Update on My Chicken Saga..

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 I was shocked to learn from my daughter that today we got 10 eggs!!  The most ever in one single day since we got these birds.  AND they were all in the nest boxes!  So these birds with the slow learning curve are figuring things out!!!


 


We booted all the roosters out of the coop.  That helped a lot.  The hens seem calmer..  Thanks for that tip Spininggrandma.   


 


We (my daughters actually do most of the chicken duty as it is there little project so to speakÂ… They hope to sell eggs one day!)..  They recounted all the hensÂ… 20+ and 10+ on the roosters.  We originally ordered 40.  A few died in the first couple of weeks, the rest we still have. 


 


To answer LeahÂ’s questionÂ…  no my hens had not started laying when the days got shorter.  They have really not laid at all (we did not get ANY eggs at all until a couple of days after Thanksgiving)..   Funny I never thought of feeding a chicken bird seed.. 


 


We do feed layer pellets and leftover scraps of veggies or grain or anything else from the house that I think they may like.  Sometimes Emily will cook them up some brown rice and split peas and they go nuts over that. 


 


I pretty sure they are not laying somewhere else.  They stay in their coop until later in the afternoon and then we let them out to free range for the rest of the day.  Although in the past with other chickens I have had I will come across a surprise nest someplace.


 


     


I like a couple of roosters around (but 10+ is getting a bit ridiculous).  I have read that fertilized eggs are healthier for you.  Also I like to have an occasionally clutch of eggs hatch from some unknown place..  it is so fun to see baby chicks with their mamaÂ’s. 


 


 


But for now, my roosters future seems to be the stew pot.  Maybe when the rain lets up for moment I will get that job done.   My dad use to come and do it for me.  Now I am on my own (my dad passed away a little over a year ago). 


 


After 10 eggs, my thoughts towards those hens are a little more pleasant.  Maybe soon I wonÂ’t be buying eggs from Costco at the same time I buy layer pellets, and all the other misc. things required to keep them going.   

Comments

  1. SimplifiedLifeJanuary 3, 2006 at 9:42 AM

    I just finished telling my girls that we are going to need some chickens so we don't have to buy soon many eggs. We buy our at a local store in 18 ct at about 10 per trip. We use eggs for almost everything including our pets meals. Our pets don't eat store bought food only what we make for them.


    I look forward to learning more about caring for chickens, so when we move to our little patch, we live in a subdivision and livestock isn't allowed, we can have our own.


    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. spinninggrandmaJanuary 3, 2006 at 9:44 AM

    I KNEW you'd get more ... don't forget, they're only children - 7 + months is just about the time they start to THINK about laying ... wait until they are older- will you have fun!


    Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  3. FernJanuary 7, 2006 at 12:01 PM

    I have reallly enjoyed reading your blog......very informative and pretty to look at too! Enjoy those wonderful eggs!


    Blessings,

    Fern

    ReplyDelete

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