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Chickens?

rancherfred

Well-known member
I am a first time chicken rancher and I have a few questions, does anyone here know anything about them?

They are free ranging so it is always an egg hunt, but right now there aren't any eggs. We are getting about 2 eggs a day right now out of 30 hens. They have free choice layer crumbles and proso millet as well as any other grain they can clean up out in the yard around the grain bins.

The coop is a portable building that is uninsulated with a couple of big windows that I have not closed in. We have had several below zero days so far but I haven't seen any sign of frost bite. So does anyone have any suggestions for things to try to get these silly birds laying again? We got them a couple of weeks before Easter. Isn't it a bit late to still be going through a molt?

I am not using any supplemental lighting but I do have heat lamps over the roost for nighttime warmth. Suggestions? Any more pertinent information that I forgot?
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
I would guess lighting for starters. We have friends who raise chickens and before we were going to get into them they stressed the lighting. They have to have light for so many hours in a day or they shut production down.
 

burnt

Well-known member
I'd tell them to get cracking!! No, wait, maybe that's the wrong choice of words . . . :???:

I bought a few laying type day-old chicks for my wife in late May and we are now getting 5 -7 eggs a day from 7 hens. They have been laying like that for almost a month now. They are bigger bodied hens than the super-high production commercial types.

They are now locked into their coop most days and getting only purchased layer feed. I still need to cut more windows into the coop to let more sunlight in.

When the weather was still warmer and we had no snow, she let them run outside but not until they were done laying their eggs, which was usually around 11:A.M.

Their coop is not insulated yet, but I need to get it done before it gets bitterly cold. We will not give them a heat lamp unless it gets really cold for a while. Just cuz the electricity to run it costs more tahn the eggs are worth!!

So that's how we run our "henny pennys" as she calls them! Not fancy, just fun and lots of fresh eggs!
 

hillsdown

Well-known member
Try this forum, it is just about chickens and most likely they will be able to send you in the right direction.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/index.php
 

Broke Cowboy

Well-known member
rancherfred said:
I am a first time chicken rancher and I have a few questions, does anyone here know anything about them?

They are free ranging so it is always an egg hunt, but right now there aren't any eggs. We are getting about 2 eggs a day right now out of 30 hens. They have free choice layer crumbles and proso millet as well as any other grain they can clean up out in the yard around the grain bins.

The coop is a portable building that is uninsulated with a couple of big windows that I have not closed in. We have had several below zero days so far but I haven't seen any sign of frost bite. So does anyone have any suggestions for things to try to get these silly birds laying again? We got them a couple of weeks before Easter. Isn't it a bit late to still be going through a molt?

I am not using any supplemental lighting but I do have heat lamps over the roost for nighttime warmth. Suggestions? Any more pertinent information that I forgot?

While most of the experience I talk about comes from broilers that my wife was involved with - I can say this with a fair degree of certainty.

You need a constant temperature, good feed, clean water and controlled lighting to make any headway with birds. Free range may be nice - but they are not likely designed to do this AND lay eggs under the present conditions. Time for them to be indoors if you want eggs. Or leave them out if you are prepared to do the welfare thing until it warms up and the days get longer.

Yours are simply in survival mode - too cold, too dark and probably because of it they are not eating and drinking as they would normally - so - no eggs.

Warm them up, give them more than 16 hours of light and you will see a difference in their eating and drinking - and eggs will come.

Age is also a factor - you get them as chicks or birds?

Chicks - well they may be coming to the end depending on the breed and the living conditions..

Birds - they may have reached it.

Chicken soup or stew is the best and layers are tough to eat after roasting.

Yes older birds will lay - and lay well - they just need a bit more care.

Sounds like these might need it.

Good luck

BC
 

tta stockdogs

Well-known member
My dad always told me a chicken has to have warm feet and plenty of water to lay... so may want to keep your chickens cooped up with good bedding during the cold weather....we always had eggs during the winter doing that.
 

tta stockdogs

Well-known member
My dad always told me a chicken has to have warm feet and plenty of water to lay... so may want to keep your chickens cooped up with good bedding during the cold weather....we always had eggs during the winter doing that.
 

garn

Well-known member
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. After my parents divorced in the late 70's, my Mom took my siblings and I to her Mother's farm and my job was to gather eggs every day, it was here that I agriculture got into my blood and hasn't left.
 

Red Barn Angus

Well-known member
Chickens should be planted in rows in the spring. Plant them feet down and toes pointing forward. Rows should be far enough apart to be able to cultivate and take out the weeds. Chickens planted upside down will seldom survive.

That's everything I know about chickens....
 

per

Well-known member
Your problem is most likely light. We use a timer to make sure they get 12 hours of light. The water needs to be warm enough not to freeze. If the coup is warm enough not to freeze the water, you should be good to go.
 

Cal

Well-known member
My experience with chickens..........they just seem to disappear. Pretty low on the food chain. Cheaper to just buy eggs.
 

gcreekrch

Well-known member
Cal said:
My experience with chickens..........they just seem to disappear. Pretty low on the food chain. Cheaper to just buy eggs.

Mrs likes chickens, I didn't like going to town for several bags of lay mash and four dozen eggs. :wink:
 

Denny

Well-known member
We have some Bantams more for looking at than anything. The dog finds the eggs and has a shiney coat because of it. They free range around here but the kids sheep spill enough grain to keep a dozen chickens going.
 

MO_cows

Well-known member
If they were molting you would notice, they'd be half naked. It's the short days shutting them down if they are getting enough water. If it's not a hassle to put a "broad spectrum" light on a timer in the coop, try that. Or just wait for production to start picking back up with the daylight hours.

Some breeds are less affected and lay thru the winter better than others. We have some Golden Laced Wyandottes and they shut down every winter. We also have some Ameracaunas and they are laying less but still laying. In the past we had White Rocks and Buff Orpingtons and they kept going pretty well thru the winter. But there's also differences in the strains of the breeds coming from different hatcheries.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I'm still laughing at Red Barn Angus advice. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Shut the chickens up and give them WARM water. Maybe more
than once a day...

I raised chickens from day-old chicks for years...I like
chickens, but I had allergies so couldn't clean the chicken coop. :nod: :lol2:
One day, Mr. FH said he wasn't gonna clean it any more so the
chickens went...booo hoooo...
 

rancherfred

Well-known member
Our Americaunas (sp?) haven't laid in at least two weeks. Our flock is mainly Rhode Island Reds with a few Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps and Americaunas thrown in for the variety. I don't think the Blacks are laying at all and I am not sure that the Buffs are either.

I have a heater base for the waterer that I keep outside. When I first got the coop finished I tried to keep the waterer inside but the dumb things kept standing on the top of it and pooping in the basin. Putting it outside pretty much eliminated that. It sounds like I need to get some supplemental light going.

Thanks for all the input. Some helpful and some not so much....
 
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