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My only laying hen who laid her last egg on 30 Sept, has laid again today, just short of 5 months later!!! I haven't eaten a hen egg in all this time.

I'm so looking forward to boiled egg and soldiers, hard boiled eggs and scrambled eggs again!

yay!


perhaps time for some more chickens?

I'll wait until the two remaining oldies pop their clogs, in the meantime my ducks don't know they're supposed to reduce the amount of eggs they lay in winter! I'm just sick of duck eggs which I don't like much; useful for baking though.

I threatened mine.

"What did he say dear?" "He said that if we don't produce he will kill us and eat us!" "Quick, quick give me a squeeze!"

I did too.

Nine eggs to day from thirteen layers. Their minds, tiny as they are, are focused.

A freind of mine has left the roasting tin in the run to "encourage" hens to lay!

We have been down to 2 or 3 eggs a day for the last couple of months, but the last couple of days or so they seem to have perked up a bit an we are getting 4 or 5 - not that good a return from 14 girls!

Have tried threatening them but to no avail, and when they witnessed the demise of the ducks and geese the other day it seemed to do nothing for their morale!!

I must admit that I've been giving my main flock artificial light so have been getting 6-8 eggs a day from the 8 young girls in their lovely warm draught proof mansion. The ex-batts, in their open wooden box with no lighting have still managed to produce 3 eggs every two days between the two of them, even in the worst of the snow. You never can predict them chooks.

Even the bantam hen, also in an open wooden box and no artificial light, started laying for the first time in the thickest of the snow and has been giving me 5 eggs a week since.

Got to love em.

Got 4 newly hatched chicks in the kitchen

Cheers
Zoe

Thomzo wrote: Got 4 newly hatched chicks in the kitchen

Cheers
Zoe

- I've jus set some more eggs in the incubator.. we also have older chicks which we just moved outside today... first batch with the incubator.. lots more work than a broody hen, but more fun too

It's funny isn't it, I seem to remember loads of people being very envious when my old girls laid non stop all through their first winter, and still laid fairly well during the 2nd winter. Then they stopped laying altogether!!! I hope that Snowy being a 'breed' rather than a hybrid, and going off lay for 4 months during even her first winter, will carry on laying for more years than the hybrids! She jolly better. Next time I'll get a red hen and a white hen then I should have hen eggs all through the year.

red wrote:

Thomzo wrote: Got 4 newly hatched chicks in the kitchen

Cheers
Zoe

- I've jus set some more eggs in the incubator.. we also have older chicks which we just moved outside today... first batch with the incubator.. lots more work than a broody hen, but more fun too

Not yet managed to get a hen to go broody yet. I keep being told that the bantam will make a good broody but she's probably a bit young yet. In the meantime the hatch rates in the incubator aren't very good. Four survivors this time (twice the number as last time) out of over a dozen eggs. Is this good or bad?

Cheers
Zoe

Millymollymandy wrote:It's funny isn't it, I seem to remember loads of people being very envious when my old girls laid non stop all through their first winter, and still laid fairly well during the 2nd winter. Then they stopped laying altogether!!! I hope that Snowy being a 'breed' rather than a hybrid, and going off lay for 4 months during even her first winter, will carry on laying for more years than the hybrids! She jolly better. Next time I'll get a red hen and a white hen then I should have hen eggs all through the year.

I think i fyou want eggs through winter - you either have to give them extra light or keep getting younger birds, who tend to lay in their first winter.

Thomzo wrote: Not yet managed to get a hen to go broody yet. I keep being told that the bantam will make a good broody but she's probably a bit young yet. In the meantime the hatch rates in the incubator aren't very good. Four survivors this time (twice the number as last time) out of over a dozen eggs. Is this good or bad?

Cheers
Zoe

Silkies are sposed to go broody. dunno - never had one.

I dont know what is considered a good rate.
so far my broody has sat on 4 clutches, two of which were posted eggs and achieved nothing, the others she raised 3 our of 12 and 1 out of 6 - so not brilliant.. but on the other hand.. free, no lecky required

we have only done one hatch in the incubator so far and hatched 7 out of 10 - but one had deformed feet and had to be culled, so ended up with 6.

Well the little darling has managed to give us 4 eggs in the last 7 days so tomorrow we've having boiled eggs and soldiers! I can't wait!

Millymollymandy wrote:Well the little darling has managed to give us 4 eggs in the last 7 days so tomorrow we've having boiled eggs and soldiers! I can't wait!