Laying Hens and Eggs

[moonlitoaksranch]

Who has chickens? Who is getting chickens? We’ve all seen the price of eggs.

We bought some chicks back in August and now have an abundance of eggs. Nine hens and a rooster. All are different breeds (no racists in our flock, lol). We’ve kept them locked up due to bird flu. I really like free ranging, but it’s not safe right now. Luckily, the coop is a converted grain bin, so plenty of room. We have enough eggs to share. It’s lovely.

Today, I heard peeping at the feed store, so we have four baby chicks in a brooder to add to our flock. The only slightly scary part was that we had to provide our name and address on a roster in case of an outbreak. We’re hoping if we keep them locked up, and no one shows symptoms, they’ll be spared, should an outbreak occur.

Here are the new babies.

[2DogsFarm]

{raises hand}
I started 13yrs ago with 5 6wk pullets.
Since it’s Just Me, I had eggs galore once they started laying. Surplus went to friends, a dozen at a time & unlike zucchini, nobody ran when they saw me coming
My largest flock was 6 hens & a rooster.
Through attrition, predation & mysterious chicken death I’m now down to 3 hens & a wussy rooster.
I freeranged until a couple years ago, after losing 2 hens in 1 week to a hawk bold enough to be chowing on a hen in my driveway as I pulled in
I’ll add 3 or 4 hens this Spring.
No chicks
Did that once & NTYVM.
Hoping the lady I bought 2 hens from - $5 each - a couple years ago will still part with a few.
The Wyandotte I got from her is one of my most reliable layers. 6yo Barred Rock is the other & 4ish Easter Egger (who lays blue eggs) is the Slacker.

[Djones]

I’m eager for more. I need to deal with the feral tomcat I trapped and have on lockdown who is NOT softening up and getting more amenable.

I am down to one bossy D’Uccle rooster, Danny D’Uccle, and one middle-aged Barred Rock hen. I want a couple more big hens and some more littles. They are fun. We free range them when DH is out there, and lock them up overnight. Egg prices here in egg-raising land (Alabama) are still reasonable.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Our first chickens were 12 years ago. We started with Orpingtons and Barred Rocks. There was a mixture of natural attrition and predators. After that were Jersey Giants and Delawares. I really liked the Delawares. Since then, we liked a really mixed up flock, which usually had Easter Eggers, Red Stars, and Brahmas. I agree about Easter Eggers being a little pokey with the egg laying. We had an awesome New Hampshire Red rooster that finally succumbed to old age. After that, it was neighbor dog attack that wiped us out and we had to start over.

We’ve had some really neat chickens over the years and some great homemade coops. These were perfect for the heat in northern Florida.

Our Florida flock was given to a neighbor before we moved last April. It wasn’t worth the risk of moving them when I saw the first article of bird flu starting up. This is our first Midwestern flock.

[moonlitoaksranch]

This is our current henhouse (picture taken last fall). It’s kept them warm enough up here and safe from wild bird exposure. I added an old wooden ladder for them to roost on and a big heated dog water bowl for winter.

[Texarkana]

I’m picking up my chicks next week! I’m so excited!

[Displaced_Yankee]

My landlord has had chickens here since I moved in 11 years ago (and peacocks…but they are gone now).

The last few years their egg production slowed down and they slowly succumbed to critters (free range by day, cooped at night…so long as someone remembered). We lost the last old girl last summer.

My landlord purchased 3 new chicks in Spring 2022…which began laying in Fall 2022. Then purchased 4 more chicks in Fall 2022…who have JUST started laying. The little eggs are so cute!

[NancyM]

We lost EVERY chicken to a bobcat who found his way into our co-op last fall, in the middle of the night, killed them all without a sound. The tiniest hole above the wire between the rafters. So we have been chicken less all winter. It’s been sad. I am just at the point of putting my order in for half a dozen point of lay pullets now, take delivery in April. Might also get half a dozen female chicks too, if I can find them, a bit later on, to raise. Gotta fix the damn hole though, before any of that happens. Can’t be without chickens!!!

[LetItBe]

We’re currently at 21 hens, no roosters. Twelve are older of various ages and we just picked up 9 which at this point are about 18 weeks old. We pick up 16 week olds so as not to go through what I call the ‘tennis ball’ stage as we free roam and have dogs, but at night they’re in a coop.

We are currently getting 5-6 eggs a day from the older chickens, we had not gotten any new hens in 2022 and were told that might have contributed to our decline in eggs.

LetItBe

[2DogsFarm]

I got lucky.
Previous owners of my house had poultry & in the garden shed they used as a coop I discovered homemade chicken wire partitions I’m still using.
I added some tree branches for roosts, about 3" diameter & peeled of bark when I got my first flock.
I had Delaware’s too: Salad & Noodle
Black Stars: Xtra Crispy & ??(can’t recall the food-related name I gave her)
& a Houdan hen named Misty Cologne ( a friend’s drag name)
The Originals, less Misty:

[GoodTimes]

I do! I currently have seven. The current oldest is 5, the youngest were hatched in August. I love them, they’re so funny, and so treat motivated.
Mine have a predator proof run and coop that sits inside a 30’x50’ fenced area that they can range in away from my dog.

[moonlitoaksranch]

I’m sorry about your flock. It’s a heartbreak when predators get in.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Is that a Speckled Sussex? I love those! Ours is named Matilda, lol.

[moonlitoaksranch]

I left a message for our county extension agent about bird flu and free ranging. I hope we can build them a yard to roam in this summer. I have a litter box with play sand for dust baths inside their lockdown coop.

[NancyM]

Yes, The DH had taken over the chickens, and they were kinda his pets, and ran a little local egg business from them. He took it pretty hard. Since we didn’t hear any commotion, we didn’t know it had happened until he went down there in the morning to feed them, and found the carnage. Dead and dismembered bodies everywhere. He had named each of them and they worshipped him. He used to have dogs, but when the last dog died, he couldn’t have dogs any more because of the heartbreak of losing them. So the chickens became his flock. (After previously maintaining for years that he didn’t like chickens because they were stupid and dirty). Which is the explanation for the fact that I’M getting the new chickens, and patching the hole between the rafters. Because we need chickens.

[GoodTimes]

@moonlitoaksranch

Is that a Speckled Sussex? I love those! Ours is named Matilda, lol.

Yes! We had to put her down last year, RIP Speck She was the matriarch of the flock, always on the lookout for predators. She would even crow like a rooster once in awhile. Always very interested in what I was doing. Liked to be picked up and carried around. Since she died, Puff (the 5yo cream legbar) has taken over as boss chicken. Lucky for me, and my niece, one of the new pullets doesn’t mind being picked up.

[Mosey_2003]

I breed Barred Rocks and I keep a pen of layers because folks demand eggs, lol. I have 5 Leghorn chicks coming in today and then 30 broiler chicks coming next week.

[MunchingonHay]

I need your input chicken people.

Am I nuts for wanting to have chicken when I know we have fox, hawks and other sharp toothed animals?

They would be cooped at night, but I would love for them to be free range during the day. I have 1.5 acres of mixed woods and clearing, which is fenced but its 4x4 wire fencing.

Am I asking for trouble? Give it to me straight. Do they need to be properly fenced in 24/7? I would want them out only during the day.

[fordtraktor]

IME, the foxes are your biggest threat. Once they figured out the chickens free ranged during the day, we lost 1-2 hens a day. Every day.

We quickly build what I call the “chicken fortress.” It’s a 12 by 24 run that is wire top, sides, and bottom. Haven’t lost a hen since and they still have plenty of outside space. I throw them clippings and whatever I accumulate in my “slop bucket” in the kitchen so they have a nice lift without the risk.

I have 16 hens of all varieties, and one cross beaked silky rooster named Fluffykins I got from @enjoytheride. He’s terrified of the girls – his job is to crow for me because I love the sound of it!

[2DogsFarm]

What @fordtraktor says.
Freeranging is an invite to hawks & foxes & both will frequent the Takeout once they know it’s available.
My flock is perfectly happy in their 20X20+ fenced run. Chickenwire fencing & “roofed” with crisscrossed baling twine < hawks see it as solid.
I can leave the coop door open while I clean & not one hen is interested in exploring the Great Outdoors.
What does interest them is any kitchen scraps I bring, their morning oatmeal w/yogurt (protein & calcium) & the BOSS they love.
Occasionally I’ll give them raisins = Chicken Crack