Dark Egg Breeds Thread

[drom]

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what, lights to keep the hens laying when days are short? No, I don't. I'm not quite sure why any one does that frankly, with the exception of commercial operations.

I hope mine take a nice long break and lay dark in Jan/Feb.

I haven't gotten any weird sports yet. Just a couple Wheatens-not unexpected. I haven't hatched a ton however. I have a bunch of roosters and would like to hatch several batches this spring from different sires in different generations and see what I get in terms of egg color from the offspring pullets.I have too many choices and I don't know which roosters have the best genes for dark eggs.

I expect that hatching a lot will reveal more about this flock in general. I just never know what to do with the little cockerels. This spring, they will have somewhere to go as chicks or I'm not hatching anything.

 

[math ace]

I use lights - - -

My birds take a nice long break from laying during the extreme summer heat.
I don't need them taking another break once the milder temps of winter come around.

 

[geebs]

I get it... I eat eggs... that is my primary reason for lights.. A family of 5 and we like the flavor of the eggs... It is a great way to get the Omega 3's in with the pastured poultry....I let em rest in the spring...They have done fine...I have done it for years but I make sure that the feed is sufficient to keep them warm and take care of them during their molt.. etc... Never had sick birds from winter laying.... I use Resolutions tips for feeding.. that is a big difference in the last year as far as how many eggs I get and such...Not as much poo. Well I hope you have a great time at the gym... get those endorphines pumping... Love your page!!!

 

[drom]

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Thanks Geebs, you too.

You just reminded me, I need to find Resolution's post on nutrition and post the link. I need to read it myself again too.

 

[drom]

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Yes, well I know there are good reasons why people choose to use lights, I wasn't quite sure what all of them are.

Climate in Florida I guess really is a little different. Except that where I am in California, the summer really is the most severe weather. It's a different kind of hot than Florida, but still hard for the birds.

 

[geebs]

Ya in Oregon if it gets over 100 for more than 10 days a year we are really complaining... Last summer wasnt' a summer at all... about 8 weeks of it is all..So not fair... Our birds didn't molt until July....no ones... my birds looked pretty impressive....NOT!!!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
Yes, well I know there are good reasons why people choose to use lights, I wasn't quite sure what all of them are.

Climate in Florida I guess really is a little different. Except that where I am in California, the summer really is the most severe weather. It's a different kind of hot than Florida, but still hard for the birds.

It depends on where in Ca.
If you are in southern Ca., then I would think you experience MONTHS and MONTHS of HOT temps 90 - 100 plus in temps.
We were so hot and so dry for so lonnngg this year. There were many breeders who were losing birds on a regular basis.
I didn't lose any, but my birds were difinitely struggling with the heat.

Needless to say, I am not hesitating to plugging in the lights to motivate the girls into laying during these cooler months.

Only problem I have to solve is that when the lights come on in the coop in the mornings, the girls think it is time to wake up and leave. Then they go out and hang outside in the DARK for a couple of hours

So, I have to do some improvement on my system because they are bypassing the additional lighting in their own "bird brain" way!

 

[geebs]

Okay... solution...leave em on longer at night... he he...That's what I do.. only light at night till midnight and then they go off.....

 

[Medicine Man]

So many's knee-jerk reacton is "no lights" "lights are evil" "lights are for industrial farms", but lights don't have to be done in a bad way and of the things we read here, there are much worse things going on commonly. Take industrial feed...

They can still take a nice Winter holiday, but they need to pay for themselves as well. Lights are approved by humane certifiers while so many other things in common usage are not and here we see birds living overcrowded in poo and molt regularly. See the eggs for sale section.

 

[geebs]

Math Ace... It is funny...I have the coop light on in the afternoon in Wonka and when it gets dark outside they go in the coop.....away from preditors!!! and they sleep anyway... go figure.