Post by simplynaturalfarm on Feb 21, 2015 13:00:31 GMT -5
Michiganmilkaholic, do you sell your hens at the beginning of summer? that is when I get my best eggs. But I've been thinking of adding some more birds and wondering should I sell the hens - my husband HATES doing away with hens and I hate it a bit more so foist it off on him *G*. We have 3 dogs I feed raw to, so the older hens are always a good option, BUT I notice they sell for $10 per bird on craigslist and it woudl be cheaper for me to get a bunch of cheap roosters and feed those to the dogs (Or maybe the 3 broody hand picking, bloody murder squawking birds in the coop right now will actually HATCH something at a decent time of year instead of trying to right now . . )
My husband told me to add more straw to the nest as it would help - while some eggs do break if the straw is less, the funny thing is after he crammed my 10 boxes FULL of straw the chickens always stop laying in corners and go into the boxes as if it is some wonderful hidden secret place to lay. And I always get more eggs LOL. SO I do that now and it works.
Mine don't crack unless it is REALLY cold. They freeze inside the shell but don't crack til it is colder than -20F without wind. But once a week I will find egg yolk on some of them.
ANd boy are they little pirhana's if I drop an egg while collecting them - it doesn't break as I have tons of straw, but every bird comes 100 mph to peck at it and I have to grab it sooo fast! I am anal to never give them slop with egg shells in there, but if I miss one they go bonkers over it.
It has been colder this week and they scaled back from 20-28 eggs per day to 14-16. Which is sad because it doesn't give me enough to eat and give to the 3 people I like to share with.
I like sex link and cinnamon star the best for laying. If I am having birds to get eggs, I want eggs.
My husband told me to add more straw to the nest as it would help - while some eggs do break if the straw is less, the funny thing is after he crammed my 10 boxes FULL of straw the chickens always stop laying in corners and go into the boxes as if it is some wonderful hidden secret place to lay. And I always get more eggs LOL. SO I do that now and it works.
Mine don't crack unless it is REALLY cold. They freeze inside the shell but don't crack til it is colder than -20F without wind. But once a week I will find egg yolk on some of them.
ANd boy are they little pirhana's if I drop an egg while collecting them - it doesn't break as I have tons of straw, but every bird comes 100 mph to peck at it and I have to grab it sooo fast! I am anal to never give them slop with egg shells in there, but if I miss one they go bonkers over it.
It has been colder this week and they scaled back from 20-28 eggs per day to 14-16. Which is sad because it doesn't give me enough to eat and give to the 3 people I like to share with.
I like sex link and cinnamon star the best for laying. If I am having birds to get eggs, I want eggs.