Well, I guess my Khaki Campbells decided to pretty much pack it in for the winter. I'm getting one egg a day and about every third day I get a bonus egg! I'm now guarding the egg carton in my fridge! I love baking with them so everyone else in the house is banned!!
Down to one egg a day
I want to bring cute lil silver sebright and silkie devilled eggs to TG (That is after supplying Turkzilla) and they are still laying great, if they were last years or before they would be moulting and occasional eggs are normal, plus I keep the flood light on till 9pm
can any one help me , my chicken house is brill but the run thy have has no grass left and thy love to dig, but now its winter the holes all filled up with rain whot can i fill it up with as thy are wet and tonight i have keeped them in there house.
Tank you weimac.
The holes they dig start to fill here in my yard as well. First any spot I find that starts to hold water or get slushy, I turn the soil with a shovel. Sometimes that top layer will have poo that is clogging the soil draining properly. Once the ground is frozen that doesn't work anymore.
I have used the big bags of pine shavings to help with problem areas as it will absorb the water and when things dry out they will dry as well. I also find I am putting more straw down in the run area and probably will on and off thru the winter months. It gives the girls something to "dig" in when the ground is frozen.
Come spring I will rake it all out and put it and the litter from inside the coops on my compost pile. I am doing the deep litter method this winter inside their houses.
Sometime during the next month I plan to put up tarps or heavy plastic along the fenceline on both sides (only about 1/3 of the length of the run) of the run starting at the coop/houses to give more of a wind break against slashing sleet / wind/ snow. I hope it will cut down on some of their "outside" discomfort and they won't get as blasted by mother nature that way. I don't want them to have to spend all their time inside. They have plenty of indoor shelter.
Julie
That's my problem-no artificial light! Is there any solar powered lights strong enough to provide the extra light they need to lay during the shorter winter days? I have run extension cords for heat lamps but they make me nervous!
LoraK, I bet those little eggs are so cute and tasty! My brother used to have banties and those eggs were adorable. Great for parties- bite size!
They are! I made lots of practice ones! My neighbor LOVES my maran eggs though. I have noticed the girls lay later in the morning/day than they used to.
Yeah! Today was a bonus egg day! I had to run out while baking this morning with my fingers crossed hoping there were two eggs! Otherwise I would have had to run to the store. I'm hoping to avoid buying store eggs for as long as possible. They're just not the same.
I know what you mean I used to go out at 7am and everyone was done laying. Now it's around 10am.
I read that chickens need at least 14 hrs of light to lay regularly so I turn the light on at 4:00 pm when I feed at night and turn it off around 8 or 9:00 am when I go out to feed in the morning. I just started that about a week ago since the temps are dropping. It's also supposed to help keep it warmer in the hen house. The light I use is one of the 40 energy saver flourecent bulbs. My henhouse is about 6'x8' and the roost is just big enough to hold all of the girls and rooster, so they are huddled pretty close together. I have about 14 girls and get about 3 eggs if I'm lucky, hope the light starts doing it's trick soon! I have egg customers asking for eggs that aren't there!
This message was edited Nov 26, 2007 12:11 PM
I'm sooooo eggcited!!! I had 3 eggs in the henhouse this morning!!! I usually only have 1 or 2 at 8 am when I feed. Maybe the theory does work! Turn your lights on girls!
Thought I spoke too soon day before yesterday as I only got 2 eggs all day but this morning at 8 there was 4!!!! As I said before turn your lights on girls!!!
We have a neighbor who has probably hundreds of chickens. He keeps the lights on 24/hours a day and his chickens are so nervous that they have pulled most of their feathers out. I think they are loosing sleep. We have read in several places that adding too much light can cause the hens to stress, and the winter is normal for them to take a break from laying. We negotiated and turn the lights on about an hour and half before the sun comes up, and keep it on until about 2 hours after it goes down. Since our days are darker even at noon the light is on all day. We are still getting an egg a day from each chicken.
Even today...when we are in the middle of an ice storm...I got an egg from each hen out there.
We have an extension corn run to the coop, and it comes up from under the floor. Them we have one of those power strips that will shut itself off it is senses a break, or something wrong with something plugged into it. This makes it safer to plus in the heat lamp, bulb we use to keep water from freezing and the regular lamp to provide heat. All of these things are on seperate timers as well so light, heat, etc stayes consistant.
Hey all! Well, I think I was wrong about the light. It's been a little warmer here so didn't turn the light on for a couple of nights and I got 6 eggs yesterday! So in other words, leave the lights off girls! LOL
gardener105, you crack me up!! lol
sue ☺
saanansandy, THANKS!!! LOL
susan
saanansandy, I may crack you up but I went out this morning to tend to my chickens and there was 5 eggs in one nest already!! Must be something to this leaving the light off!! LOL
Hey whatever works! Just as long as those eggs keep acoming! Especially this time of year with all the holiday baking. I wonder if there is a cookie cutter out there in the shape of a chicken?or maybe an egg?!
Gardener 105, you have it backwards on the light, you should be turning it on before real daylight, so the hens think the day is longer. And turn it off at what ever time you deem necessary at night. Turning the lights completly off in darkening natural light will trigger the birds to go into a "moult" where they moult their feathers, stop laying eggs and rest up for next laying season, which will be triggered by increasing light every day (as in spring). You can manipulate the light/dark schedule, but if you let the light go out they'll stop laying. Egg laying is triggered by hormones that are triggered by the amount of light entering their eye and the duration of that light. So, if you help natural light by starting a little before natural daylight and extend light a little beyond natural daylight, you are creating a 'longer day' just as in spring when all birds want to lay their clutch. Simple, isn't it? (Also you can cause this 'moult' by them running out of water or food for a time period I'm not sure of, but wouldn't take any chances on.)
Carol
Well Carol, I guess my birds aren't your normal chickens because since I've left the light off at night now they're laying more eggs. I'm getting 5-6 eggs a day now when I was getting 2 or maybe 3 before. And as far as them running out of food or water, THAT NEVER HAPPENS ON MY FARM! I would go hungry before I would let my birds and animals. And I did get 6 eggs yesterday and there was 5 in the nest boxes already this morning during a.m. feeding and will check again at p.m. feeding.
Ok, gardener, no need to yell, just letting you know what the real deal is. My birds put in a last ditch effort when things go "winter" on them, too, and lay a bunch of eggs. Pardon me for giving too much info.
Carol
Carol, The info is fine. This is the first time in 17 yrs. that I turned a light on in the henhouse at night and started getting fewer eggs. I have always gotten 5-7 eggs during the winter without a light in yrs past and have decided the thing to do is leave it off after all. Sorry I yelled, but nothing bothers me more than possibly being accused of letting my birds or animals go hungry or thirsty. Not going to happen here.
G105, These threads are watched by newbies and I wanted them to know these things that you and I take for granted. Sometimes they just don't know. No accusations, just information that others may not be aware of, like disrupting their feed, egg collecting, light, etc. cycle, which affects the birds, since they are creatures of habit.
Carol
I agree, and information to newbies is important. Again I apologize for getting my hackles up.
G105
Aw, yes, hackles, I love the look of my roos, but don't like the "treading" on the backs of my poor hens, so I don't keep them anymore. What am I saying? I have a Rooster, banty mix. He's so gentle that I forget he's there, sometimes! Sheesh! Memory thingy, you know. LOL
Carol
Yah, I know about the memory thingy too! LOL
Susan
Susan, you are welcome to the Parking Lot Forum where I have a thread titled "Carol's Journey" number 10 at this point, but I wouldn't expect you to go back to the beginning. It would be like reading a book. A funny and sad and happy and informative book, but very long. But the number 10 has some neat pics of some of my puppies. Everybody loves puppies!
Carol
Here's a pic of chicks ready to go into the henhouse, still closed off from drafts and with heat lamps even though they are almost completely feathered. Like I said I like one of each for a pretty flock. You can see they are on the sawdust by now and know the difference between that and real food. Oops, didn't send the pic.... following...
Carol
This message was edited Dec 9, 2007 5:06 PM
Here they are...
You sure have a smorgasbord, what a bunch of cuties!!
Nice selection! After they are feathered out post another pic! I bet your flock is going to be very pretty.
Ok, here's a pic in their outside run. A couple of Porcelains up on the outside perches. (Banties)
thanks, carol! I really like the assortment-your Porcelains have pretty feet.