It will be interesting to hear your results over a period of time. A hen lay's about every 25-27 hours so depending on when folks collect, numbers can be a bit skewed. If a person collects at the same time over a period of time it will be interesting to see some results.
They are pretty pricy, but we hatched some Icelandic Chicks one year, they weren't bothered to much by the Montana cold weather, and were decent layers, lasted 7 years. I really liked the roosters, they were pretty friendly.
A friendly rooster is a tough thing to find.
Around here the only friendly rooster is a dead rooster.
Has a lot to do with daylight too, from what I'm told. Days are getting longer should help.
Well, I only fed one can of beans, so aint exactly scientific, plus the can of beans cost more than the two extra eggs I got. I also made another change last week when I put the livestock feed in a different feeder than the layer pellets. My finding on that this morning is that the chickens havent eaten any, or very little of the livestock feed last week, but they have pigged out on the layer pellets. I kind of find that interesting in that when I mixed the two feeds, the chickens seemed to flip out the layer feed to eat the livestock feed first. I suspect that when they run out of the layer feed, they will eat the livestock feed, or go hungry until I get to the store to buy more. My sister has a plucker orderd, I might end up eating fried chicken and dumplings instead of eggs. The economics just aint there when feed is over $17 a bag and I'm feeding a bag a week, edited because it should of said a bag every 3 weeks, and only getting about a half dozen eggs a week. I ma starting to think my birds are over weight, fat chickens make good dumplings.
If you are paying $17/bag you need to look for a different source. Are you feeding shell separate or as part of the ration?
How many birds do you have? A 50lb bag lasts us just over a week with 22 chickens. They eat a little under 10lbs a day. Less if the wife is home and they are out all day.
My understanding is they need 13 hours of light to lay, that is what the guy from the egg farm up the valley told me. Not sure of the validity of the claim????
The coop is pretty close to the house and the wife and kids leave the outside lights on all the time, so I'm sure they get plenty of extra light over winter.
That is a excessive amount of feed, I suspect you are experiencing a waste issue. A flock of 22 should not consume near 10 lbs every 24hrs. Put them girls on a diet!
How do you tell if they are fat? I mean give or take the feeder gets filled daily, it's never empty. They have run of the place when we're home and a big run when we're not home. Which is really only 3 days a week when my wife works. They are also 4 months going on 5 old. Been way too long to remember how much we fed the chickens on the farm. I figured it was about average for their age and amount they are laying.
I guess I need to edit that bag a week statement. A bag lasts me about 3 weeks. I put it out in a 5gal bucket feeder. I top the bucket off once a week and it is never completely empty. I throw out a cup, about 22oz size, every couple days. I add new wood chips every couple week and when the manure builds up I rake it all out and add new. So far there has been no smells. I have 9 Bhrama hens and a mix rooster. I got one egg today. My birds are all in a coop with no outside run, The coop was built when I moved here and it is built in the shade of several large trees. Not ideal for maximum egg production I know. I do have a grow light on a timer to supply the needed red light.
We're still at over $5 doz. truthfully idc what the egg prices are, we got chickens for the kids to take care of. If they bore me, they will get butchered and turned into nuggets. So far my daughter has been holding up her end of the deal and taking pretty good care of them. Most I have to do is fill the water bucket since she can lift it. Well I help out when she asks, but most the work is done by her.
Pick up a girl and weigh her!
All joking aside that is a lot of feed for 22. A chicken by nature is a scavenging creature but they are also wasteful so I suspect you have a waste issue. Now those that think I am joking (I do a lot) yes you can weigh a live chicken and calculate rate of gain but with a egg hen that is not a big issue unless she is getting fat and lazy. My son has to do it weekly at the feed research farm. He grew up here when we did it and we also washed hens. What an experience!!!! Fun times not had by allThe price is without a doubt falling fast.
They are pretty tame, my daughter can walk right up and pick them up at will. Don't know how weiging them would go. Other then the little black ones the red one and white ones are pretty big chickens. At least twice the size/ height of the little black ones. Think they are called egger chickens. Then Ohio reds and can't remember what the white ones are. They are big tall things. There's some sort of speckled fancy thing as well, but she's pretty small. All active. Run out of the coop when we open the door and won't come back in till evening. I'll have to monitor the feed better. Daughter feeds them, but it's been pretty consistent since they got big, and kicked out of the house. 50lbs goes 7-8 ish days.Pick up a girl and weigh her!
Oh boy I can't wait for this to happen lol. Guess I'll have to do some reacherch and see what they are supposed to weigh.Weighing is an experience just like washing.....not all that fun
