What did you do in the garden today?

[pennyJo1960]

This is the first year I have had no eggs, last few it went down a bit ..
I do want to warn any who make the soup recipe I posted if you use milk and let is stew on low heat for any length the milk will break

 

[Acre4Me]

@Acre4Me I may consider supplementing light. They are still pullets so I'm not sure how bad it will get over the winter, we'll see. Thanks for sharing your experience.

We also only had pullets last winter. We have heritage type breeds that are in the 4-5 eggs per week category. I was surprised that they actually started to dwindle in their egg production about this time last year...diminishing light, I guess. We happened to add electric to the coop - it was an add-on to the re-wire of the barn...thanks to irritating mice with teeth and previous owners that left candy in the barn... So we added light and a timer in the coop and within about 2 weeks were getting some more eggs. They never really got back up to all laying 4-5 per week, though, but at least we had eggs until the dark and dreary, very cloudy Feb rolled around.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have a few new that may lay yet just nat laying money on it or maybe we are buying eggs like 24 ever two weeks

 

[Sueby]

We ran electric to the coop to heat the water so adding light would be no big deal. Do you use a regular bulb or something else? You use it in the am or pm?

 

[igorsMistress]

Hi gardeners!

Garden isn't very exciting this time of year, got 3 tomato vines left and 2 boxes of green ones in the house that are still turning. My lettuce isn't getting very big very quickly! I'm going to cover it when need be, try and keep it going as long as possible.

Even the chickens aren't doing much, I'm down to 3 eggs a day. I told dh that we need more chickens. Seems like such a waste to have them but still having to buy eggs. I just wish i had a good way to add more. I wish i had known more about chickens and gotten a breed that would go broody.

@karenerwin good news about your Mom!

Do you give eggs away when you have a lot? I used to, but I'm freezing them for baking in Winter so I can save any fresh we get for eating scrambled etc. I ended up with a shortage of eggs last year. Plus, everyone loves fresh eggs if they're free but ask them to contribute to the feed bill and they balk

 

[Acre4Me]

We ran electric to the coop to heat the water so adding light would be no big deal. Do you use a regular bulb or something else? You use it in the am or pm?

One regular bulb. Last year we did light in the morning, then some in the evening. Currently we only have it on in the early morning, it turns off around 9am, and then they go to roost at sunset.

 

[Acre4Me]

Do you give eggs away when you have a lot? I used to, but I'm freezing them for baking in Winter so I can save any fresh we get for eating scrambled etc. I ended up with a shortage of eggs last year. Plus, everyone loves fresh eggs if they're free but ask them to contribute to the feed bill and they balk

Oh yeah ...everyone likes them free! I give them to people who’ve helped us out...like the family who picks up or drops off my kid to an activity, or the friend who has helped us out in a project!

 

[igorsMistress]

Hello gardeners. I saw something green when I watered this morning but didn't have time to stop and look at what it is...could be a weed.
Have a great evening

 

[WthrLady]

Hi gardeners!

Garden isn't very exciting this time of year, got 3 tomato vines left and 2 boxes of green ones in the house that are still turning. My lettuce isn't getting very big very quickly! I'm going to cover it when need be, try and keep it going as long as possible.

Even the chickens aren't doing much, I'm down to 3 eggs a day. I told dh that we need more chickens. Seems like such a waste to have them but still having to buy eggs. I just wish i had a good way to add more. I wish i had known more about chickens and gotten a breed that would go broody.

@karenerwin good news about your Mom!

OH good lord. You want to borrow some of my broodies? My light sussex never STOPS being broody in the summer. She's a pain in the butt!

 

[WthrLady]

We ran electric to the coop to heat the water so adding light would be no big deal. Do you use a regular bulb or something else? You use it in the am or pm?

I use a LED bulb, as many lumens as I can find and on the daylight white end of the spectrum. I split the hours on the timer so that they get up a little earlier in the morning but have more light time in the evening to equal at least 13 hours of light per day, when i did add light. So one hour prior to sunrise, plus daytime, plus what ever amount of time in the evening you need to add to = 13+ hours. I don't do it anymore. They deserve the rest, at least here. When I had feed them extra instead of free-range to increase nutrition for egg production in winter, it was more than eggs would cost me. So we take the winter break, and so do my customers. I have 24 layers and am only getting 3 eggs a day now.