Eggs/ hens

[rlbaker27]

This is my first time with chicken's and chicken eggs. I have read a lot of stories on here about the eggs. So, from what I understand I do not wash the eggs when she lays them right? Once she lays them how long are they good for? 1mth? Can someone tell me what's the best way to gather a lot of eggs in a short period of time? What food and etc? Thanks

 

[fisherlady]

Welcome to BYC!!

There are many variables in egg production rates...
generally the biggest factor is the breed of hen. Some breeds lay daily for many days in a row, then take a day off and start over again, and they may lay 300 eggs a year (leghorns and black australorp come to mind) and some only lay eggs every other day or every third day. There is very little you can do to change this part of the equation, unless you are breeding your own birds and systematically pick the best egg layers to be breed stock, but that will take many generations/years before you see a change.

Food should be of decent protein content (I believe most commercially available hen food is 15 or 16% protein) Make sure their food is fresh, the amounts are enough for your flock size and that no one is getting bullied away from the feeder by pushier birds.

Many folks supplement with some type of calcium to make sure egg shells are sturdy, it can be done with ground oyster shells or even ground up egg shells fed back to the birds. If a bird is allowed to free range and has good quality food the oyster shell supplement is probably not needed, but if it is left out the hens can pick for themselves if they want it.

Many hens lay eggs seasonally, they reduce or quit egg production when the amount of sunlight each day gets below their 'threshold'... some folks let them have this seasonal break since it is usually winter and the birds are dealing with harsh temps, some folks add light to the coop to artificially keep the birds laying through the dark season. It is purely a personal choice you will need to make.

Hens usually quit laying when they are molting.. their energy is needed to go toward production of new feathers... this time can be eased some by higher protein food when they are molting, it will help the bird recover quicker and possibly get back to laying a few days sooner.

Broody birds don't lay eggs... if egg production is your goal, and you don't want hens raising chicks instead of laying eggs then pay attention to what breed you choose. A breed known to be broody will often have at least one time a year where she quits laying eggs because she wants to raise babies.... this will remove her from egg production for 2.5 months or more.

 

[teneyck farms]

the chicken can only produce an egg every so often, how ever it takes 16 houres for the egg to be ready to come out of the chicken so if the egg is not ready during daylight then the hen waits till morning to lay the egg, with that being said the feed that you can feed them really doesnt matter what brand it is i feed all my birds puritans pride, and dumor. the easiest way to collect eggs is in a wire or wood basket. i hope this helps good luck

 

[fisherlady]

oops, I missed answering a couple of your other questions...

Cleaning... purely a personal choice. The egg is covered with a thin protection layer referred to as a 'bloom' the egg feels wet when first laid and then it dries and you don't even realize it is there. The 'job' of the bloom, and the shell itself, is to prevent germs/bacteria/general bad stuff from penetrating the rather porous egg shell and doing damage to the egg.
... if you intend to hatch the egg... do not clean off the bloom, just brush off any contaminants you see and leave it as is
...if you are eating them yourself or selling them, it is a personal choice on if you want them 'washed'... do a search on egg washing on BYC here and you will have many informative threads and articles to help you decide what you want to do.

Generally our eggs are good 5 or even 6 weeks, you will notice the quality of the egg white changing most notably over time though, it will become more watery, the yolk may also break easier. I don't sell any eggs older than one week, since most folks then let them sit in a fridge for a few weeks before using them.
I often leave eggs out on the counter for days at a time when I first collect them (though not so much when the weather is hot), again, do a search for refridgerating eggs or 'egg storage' to see many different viewpoints on egg storage.

 

[rlbaker27]

Here are my hen's and roosters.. Can you tell me what kind they are?

 

[fisherlady]

I can't help ID them... but they look nice, and you may want to repost your question about them on another thread, this is in the Recipe area, so may not get much attention.

Under the 'chicken breeds' section there is a sub section called ''what breed or sex is this?" or something similar
to make ID easier get pics from as close as you can and preferably in daylight or other bright light so that the feather detail and color are truer. You would be amazed at how much the shades of reds or other colors can indicate different breeds.

There are also sections in the forum to ask about feeding questions and egging questions.... those areas also get more traffic.

I saw your post right after you put it up, the 10 most recent posts show on the front page, so when I saw it I checked and wanted to answer your questions, it wasn't till later I realized why no one else had answered.

Hopefully a few more folks will chime in with opinions.

 

[fisherlady]

I just want you to get the best responses you can to your questions!! No problem to continue asking here, but the views aren't going to be as good as other places on the site.
We were all new here at some time and it takes a while to get used to navigating the site! If you need help with it just ask away and I will try to help set you in the right direction.