Tag: egg production

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On January 6, 2015

Whoa! Tonight and tomorrow night are going to be interesting nights around the homestead with regards to the chickens. It is supposed to get down to the low temperature so far for the season, a bitter cold 6 degrees F. WHOA! I have read and read and read on this, and the experts say to not worry about the chickens. If they have a draft free coop, they will be fine. Furthermore, the experts mostly advise against heating the coop, which I have already done once this year, as it is a tremendous fire hazard. I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little bit worried. Two things I have read give me comfort though. First, the wild birds make it without the conveniences these birds have. Second, each one of these birds basically carries a down filled coat at all times. I guess I feel better about 16 degrees F after the last couple of bitter cold spells, and after this one I will feel better about single digits.

There are several changes coming up with the chicken pen. The next one, which might happen in as little as two weeks, is an extension on one side of the run. This will serve a couple of purposes. First, it will give the chickens more area to move around, but more importantly, it will allow me to attach a chicken tunnel to the run. A chicken tunnel, or a chunnel, is basically a small semi-circle that runs wherever you wish it to run in your yard, allowing the chickens easy space to stretch their legs and beat boredom. It also gets them out into the grass more, which allows them to supplement their diet with more bugs and greenery, both of which are important for healthy eggs.

Speaking of eggs, I am so ready for the days to lengthen where the Easter Eggers will start laying regularly again. They are producing almost nothing at all, and the four Rhode Island Reds are having trouble keeping up with the egg demands of this house. 😀

Oh, speaking of eggs, I thought I would give an overview of the laying for 2014:

Easter Eggers (6): 313/2.07 a day/3.28 eggs per week, per bird
Rhode Island Reds (4): 425/2.81 a day/4.92 eggs per week, per bird

So basically our flock of ten produced 61.5 dozen eggs since August 3, when they started laying. Not bad.

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On October 28, 2014

Can you believe our chickens are still laying well? This week we had a total of 47 eggs, with the Rhode Island Reds laying 22 of them! Good girls! 😀

You may be wondering what we do with all those egg shells. Or maybe you don’t care. 😀 I’m going to tell you anyhow though. Though I am not good at it all the time, I like to use everything I can of what I have at my disposal, egg shells included. Egg shells are a great source of calcium, which happens to be a mineral that is needed in the soil. We save all our eggshells, and then we dry them in the oven before crushing them up to spread over the yard.

Recently Dried Egg Shells

I mentioned above that the ladies are laying well still, but that doesn’t mean we have a lot of eggs around here. Besides giving some to the neighbors, it seems my boys have turned into egg eating machings. We are going through them like there is no tomorrow right now, which doesn’t bother me a bit. I think they are one of the healthiest foods there are.

I know it is a little early to be thinking about this, but I am seriously considering getting some more chickens next year, though probably only two. I would like to supplement the flock by two a year, with a maximum of 16 birds. This would help account for reduced laying as the birds age, and the unfortunate death of a bird or two, which will likely happen over time.

Speaking of that, I think we may have a predator trying to get into the hen house. We are noticing some digging around the edge on one side. For now I have covered this with a heavy board and brick, but I have plans to fill the hole up soon. Thankfully, even if they got into the run during the night, they couldn’t get to the hens, as we lock them in the coop during the night.

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On August 20, 2014

While I was out of town last week, I began to get really excited. It seemed the egg production was increasing after two days in a row with five eggs each. Since then it has been relatively quiet though. I think we had three eggs on Friday, one on Saturday, two on Sunday, and two on Monday.

Speaking of eggs, we have had two oddities lately. The first is a spotted egg. Apparently one of the Rhode Island Reds is feeling some pressure to match the Easter Eggers for their unique eggs. Look what she laid:

Spotted Egg

That has not been our only oddity though. We have also had a shell-less egg laid:

Shell-less Egg

Saturday I was sure we were going to have several eggs. I was out roasting coffee and heard that egg laying clucking going on all morning. Come to find out, I think it was a first time layer. When we checked for eggs later, there was only one there, and it was smaller than what we’ve been getting.

The ladies sure are getting brave. When we let them out to run in the yard, they used to all stay together, but now they just go off on their own exploring. That is fine unless we see a neighbor dog coming around. Even so, we have yet to have an issue. Yesterday, though, the chickens nearly went to the front yard, which is the furthest I have seen them go. Brave ladies they are!

I am using the deep litter method in the coop, and yesterday I was noticing how well this seems to be coming along. Basically by keeping a deep layer of litter in the coop, the smell is minimal and fantastic garden compost is being created. Charity and I have neither one smelled the coop much. Charity’s nose is ultra sensitive, so I think that is a good sign. I think after the leaves fall for the year, I will clean out the coop and move this fantasic compost to one of the garden beds for next year, and restock the coop for the winter with fresh litter (oak leaves).

I am curiously awaiting the slow down of egg production for the year. I don’t know when that happens for my area yet, though there are some reports that it slows down when the sunlight becomes less than 14 hours a day. We are already less than that, so it may be soon. Perhaps that is why they seem to be laying slower than I had hoped right now. Even so, the Rhode Island Reds are supposedly winter layers. Hopefully that means we will see a steady flow of eggs from those four ladies all winter long.

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