, and this has been mentioned previously.
Chickens normally lay one egg about every 36 hours.
They slow down and often stop when daylight gets less than 10 hours per day. This is nature telling the hens to get ready for winter.

Yes, you can keep them laying by putting a light in the coop. But by doing this you will also shorten their laying life span.
We've been keeping chickens for 25 years now, often having 50-60 hens + roosters at a time. We let nature dictate the laying cycles, and our birds will still be laying eggs at 5 and 6 years of age. Sometimes longer.
I don't have hard science to quote, but I have heard that when tricking nature by using lights you'll only get about 3 years laying from a hen.

If you think that chickens are just a "thing" to be used up and discarded like trash, that's one thing.
We keep our birds even after they have ended their laying careers, they provided us with eggs to eat for years, it's the least we can do.
 
I'm down to 5 Isa browns coming up on their 2nd bday, still laying well. They molted through most of december. Always stop laying for that. I started with a dozen chicks. They all lived to start laying but on average I lose about 1 hen every couple months.

What'll happen, maybe a coon breaks in and he kills two or three before I catch him. 6months go by and maybe... a few get out of the pen. Coyotes are thick around here, they've decimated the wild turkeys and quail. A chicken doesn't have a chance out of the pen.

I also have an old Isa, coming up on 4yrs and a younger RR, they no longer lay everyday. I think one is breaking eggs. There is plenty of oyster shells so shes eating them. The guilty party is going in a pot.

My rooster is RR and red sex-link.
 
Acdoctor said:
Taylor , my daughter has 10 white leghorns and 8 Issa browns and she is still getting 10-14 egg’s daily. I put a small solar panel on her coop with a 12 volt battery and a single 5000 k
led bulb from harbor freight just enough light to see in the coop if needed, it works fine and have had no issues with it. They are still laying more than we use so I have been freeze drying powdering them and vacuuming them in mason jars. I guess you can have too many in your preps.
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Never had Issa Brown, but the info says they are great birds for eggs.
 
One of the chicks escaped the laundy room and was running in the kitchen. Leon saw it and took off running. I was chasing the dog and chick. Finally got the chick cornered and put in back in safely.

Leon still wanted to play tag.

I keep a sheet wrapped around the cage so the chicks can't escape, but one end had fallen and the chick jumped or fell about 3 feet. It's a wonder it didn't get hurt.
 
Smalltimefarmer said:
One of the chicks escaped the laundy room and was running in the kitchen. It's a wonder it didn't get hurt.
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You can get 20gallon horse water troughs at TSC for about $25. They are great for newly hatched chicks. A dozen chicks will over crowd it in about a 12-15days.

But if you only have a half dozen chicks they can stay comfortable for about 25 days.

Here I'm using an automotive laser thermometer to check temps... the black and yellow thing... the chicks love to chase the red laser dot... funny.

mar20 ( 3).jpg
 
I have some of those, but my EcoGlow warmer is the size of a shoe box and takes up room. I use a large dog kennel and sit it on a table and sheet, then pull the sheet up on the sides and fasten to keep them from getting out. (Usually)
 
Even our 6 + year old Barred Rocks gave us a couple eggs yesterday.
We had 8 Barred Plymouth Rocks at one time, old age and predation have left us with two.
Possums are not the cute little creatures people think, they are stone cold chicken killers.
 
rice paddy daddy said:
Even our 6 + year old Barred Rocks gave us a couple eggs yesterday.
We had 8 Barred Plymouth Rocks at one time, old age and predation have left us with two.
Possums are not the cute little creatures people think, they are stone cold chicken killers.
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Opossums are awful.
I'm missing the pippers - feeling like I need to do some sort of set up to get a couple birdies.
 
Can you get scratch cheaper and maybe start raising meal worms for the protein? Can you grow something in the garden that they can eat? I'm doing giant beets, hog radish, and giant kale for animal feed this year. I supplement cooked rice in their diet, too. Any day old bakery for bread deals?
 
Smalltimefarmer said:
I got the 10 eggs today and 9 yesterday. Come on Spring.

I won't be able to feed them though. My feed, 50# Dumor pellets, has gone from $13.46 to $18.99 in 6 weeks. The clerk said it is only going to get worse.
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Do you let your chickens free range? We seldom need to feed ours during spring, summer and fall. They find enough bugs, seeds and grass to eat. We do keep some feed in the coop but they seldom eat any. The wife gives them a little scratch and worms year round as a treat. Except during the winter our chicken feed costs are very little.
 
Free range when you can, preserve some of your harvest (like sunflower seeds, dried apple, dried dandelion...whatever it is you grow) and use that when they can't free range to supplement. Worm farms are easy to set up and worms are a great food source. I dehydrate alot, and things can be rehydrated for feed easily....corn, kale...our chickens and turkeys even eat cooked beans. We raised parrots when we were first married for a number of years. A complete home made diet was beans, corn, and rice for the birds. I used a high pro soaked monkey chow mixed with peanut butter for the babies. The people that make their own around here use oat, wheat, milo, sunflower, cracked corn. Wheat grass is another easy thing to grow and a tray of that only takes a few Tablespoons of soaked wheat to do that. If I remember, Tractor does sell a 50 lb bag of whole wheat. That would last you a whole year for wheat grass.
 
Smalltimefarmer said:
I got the 10 eggs today and 9 yesterday. Come on Spring.

I won't be able to feed them though. My feed, 50# Dumor pellets, has gone from $13.46 to $18.99 in 6 weeks. The clerk said it is only going to get worse.
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Holy cow. That was right after we bought a pallet of the dumor feed. Glad we didn't procrastinate.
 
Mountain trapper said:
Do you let your chickens free range? We seldom need to feed ours during spring, summer and fall. They find enough bugs, seeds and grass to eat. We do keep some feed in the coop but they seldom eat any. The wife gives them a little scratch and worms year round as a treat. Except during the winter our chicken feed costs are very little.
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Yes, they free range. For about a week, the ground was frozen hard and they could not find worms, but the eat the plants in the woods. I don't feed them lots of the store food, and I supplement with table scraps.
 
My girls have stayed pretty steady all winter, what a weird Alaskan winter it was too! I get 6-7 per day with 14 hens during these months, but just the other day they gave me a few extra, cluing me in that their butts were about to get busy. Saw the first signs of molting just yesterday!! My Browns just never stop laying, but they are also the only buttheads that eat their eggs once and a while. Can't wait until my Easter eggers start laying again, they pretty much stop when it's cold.

I've never appreciated spring more than I have after a long Alaskan winter.
 

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Have any of you ever water glassed eggs? I have lime and water and when the 6 chicks start laying, I should have extra to save. Last year was the first time my ladies completely shut down production during the winter.

The videos I have seen have positive result for long term.
 
Smalltimefarmer said:
Have any of you ever water glassed eggs? I have lime and water and when the 6 chicks start laying, I should have extra to save. Last year was the first time my ladies completely shut down production during the winter.

The videos I have seen have positive result for long term.
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I do a ton of water glassing, I have 14 hens so there’s no way I can keep up in summer without it.
 
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