Eggs

[wampum]

Just curious, I have 28 hens and my egg production right now is excellent. I am getting 19 to 22 eggs a day. One day last week I got 27. I source my feed locally and feed all the kitchen scraps and garden greens I can along with them foraging the best they can in this weather.

About every 2 weeks I take about 15 to 20 dozen eggs to the local auction and We are averaging a little over $5 a dozen before the auction commission.

I have been reading that some folks are getting zero eggs and that they source their feed at big farm stores. Some have said they started sourcing locally and in a day or so egg production has increased greatly. Has any one experienced this?

 

[farmer steve]

When I had chickens I always fed fresh made feed from the local mill. The hens always laid like crazy. I also let them free range. Never was a fan of farm store feed from parts unknown. What kind of auction?

 

[pdqdl]

Now I don't know anything about chickens, but my gaggle of ducks quits laying every winter.

My mechanic used to work on a high production chicken/egg farm. He told me that they would put any under-performing chickens into some sort of starvation regimen for 27 days. No food, just water. I think there may have been other restrictions, as well. After that, restore good service to the hens, and they would start laying eggs again.

I guess if that didn't get 'em laying again, they were relegated to candidates for the next batch of chicken nuggets.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Just curious, I have 28 hens and my egg production right now is excellent. I am getting 19 to 22 eggs a day. One day last week I got 27. I source my feed locally and feed all the kitchen scraps and garden greens I can along with them foraging the best they can in this weather.

About every 2 weeks I take about 15 to 20 dozen eggs to the local auction and We are averaging a little over $5 a dozen before the auction commission.

I have been reading that some folks are getting zero eggs and that they source their feed at big farm stores. Some have said they started sourcing locally and in a day or so egg production has increased greatly. Has any one experienced this?

My now out of business egg lady switched to corn feed, no free range last fall and the quality went down hill. Yellow yolks and runny thin whites with no taste and a sulfur smell when cooked.
We since found free range hens, again, with much better quality but the prices are still up. I eat eggs almost everyday just cooked in butter and some spices, nothing fancy. Quality is everything, good job. Once the protein is gone so it the quality imo. Chickens will eat almost anything and should do so often. Daily feed should not be crack corn or some commercial feed stock.

 

[Bill G]

A huge amount of production is tied directly to the breed, age, and temperature. There is a reason production hens have a VERY short life.

 

[JRM]

Many factors. Chickens need much day light and a nice dry place out of the weather. Lots of fresh water. Short day light hours and cold weather force their bodies to conserve their energy for staying warm vs egg laying.
The first few years of the chickens life are the best you will get production wise. They lose roughly 10-20% production per year depending on breed. The older they get the more the short cold days affects their production.

 

[Pepster]

 

[lone wolf]

I huge amount of production is tied directly to the breed, age, and temperature. Their is a reason production hens have a VERY short life.

I had a Chicken live around ten years she was a Buff Orpington.

 

[farmer steve]

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

Quality of the feed matters, also they need a high quality source of protein if you want good egg production. That’s just what I noticed over the last several years of having chickens.

 

[dmb2613]

I only feed scratch [ cracked corn and wheat ]during the winter. They free range during the day. In summer I give them a little laying mash. I have Domineckers . 18 hens and 5 Rosters. Tuesday I got 18 eggs. That is not the norm for winter. 5 hens and 1 Roster are 2 years old the rest hatched out last May the 25th

 

[JRM]

I had a Chicken live around ten years she was a Buff Orpington.

I have heard of some breeds living long prosperous lives in retirement so long as one doesn't mind feeding a mouth that no longer produces. How many years did she lay?

As a general rule Pure breds live longer than hybrids. Hybrids are crossed strictly for maximum egg production. They lay more eggs but at a cost of a shorter time interval. Some will only lay for 1-3 years max and they're done. Some hybrids only live 3-4 years max. High egg production comes at a cost.

 

[sean donato]

We currently have 22 chickens. 2 of them are 3ish years old, the rest were from this summer. The old girls are pretty reliable laying daily even with the shorter days. I was pretty surprised the youngsters started laying. They have a very nice big coop I built with a large attached run. Funny part is they don't really want to come out into their run, much less the yard if the weather is bad. They get run of the yard when we're home. Too many hawks, coyote, fox ect to get them if you can't keep an eye out.
I feed them layer mash from the mill down the road, but so does just about every one else that has a brain. $11.00 50lb vs $20+ at tsc or another "farm" store. Table straps are pretty limited. there's actually quite a lot that we eat they shouldn't, effects their health and laying. I do splurge and get this scratch grains once a month to toss out for them every now and then. It's in the $20 50lb range and they don't really need it as part of their diet, use it more as a treat.
We've been averaging a dozen plus eggs a day. Some days a bit less, some days more. I didn't really want 22 chickens but I left the wife and kids pick them out when I was at work and we somehow ended up with the old girls from someone that didn't want them. Think there's 4 different breeds altogether. Red, black, grey, white and this multi brown/white colored one. They've been quite entertaining so far.

 

[lone wolf]

I have heard of some breeds living long prosperous lives in retirement so long as one doesn't mind feeding a mouth that no longer produces. How many years did she lay?

As a general rule Pure breds live longer than hybrids. Hybrids are crossed strictly for maximum egg production. They lay more eggs but at a cost of a shorter time interval. Some will only lay for 1-3 years max and they're done. Some hybrids only live 3-4 years max. High egg production comes at a cost.

Not sure prob 5-6 years layed eggs or so.

 

[Del_]

Buff Orpingtons worked out well for us. They are quite hardy here in NE GA and lay year around. We haven't had them for a couple of years now.

 

[wampum]

When I had chickens I always fed fresh made feed from the local mill. The hens always laid like crazy. I also let them free range. Never was a fan of farm store feed from parts unknown. What kind of auction?

It’s a weekly small animal auction in Rogers Ohio about 10 miles from me. The last couple of years it went from live to on-line every Friday at 4pm. You can check it out by goggling it. As the weather breaks it will get bigger.

 

[wampum]

We butchered our meat birds on Oct 22nd. There was 135 of them and it took 6 hours, then we had a nice family cook out. ( not chicken) all 3 of my daughters and their husbands and kids showed up along with my brother and a few friends. It’s like an assembly line and works pretty good. The birds were 10 weeks old and averaged 4.5 pounds a piece. Every family took home at least 15 birds. All were processed cooled and bagged in shrink bags.
It was a lot of work but was still a good time for all involved.

 

[wampum]

That auction in Rogers also sells hay and grain every Wed. At 1 pm. Then on the second Tuesday of every month they have a machinery auction starting at 1 pm with just about anything. The big machinery sells at 5pm. I have seen this sale go past midnight many times with as many as 6 auctioneers going at 1 time.

 

[Bill G]

We butchered our meat birds on Oct 22nd. There was 135 of them and it took 6 hours, then we had a nice family cook out. ( not chicken) all 3 of my daughters and their husbands and kids showed up along with my brother and a few friends. It’s like an assembly line and works pretty good. The birds were 10 weeks old and averaged 4.5 pounds a piece. Every family took home at least 15 birds. All were processed cooled and bagged in shrink bags.
It was a lot of work but was still a good time for all involved.

I have always done our chickens but here the Amish will do the harvesting of my turkeys for $2-3 a bird which is money well spent

 

[wampum]

I have always done our chickens but here the Amish will do the harvesting of my turkeys for $2-3 a bird which is money well spent

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.