Basic egg laying question

[TimF]

Don't get so many hens,you can figure on an egg everyday to every other day,so figure on how many eggs you will use for personal use and go from there

 

[ChicFil- A]

In the beginning, raising chickens for eggs can be more expensive, so I definitely recommend watching/researching ways to save when you have chickens! HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO SAVE! There's certain chicken breeds that will lay less eggs a year than some, but not any that will not lay for a few days. Some chickens will stop laying because of an environmental change or stress.. So you might get lots of eggs one day and not get any the next. REASONS WHY CHICKENS AREN'T LAYING EGGS! Geese lay every 2 days if you're interested in something like that? They do lay larger eggs, though. You can also have less chickens if you don't want many eggs if that's easier. You can preserve eggs besides refrigerating them by:
- Freezing them
- Dehydrating them
- Freeze drying them
- Water glassing them
However, eggs can last a while in the fridge or unwashed and on the counter!
CLICK ME TO READ MORE ABOUT WASHED VS UNWASHED EGGS!


* Hope this helps! Also, the words that are in a brown-orange color and/or capitalized have a link attached to them.

Very informative and helpful Thank you.

 

[Andypandy]

Hi everyone,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this or not, but I have a very simple question about egg laying in chickens. I am working on planning out my flock for when I start raising chickens again. I haven’t raised chickens in a while, but I’m going to start up again, with egg prices the way they are. I figured it would be cheaper.

A little background, last time I raised chickens, I had 10 golden sex links. I had way too many eggs, and had to give most away. I was getting about 9 to 10 eggs a day.

Here’s my question, are there certain breeds of chickens that lay eggs slower, like once every 2 to 3 days? I don’t want to get overwhelmed with eggs like last time.

If that is not possible, how do I preserve eggs and what I do with all the eggs I get?

If you need more details, I will post them. I haven’t built the run or the coop yet. I’m just in the planning stages.

Any help figuring this out will be appreciated.

Jared

Get less chooks

 

[Andypandy]

Get less chooks

 

[NatJ]

Here’s my question, are there certain breeds of chickens that lay eggs slower, like once every 2 to 3 days? I don’t want to get overwhelmed with eggs like last time.

Many websites (including hatcheries) like to list egg production as eggs per week.
But I find that real chickens do not lay their eggs evenly through the year.
For example, I had a bantam hen that laid 13 eggs in 13 days, then went broody, hatched eggs, and raised chicks. Then she did it again. She laid 6-7 eggs per week for brief stretches, and 0 eggs per week for longer times. She never laid at a steady rate of 1 or 2 eggs per week.

The hens who lay the fewest eggs seem to be the ones most likely to lay in clumps between stretches of broodiness, or to take the winter off and only lay during the summer.

For a steady supply of eggs, I would suggest a small number of good layers, and artificial lighting in the winter. They will stop laying while they molt in the fall, but should otherwise lay for most of the year.

If that is not possible, how do I preserve eggs and what I do with all the eggs I get?

If you put the eggs in a carton in the refrigerator, they keep for quite a while. Just rotate the cartons to use the oldest ones first. I don't know how long they can keep, but I've never actually found a bad egg in a carton of refrigerated eggs, no matter how long I kept them.

One way I like to "preserve" eggs is to make things that use eggs, and freeze them to eat later. Things like waffles and cookies seem to freeze well. Raw cookie dough also freezes well.

Of course it helps if you cook all your favorite egg dishes while the chickens are laying really well in spring and summer, and then catch up on the less-eggy foods when the hens slow down.

You can also sell or give away excess eggs, or you can cook them and feed them back to the chickens.

 

[Sussex19]

When I get to many eggs, I hard-boil them, and then mash them up and feed them back to the chickens.
Helps cut down on feed costs a little a bit.
I have found that my show bred Orpington lays an egg every day for around two weeks in spring, and then pretty much doesn't lay at all for the rest of the year.
So that doesn't really help.
Just going without production breeds is the best you can do IMO.

 

[thlayli]

You could always look around for some spent hens. That's the term people use when their hens are older and they've slowed down laying. Sometimes they don't want to cull the bird but they also don't want to keep feeding her since she doesn't produce anymore. My mom got a pair of spent hens that stilled laid eggs a few times a week.

 

[dirkandlorie]

I did!? COOL. Let me know if you want my Taco Egg Bake recipe!

Please share that recipe!

 

[ChicFil- A]

Instead of feeding a larger number of lower production hens, wouldn't it be less expensive to feed a smaller number of good production hens?

Chicken math application

 

[Silkie2299781]

Hi everyone,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this or not, but I have a very simple question about egg laying in chickens. I am working on planning out my flock for when I start raising chickens again. I haven’t raised chickens in a while, but I’m going to start up again, with egg prices the way they are. I figured it would be cheaper.

A little background, last time I raised chickens, I had 10 golden sex links. I had way too many eggs, and had to give most away. I was getting about 9 to 10 eggs a day.

Here’s my question, are there certain breeds of chickens that lay eggs slower, like once every 2 to 3 days? I don’t want to get overwhelmed with eggs like last time.

If that is not possible, how do I preserve eggs and what I do with all the eggs I get?

If you need more details, I will post them. I haven’t built the run or the coop yet. I’m just in the planning stages.

Any help figuring this out will be appreciated.

Jared

Barred rocks lay every 1-2 days, so if you get a few of those, you won't get as many. Cochins lay 2-3 a week, but they start laying much later in life (8+ months).

Hope this helps!