Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!

[Yowza Wowza]

Could you raise quail on a porch?

Maybe if I find somewhere that allows that. My HOA now wouldn’t like that.

 

[Eelantha]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

Hello! Sorry for the very long wait after reaching out to me in a PM, I was very busy and kind of went radio-silent, lol.

Where to start? My favorite hobby was to note down the days on which my hens laid eggs, and I accumulated 5 years' worth of data this way. I learned so much from doing this - when my hens laid eggs, when they brooded, when they paused to molt, and when they took their winter breaks. But even more revealing, my whole flock showed me I was wrong about what stimulated a chicken to lay eggs as the years passed by.

Usually, hens need a certain amount of daylight hours to lay eggs in wintertime. They also need layer feed to produce optimally. But I fed my hens on grower feed (to prevent kidney stones in my rooster), and the chicken coop was in a shady corner of the backward, so my hens had reduced access to sunlight. Despite these two drawbacks, my hens produced well and, as it turns out, laid eggs in wintertime.

They key to that success? The heat.

My chicken coop had a heater that kept its temperature at 10 °C. And that's just enough heat to get my girls laying in early January, despite them going outside in their shaded and sheltered winter enclosure to breath some fresh air. Their winter break shifted from December-January-February to October-November-December, effectively becoming an autumn break.

This change happened on their second year & laying cycle going forward, which also coincided with when I'd start up the heater, and was heavily influenced by the months of December and January. If the season's temperature was warmer than normal, my winter layers would start laying as soon as mid-December. But, if the season's temperature was colder than normal, my hens wouldn't start laying until the last days of January. That's 40 days of egg production held back because of temperature variations!

In either cases, they would lay all the way to March-April before pausing for their spring molt - or to brood. Then my summer layers would take over from March to June before pausing to molt too. After that, July and August were intermingled with laying and brooding hens, with everyone slowing down in September and October to stop completely by October and November. The autumn break period varied along with how cold the fall season turned out to be each year, and the heater's apparition.

I had two Ameraucana-looking Easter Eggers, a Buff Sussex cross, two Legbars, a Welsummer and a Barred Plymouth. They all followed the same laying cycle shift despite being of different races. It's thanks to Missy, my Plymouth, that I made this discovery. RIP my whole flock, who brought so much life, joy and food in my life! You were all awesome girls!

I look forward to discovering more things about chickens with a new flock in the future. BYC has been incredibly helpful (and a lifesaver) while I learned my way around being a chicken owner. I might no longer roam this site as much as I used to, but it'll always be my #1 place to come chat and look up stuff for backyard animals. Thank you so much for creating this wonderful place, and may it last for decades yet to help young and old people learn and share their joy of caring for animals!

 

[afrowoman]

Hi everyone

 

[ronott1]

Hello! Sorry for the very long wait after reaching out to me in a PM, I was very busy and kind of went radio-silent, lol.

Where to start? My favorite hobby was to note down the days on which my hens laid eggs, and I accumulated 5 years' worth of data this way. I learned so much from doing this - when my hens laid eggs, when they brooded, when they paused to molt, and when they took their winter breaks. But even more revealing, my whole flock showed me I was wrong about what stimulated a chicken to lay eggs as the years passed by.

Usually, hens need a certain amount of daylight hours to lay eggs in wintertime. They also need layer feed to produce optimally. But I fed my hens on grower feed (to prevent kidney stones in my rooster), and the chicken coop was in a shady corner of the backward, so my hens had reduced access to sunlight. Despite these two drawbacks, my hens produced well and, as it turns out, laid eggs in wintertime.

They key to that success? The heat.

My chicken coop had a heater that kept its temperature at 10 °C. And that's just enough heat to get my girls laying in early January, despite them going outside in their shaded and sheltered winter enclosure to breath some fresh air. Their winter break shifted from December-January-February to October-November-December, effectively becoming an autumn break.

This change happened on their second year & laying cycle going forward, which also coincided with when I'd start up the heater, and was heavily influenced by the months of December and January. If the season's temperature was warmer than normal, my winter layers would start laying as soon as mid-December. But, if the season's temperature was colder than normal, my hens wouldn't start laying until the last days of January. That's 40 days of egg production held back because of temperature variations!

In either cases, they would lay all the way to March-April before pausing for their spring molt - or to brood. Then my summer layers would take over from March to June before pausing to molt too. After that, July and August were intermingled with laying and brooding hens, with everyone slowing down in September and October to stop completely by October and November. The autumn break period varied along with how cold the fall season turned out to be each year, and the heater's apparition.

I had two Ameraucana-looking Easter Eggers, a Buff Sussex cross, two Legbars, a Welsummer and a Barred Plymouth. They all followed the same laying cycle shift despite being of different races. It's thanks to Missy, my Plymouth, that I made this discovery. RIP my whole flock, who brought so much life, joy and food in my life! You were all awesome girls!

I look forward to discovering more things about chickens with a new flock in the future. BYC has been incredibly helpful (and a lifesaver) while I learned my way around being a chicken owner. I might no longer roam this site as much as I used to, but it'll always be my #1 place to come chat and look up stuff for backyard animals. Thank you so much for creating this wonderful place, and may it last for decades yet to help young and old people learn and share their joy of caring for animals!

Thank you for sharing what you learned about egg laying!

Have you considered wring an article in the learning Center?

 

[ronott1]

Hi everyone

 

[Eelantha]

Thank you for sharing what you learned about egg laying!

Have you considered wring an article in the learning Center?

Not right now as my life is very busy, but eventually? Yeah, I could try, though the bulk of my information (the facts and interesting bits) is already written above. There's not much else to show outside of the paper sheets I used to note down when my hens laid eggs. They don't all have perfect data as I sometimes forgot to note down the days or went away and came back to an unknown number of eggs eaten by the house roommate, who didn't bother to scribble down the egg color for me to adjust tallies. But if people want to see the egg-laying sheets to see how I did things, then sure, I can try and make an article around that

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

Gosh , time flies! Just checking in and getting a peep at what's going on in the chicken world while I decide to get more chicks this spring or wait until fall. I'm still kicking so that's a plus. May God bless you all!

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

I have been out of touch on the site, but have been reading posts on FB. I have a new batch of chicks arriving on Wed. I currently still have ten ladies keeping me company in my new challenge of retirement.

 

[Tampicoguy]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

I have been involved w/ poultry for close to 30 yrs ... .25 consecutively. I raise Dewlap Toulouse SQ .... championship bloodlines. HOLDERREAD stock & others. I raise guineas in 2 rare colors; Violet & Sky Blue I also raise AmGamefowl in Law Grey bloodlines.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I have been involved w/ poultry for close to 30 yrs ... .25 consecutively. I raise Dewlap Toulouse SQ .... championship bloodlines. HOLDERREAD stock & others. I raise guineas in 2 rare colors; Violet & Sky Blue I also raise AmGamefowl in Law Grey bloodlines.

Welcome back! Very beautiful birds you have there. Impressive too.