Eggs

[Bill G]

A few weeks ago I had 4 peacocks show up out of no where. Thay stuck around all day but were gone the next day, Thank goodness.

I wonder if they taste like chicken?

 

[Stonesforbrains]

I’ve been working out of town and didn’t make it back this weekend. Wife sent me this picture this morning. Now I was supposed to butcher the birds the first of March and was working out of town. My son wants to incubate them and see if we can hatch some poults. I told him yeah let’s give it a go, my wife is not thrilled but is going to play along. I’ve been working out of town a lot and she’s been taking care of “my” hobbies as I’ve been reminded of several times.

 

[JRM]

Like a good woman would!

 

[puzlrock]

Added automatic doors to our coop (https://www.chuxaway.com/), seems to work well and the chickens like it and I don't mind not having to go out after dark to close the doors.

Eggs production has increased but I believe it is just the nice weather and sunshine, they are enjoying the green grass.

 

[JRM]

I bought a chicken guard door 6-7 years ago. They are expensive but really invaluable when you consider the time you put into a flock. Lately we are all around the home much more but when we bought the door our schedules were all over the place. They are a big peace of mind.

 

[sean donato]

So the coop door is electric, supposed to be able to use a timer, but the tiny battery pack that came with it drains out in a few hours powering the timer. (All bought from the same company.) So we manually open and close the door. Not terrible to flick a switch up and down but annoying that we can't use the timer feature like we wanted to. Figured after the coop is moved to its permanent location I'll look into a better door controller.

 

[muddstopper]

Got 5 eggs yesterday. Wife put me to building a run for the birds. She isnt to fond of me letting them free range as they have discovered her flower beds and have started ranging even farther than the front yard. We also had visiting chickens from the neighbor down the road the other day. I thought about playing Snuffy Smith and keeping a few of the hens, but just ran them off instead.

 

[JRM]

So the coop door is electric, supposed to be able to use a timer, but the tiny battery pack that came with it drains out in a few hours powering the timer. (All bought from the same company.) So we manually open and close the door. Not terrible to flick a switch up and down but annoying that we can't use the timer feature like we wanted to. Figured after the coop is moved to its permanent location I'll look into a better door controller.

What brand?
Mine takes 4 AA batteries that will last several months during the warmer months. A cold winter will kill them much quicker but even then they are normally good for around 2 months give or take.
Tried lithium AA once as they are supposed to be better in the cold. They didn't last any longer.

 

[olyman]

What brand?
Mine takes 4 AA batteries that will last several months during the warmer months. A cold winter will kill them much quicker but even then they are normally good for around 2 months give or take.
Tried lithium AA once as they are supposed to be better in the cold. They didn't last any longer.

musta got some bad ones.......

 

[sean donato]

What brand?
Mine takes 4 AA batteries that will last several months during the warmer months. A cold winter will kill them much quicker but even then they are normally good for around 2 months give or take.
Tried lithium AA once as they are supposed to be better in the cold. They didn't last any longer.

Can't remember the brand name, got it off Amazon. It's a solar model, with a little 12 volt battery. The timer module is sold as an add on for it.

 

[muddstopper]

Whoo Hoo! birds set a record yesterday. I got 6 eggs out of 9 hens. I was even able to give a doz eggs to The DIL as she headed back home to Ohio. Trying to decide whether to put a few in the incubator. I need to find out if that crazy roo is doing his job, or just hanging around trying to pick a fight.

 

[husqvarna257]

We have 22 birds now. 6 are golden comets hens age is 5 plus but we still get 3 to 4 eggs per day and the old boy rooster is still doing his thing. These are birds we incubated. The other coop has 16 birds. 11 barred rock and5 Americana's. We started with 6 barred rock and 6 Americana from the co op but I saw 6 barred rock at Tractor supply clearance sale for $1.00 a bird and they were only 2 weeks younger than the others so I got them. They are now 3 years old and going strong. Barred rock average an egg per day and Americana's about an egg every other day. Americana's were my wife's choice, she likes green/ blue eggs, lots of people ask if they are ok to eat. Barred rock still lay some in the winter, like and egg every 3 or 4 days. We never add light in the winter, we let them molt and recoup. We are now getting 12- 16 eggs per day. We give them veg and fruit scraps, bread or what ever they will eat, yesterday was freezer burned lamb from de frosting the chest freezer. I also feed weeds. They have out door runs, one is 8-16 the other is 10-10. Free range here means free meal for the local predators so that is a no go.

 

[husqvarna257]

when I was a kid we always raised and processed our own birds and animals. Back then we never heard of killing cones but sure knew a Turkey would knock the crap out of you. We had plenty of burlap bags so Dad would cut one of the front corners out and stick the turkey’s head thru the corner and tie the bag up. It worked very good and the bird was dispatched with no bruises.

One year one of my uncles was getting married in March and asked Dad to let a big Tom grow out til the wedding. By the time that Tom was ready for the big event he was really big. When it came time to dispatch him they were having trouble getting him in a bag. My uncle decided he could hold him and told Dad to wack him. Well he whacked him and my uncle was sent flying across the yard. Not only did my uncle receive several bruises but swallowed a lot of pride. I guess all of us laughing did not help matters any.

Killing cones work for chicken but no so well for Turkey. For that I use a .22.

 

[sean donato]

I had to put one of the girls down a while back. Don't know what happened, but something tore into her butt. So down to 21 chickens. Still getting 16 to 20 eggs a day. I surly wish the wife would have picked birds off of laying habits and not the chick's look pretty.

 

[muddstopper]

Still averaging about 3 eggs a day off 9 hens. Best day was 6 and sometimes only 1 or 2. Just enough for me and the wife. bIL offered me 10 ISA Browns, said he was taking them to the sale if I didnt want them. I thought about trading my 9 for his 10 and letting him take mine to the sale instead. I didnt feel like the drive to cleveland tenn to make the swap. I have noticed my girls have slowed down eating. I provide free feeding so they get all they want. I provide whole corn as well as layer pellets. Some times they only eat the corn and other times only pellets. I guess they know what they like. They really like picking in the lawn, but they also like the flower beds and that aint working for the wife. I now just let them out for a couple hrs in the late evening. Letting them run loose late in the evening sort of keeps them close to the coop.

 

[JRM]

Still getting 16 to 20 eggs a day. I surly wish the wife would have picked birds off of laying habits and not the chick's look pretty.

It sounds like she made a good choice, nearly 1 a day.

We are really missing not having fresh eggs. We've had only 2 laying hens since Thanksgiving weekend when a mink got in through a soffit vent and decimated our flock. When the weather turned we got 10 laying ducks to shake it up a bit. They are likely 3-4 weeks away from laying yet.
Then we came across a dozen silkies in need of a home. They are actually pretty personable. Like the ducks they are amusing to watch, for different reasons. Guessing they are 4-8 weeks away from laying yet. We were told their age when we got them but they sure don't seem to be growing much, even for being a smaller bird.
Did I say we are missing the eggs?

 

[Stonesforbrains]

Still getting 7 eggs a day average from 9 chicken hens, lost one hen to owl I think, so down one from 10. Getting 2 eggs a day average from from 4 turkey hens. The turkey eggs are delicious!
We set 8 turkey eggs in the incubator 26 days ago and only had 5 that were viable. Based on candling them after the first 10 days. Didn’t know you were supposed to check after 7 days. Hopefully we will have some poults hatch in two days. If we do I will post some pictures. If not, we are going to try to incubate chicken eggs next and see what happens.

 

[wampum]

It sounds like she made a good choice, nearly 1 a day.

We are really missing not having fresh eggs. We've had only 2 laying hens since Thanksgiving weekend when a mink got in through a soffit vent and decimated our flock. When the weather turned we got 10 laying ducks to shake it up a bit. They are likely 3-4 weeks away from laying yet.
Then we came across a dozen silkies in need of a home. They are actually pretty personable. Like the ducks they are amusing to watch, for different reasons. Guessing they are 4-8 weeks away from laying yet. We were told their age when we got them but they sure don't seem to be growing much, even for being a smaller bird.
Did I say we are missing the eggs?

the wife loves to do that worlds longest yard sale every year. So each year we head out to route 127 in Ohio. I was told there are several mink farms in that area. I was also told a few years ago some animal lovers broke in and let thousands of mink loose. If that is true I can not imagine the damage that was done to peoples flocks in that area.

I can not even remember the last time I saw a mink around here I am sure there are some but the main predators are coons, hawks and skunks.

 

[grizz55chev]

the wife loves to do that worlds longest yard sale every year. So each year we head out to route 127 in Ohio. I was told there are several mink farms in that area. I was also told a few years ago some animal lovers broke in and let thousands of mink loose. If that is true I can not imagine the damage that was done to peoples flocks in that area.

I can not even remember the last time I saw a mink around here I am sure there are some but the main predators are coons, hawks and skunks.

Foxes and bears here.

 

[JRM]

It's definitely happened a few times. Just last year, Nov 22, activists let loose over 10k of them outside of Toledo. The farmers said most probably died within a week from starvation or exposure, they are bred and born in captivity and have no experience hunting aside from instinct. With nobody to show them how to hunt like a mother would in the wild they were very helpless.
Silly activists, they actually thought they were doing them a favor.

Mink may be more common in your area than you realize. According to ODNR they have established populations in all 88 counties in the state. You just rarely see them as they are incredibly evasive and mostly nocturnal.
They are blood thirsty like a vampire. Won't even eat the meat from their kill. They'll bite into the neck suck the blood out and move onto the next kill. They'll wipe out your whole flock if given the opportunity.