Buying point of lay hens in mid to late summer

[Millymollymandy]

There was a discussion a little while back (with Annpan and SusieGee) where we were discussing summer POL hens and was it worth it getting them lateish in the summer. I got my 2 in early July and they started to lay in early August. I specifically bought a red hybrid expecting to get eggs all through the first winter and probably the 2nd, and the other hen was supposed to be a less prolific layer who I thought would probably stop in winter but go on for more years like my white Sussex......

And guess what? The red hybrid is the one who has decided to go off lay! She only laid every other day anyway and hasn't done for about 2 weeks..... whereas the less prolific layer (the Bluebell) has been laying an average of 6.5 eggs a week for about 3 weeks now.

Not getting many duck eggs either so I have a horrible feeling I may have no eggs at all this winter!

[Millymollymandy]

Susie they're all just called 'rouge' here in France. She's not moulting. My only experience with the red hybrids, and I mean the red ones sometimes with some mottled white, is the two I had in the past and they didn't moult until around the time they stopped laying, which was about 2 years later. Still I guess all birds are different.

Rethinking freezing some eggs, I did that the first year but they came out the freezer all congealed and separated and a horrible pinky beige colour so I chucked them! Have since learnt from Red that that's normal and I can still use them in cakes.

[Green Aura]

Do you know, I keep reading these threads for when I eventually beat OH into submission and get my own eggs.

It's putting me right off I can tell you

[eDNAH]

To freeze my eggs I seperate them into yolks and whites - they keep better that way - and don't look as if they have gone off. Have you considered storing them in isinglass?