Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat

[7 Biddies]

Yeah, I don't remind my husband how much cash goes into our free range organic birds. If he did the math..... Thankfully he doesn't.

Thank heaven mine have started to lay again after molting. I was starting to consider making lots of soup because feeding chickens is expensive enough. But, when they don't return the favor with eggs, well ..... something's gotta give.

 

[Dreyadin]

It's $4 a pound for pastured chickens here.

 

[sepaditty1]

I've got 14 birds and right now I'm only getting 1 egg a day. If they don't shape up, we'll find out quick how much better fresh chicken tastes.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have about 15 lay hens 10 months old and getting 7-9 eggs a day, 30 degrees in the day, but I have heat lamps and light bulbs.

 

[ghostwolf211]

I have 6 hens that are about 10 months old...I get between 4 and 6 eggs a day with no light or heat in the coop

 

[ronott1]

I have 6 hens that are about 10 months old...I get between 4 and 6 eggs a day with no light or heat in the coop

If the chicks are hatched at the correct time and they start laying in the Fall, they will usually keep laying eggs through the first winter without molting. They will molt for the first adult molt in their second Fall, when they are 1.5 years old.

Sadly, many will cull them then when there would be plenty of eggs in the Spring from them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have 6 hens that are about 10 months old...I get between 4 and 6 eggs a day with no light or heat in the coop

That always happens during the first year.
Each subsequent year will be a different story.
As Ron said, don't discard them when they quit next year. When days get longer, all of a sudden they'll start laying like mad again.

I think some people think of chickens as egg machines. Understanding the biology and metabolic processes is important. That autumn and early/mid winter break is really important for the well being of the hen. Right now my oldest hens are only about 5 years old. One is a Jaerhon that got chewed up by a raccoon this summer. After recovering, she laid eggs for about 2 months and now she just started molting. I know that come February or March she'll kick in again.
My Jaers usually molted in Dec/Jan, I guess, heralding from Norway, they probably think a Missouri winter is for wimps.

 

[ghostwolf211]

Yeah I have every intention to allow nature to keep it's course by not putting any lighting in the coop...I live in the Pocono's and come Jan. and Feb. we can get some pretty brutally cold nights....I'm not going to put heat in the coops because i'm scared to death we would lose power and I would lose my chickens

 

[7 Biddies]

Yeah I have every intention to allow nature to keep it's course by not putting any lighting in the coop...I live in the Pocono's and come Jan. and Feb. we can get some pretty brutally cold nights....I'm not going to put heat in the coops because i'm scared to death we would lose power and I would lose my chickens

I have a heat lamp in my hen house when the nights get down below freezing. Otherwise, I don't. I let mother nature take her course as far as light and laying go. I figure she knows more about what chickens need than I do.

 

[Kiniska]

I haven't put a heat lamp in with mine. They do not seem the least affected by the cold even on the 12 degree nights. I have heard so many horror stories about heat lamps, not just burning down coops but causing condensation and exaserbating frost bite that I figure it isn't worth the risk. Still everyone's set up is different, that is probably why there are so many spirited suggestions on how to do things. None of my farmer nieghbors have ever placed heat lamps on their adults. I am just a city transplant.