Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

I did the wet linens thing too...worked nicely during the heat.
(Did you have luck too?)

In terms of blacking out light for all of them...I don't know...does outdoor temp impact them too?

Temp is not really a determining factor. Light exposure is.

 

[BY Bob]

Would that work to give everyone an egg-laying break? I am thinking black-out shades in the Chicken Palace. Sounds nuts, but why not really? I already hung damp sheets to cool them down, why not hang shades to block the light.
My skepticism is that they get up very, very early - before the sun is really up at all, and I wouldn't want to block any ventilation so there will be light coming from the soffits for example.
I need to think whether it is practical.

It would. Could you explain why you feel the need to do so to everyone?

I don't really like the idea of messing with nature on a large scale so I'm not certain I'm in favor of doing so. It's one thing to mess with the laying process when it's broken. It is another to do so when it is working fine.

Blacking out the whole flock is kind of the opposite of lighting the coop in the winter to keep them laying. While the opposite in appearance, you are still messing with the natural order of things.

 

[featherhead007]

I personally would only concentrate on the one with the problem, not all of them. .
.
( But every one of my chickens is a problem) !!

 

[RoyalChick]

It would. Could you explain why you feel the need to do so to everyone?

I don't really like the idea of messing with nature on a large scale so I'm not certain I'm in favor of doing so. It's one thing to mess with the laying process when it's broken. It is another to do so when it is working fine.

Blacking out the whole flock is kind of the opposite of lighting the coop in the winter to keep them laying. While the opposite in appearance, you are still messing with the natural order of things.

True.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

It would. Could you explain why you feel the need to do so to everyone?

I don't really like the idea of messing with nature on a large scale so I'm not certain I'm in favor of doing so. It's one thing to mess with the laying process when it's broken. It is another to do so when it is working fine.

Blacking out the whole flock is kind of the opposite of lighting the coop in the winter to keep them laying. While the opposite in appearance, you are still messing with the natural order of things.

Not that I know where I come down on this yet, but as far as messing with Nature, that bridge has been crossed, hasn't it? Restricting light for everyone is the idea of combatting the already messed-with genes that make them lay like crazy and contribute to killing them sooner than their forebears.

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.

 

[Lady Red]

That's a double-yolk probably?

I am sure at least a double, she has done many of those.


I actually am not an egg fan, so unless the rest of my crew is eating them, we just give the eggs away

 

[Lady Red]

Not that I know where I come down on this yet, but as far as messing with Nature, that bridge has been crossed, hasn't it? Restricting light for everyone is the idea of combatting the already messed-with genes that make them lay like crazy and contribute to killing them sooner than their forebears.

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.

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

 

[Lady Red]

Temp is not really a determining factor. Light exposure is.

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

Tax... a soggy Whip

 

[Lady Red]

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

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

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

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

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 )

 

[BY Bob]

Not that I know where I come down on this yet, but as far as messing with Nature, that bridge has been crossed, hasn't it? Restricting light for everyone is the idea of combatting the already messed-with genes that make them lay like crazy and contribute to killing them sooner than their forebears.

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.

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.