Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Just to share the various supplements we've just introduced (fingers crossed they work and then we can all happily reference later for all posterity)

To add into waterer #1...oregano elixir View attachment 2746110


To add into waterer #2...apple cider vinegar:

View attachment 2746120


To sprinkle where they range(calcium, vitamins A D and E)...View attachment 2746108



To add to layer pellets in feeder (kelp for probiotics and vitamins)..View attachment 2746109


And of course oyster shell...(which the flipping birds have had free access to ever since laying but apparently don't like to use a feeder for so now I have to toss on the ground because THAT makes it more interesting ) View attachment 2746121

You are all in! I like it.

 

[Lady Red]

You are all in! I like it.

I'm an all or nothing kind of gal. Makes my family crazy.

 

[BY Bob]

Just a sort of related side note on this - in reading about heat stress and what can be done for chickens, I read how restricting feed during the day when it is hot is a strategy among others, because it keeps their metabolism lower during the hottest part of the day. Then, to avoid or lessen weight loss, provide feed (this is for an agricultural, mass chicken farm setting it seemed - they wrote something like "lower the feed trays") late in the day BUT also keep the lights on longer, so that they will eat longer, and then metabolize it at night when it is cooler.

When we had our recent heat wave, mine did not eat in the hottest part of the day all on their own. The dug holes and laid in them. They would get up and drink and groom but no real eating during the middle of the day. They ate in the morning and at dusk. (And Hattie would eat at night)

 

[BY Bob]

Lol...I wish temperature wasn't a determining factor for ME!

Tax... a soggy WhipView attachment 2746104

Whip has great color!

 

[RoyalChick]

Well yes humans have breed them to lay more eggs than nature intended. However those eggs primarily come from a shorter egg laying cycle not necessarily a longer laying season. Let me explain.

Phyllis has a more natural laying cycle than my other hens. She lays around 5 eggs a week in the depth of summer. This is because it takes about 31 hours for Phyllis to make an egg. So if she laid at 7:00 am on Monday, she would then lay at 2:00 pm on Tuesday and right around dusk on Wednesday in the depths of summer. She might skip the 9:00 pm lay and then lay when sun came up the next day.

The breeding enhancements humans made shortened their laying cycle. We all know leghorns have been breed to be egg machines. Daisy, the Greatest Hen Ever, laid 360 eggs in 365 days. It took her just and I mean just over 24 hours to make an egg.

Giving Daisy a week off from laying an egg by keeping her in the dark would not have stopped her from laying herself to death. The eggs you need to stop occur every week. By forcing them to lay almost every day the reproductive system doesn't get the downtime that Phyllis' does.

I get that (I think) but if a laying machine hen takes a few days off in the winter doesn't that rest the system a bit? And by extension if you could get them to take a few days off in summer wouldn't that also help?
That is the reason I was thinking about black out shades for all of them - to persuade them to take a break in the summer.

 

[BY Bob]

I get that (I think) but if a laying machine hen takes a few days off in the winter doesn't that rest the system a bit? And by extension if you could get them to take a few days off in summer wouldn't that also help?
That is the reason I was thinking about black out shades for all of them - to persuade them to take a break in the summer.

I am concerned that starting and stopping the machine that is working risks breaking it. If it is not working right, then sure, try and reboot it.

The eggs you need to stop are the 6th and 7th eggs that week.

As an extreme it seems that Naenae is laying 2 eggs/day. That to me would recommend intervention.

In the 2 subsequent winters to her 360 egg year, Daisy took the winter off. It did not save her. When laying she still laid every day. I believe that Tsuki took the winters off, is that right @Aussie-Chookmum? How long was her egg cycle?

 

[featherhead007]

I've read something similar too... not sure how to effectively restrict food aside from pulling up the feeder. They forage all day...

Hey, I forage all day too! Kidding.

 

[BY Bob]

Hey, I forage all day too! Kidding.

Perhaps we should pull your food in heat of the day?

 

[RoyalChick]

I am concerned that starting and stopping the machine that is working risks breaking it. If it is not working right, then sure, try and reboot it.

The eggs you need to stop are the 6th and 7th eggs that week.

As an extreme it seems that Naenae is laying 2 eggs/day. That to me would recommend intervention.

In the 2 subsequent winters to her 360 egg year, Daisy took the winter off. It did not save her. When laying she still laid every day. I believe that Tsuki took the winters off, is that right @Aussie-Chookmum? How long was her egg cycle?

I am going to relocate my coop cam tomorrow so I can properly monitor nest boxes.
I don't know how long each of their egg cycles are. Both Diana and Elizabeth have real shell issues. Diana who had the no-shell egg fall apart inside her seems to be laying eggs with shells but thin shells. Elizabeth however is laying eggs with shells so thin they break if you just look at them.
They both seem to love the Kefir which is high calcium in its own right and I am adding calcium to it.
So far Maggie's eggs are normal and don't come every day. And of course the roadrunners are young and lay a few days a week.

 

[featherhead007]

I'm an all or nothing kind of gal. Makes my family crazy.

You are a Red Head. (Just saying)

I get that (I think) but if a laying machine hen takes a few days off in the winter doesn't that rest the system a bit? And by extension if you could get them to take a few days off in summer wouldn't that also help?
That is the reason I was thinking about black out shades for all of them - to persuade them to take a break in the summer.

Sure, but them all sunglasses