List of egglaying factors

[BullChick]

Quote:

Sort of off topic but it's come up so though that I'd mention that I personally don't mess with the light or do anything else that forces laying since in the end you will get the same number of eggs over a longer period with a natural light cycle.

I asked here on BYC about the effect of supplemental winter light on egg laying before our chicks arrived. Specifically:
- Did is stress the birds to lay all year? Want eggs, don't want stressed chickens!
- Whether it stressed them or not, does it mean they will lay eggs for a fewer number of years?

The answers I got were:
- No
- They, like humans, have as many eggs (more than they will ever lay) from the get go. They will slow down and stop laying based on age, not the number of eggs laid.

You are probably familiar with the show "18 and Counting" The body can make baby after baby. The problem is that without SOME time off now and then, the body WILL suffer.
In English, you can have your hens lay through the winter with artificial light, but it is not suggested to do it year after year. Molting is natural, and allows the hen to store back up her calcium among other things. If a new layer doesn't molt, her eggs don't get bigger. If a hen doesn't get her calcium back, she gets weak bones.
I will use artificial light for part of the winter, but stop come January or February to give everyone the break they need. Vacation time, if you will.
Someone mentioned the three finger trick to see who is laying. Like a woman, a hen's hips spread. Place your hand on her bottom. If you can place two fingers between her hip bones, she is not laying. 3 fingers in between means she has spread to allow eggs to pass through.

 

[michellekelly10]

1 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar per 1 gallon of water. Also give your chickens treats such at fresh red cabbage or crickets. I treat my chickens for good egg laying and good behavior!!!

 

[ChickInDelight]

I am new to chickens.

My oldest girls are only a year and a half old, and have always laid well. Mine free-range, and I feed Purina Flockraiser Pellets for the chickens and the ducks. The egg shells do look grainy / less -perfectly shaped in extreme heat.

I do, however, still feed table scraps to my flock. I feed everything but chicken. I also crush their egg shells and feed them back as well. We don't count calories, because my girls hunt bugs for many hours each morning and evening, covering several acres of land.

My chickens are really, really happy. They have a diverse world since I live on the farm. I like the idea of roosts, and potted plants, and dust pans for bathing. I also have a hose that mists water in the heat. Absolutely - enjoy them, talk to them, show them luv.

I do have Xmas lights inside the night house, and I am afraid to turn them off because I believe they ward off predators.

 

[outdoorsii]

I am new to chickens.

My oldest girls are only a year and a half old, and have always laid well. Mine free-range, and I feed Purina Flockraiser Pellets for the chickens and the ducks. The egg shells do look grainy / less -perfectly shaped in extreme heat.

I do, however, still feed table scraps to my flock. I feed everything but chicken. I also crush their egg shells and feed them back as well. We don't count calories, because my girls hunt bugs for many hours each morning and evening, covering several acres of land.

My chickens are really, really happy. They have a diverse world since I live on the farm. I like the idea of roosts, and potted plants, and dust pans for bathing. I also have a hose that mists water in the heat. Absolutely - enjoy them, talk to them, show them luv.

I do have Xmas lights inside the night house, and I am afraid to turn them off because I believe they ward off predators.

Is it bad to feed your chicken - chicken? lol grilled chicken leftovers? lol

 

[popsicle]

OK, I find this confusing because:
I stopped at the farm and garden store yesterday to get another 50# bag of grower feed, the 2 month old girls are almost out of the first one.

The girl at the counter said "crumbles?" and I said "no, pellets". So she rings me up and the guy who is going to get the bag happens by just then and says "crumbles?" and I say "no, pellets". He looks at the slip (which I've not seen) and says something about turkey pellets. I say "no, they are chickens". He says I want crumbles, I say the last bag was small pellets. He then educated me on terminology:
Pellets are, well, pellets
Crumbles are pellets broken in half (and a tad cheaper which I don't understand)
Chick starter crumbles are pellets (different formula of course) really broken up.

So I don't see how crumbles (i.e. half pellets) can be separated into "I like this and I don't like that" bits any differently than could happen with pellets. I've not noticed any separation into "determinable bits".

If it makes any difference, I'm buying Poulin Feeds - local Vermont feed company, family owned (not MY family

) in business since 1932. I prefer to support VT families and businesses rather than the conglomerates like Purina.

The different brands have different products, so there is a chance your feed store has a different line-up than other feed stores. It is entirely possible that the market your feed store serves overwhelmingly sells crumbles for chickens and pellets for turkeys so that's all they carry. My feed store has poultry layer pellets and crumbles, along with "all flock" pellets, gamebird rations and turkey rations.

With the pellets we buy (Payback), I can look at an individual pellet and see bits of corn and other ingredients. As those pellets are broken apart some of those ingredients are separated out and the chickens can discriminate against the bits of corn vs the other bits (the bottom of pellet bags have tiny bits of corn etc. but far less than the bags of crumbles).

However, there is a good chance that I really am thinking the difference between mash and pellets, and that pellets are preferred over crumbles because there tends to be much less waste (and spillage into bedding can still be found and eaten).

Some peer-reviewed abstracts regarding pelleted, crumbles and mash:
regarding broilers: http://ps.fass.org/content/65/3/594.short
Apparent feed particle size preference by laying hens: http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/abs/10.4141/cjas88-101
--looks like the birds prefer the larger pellets, and ignore the tiny bits. This I have certainly found to be true when feeding crumbles, the feeders are left with all the tiny stuff and the birds pick out all the big stuff. I can't tell you if the ratio of ingredients in the leftover "dust" is the same or different than the larger bits and if it makes any difference. It probably isn't that big of a deal otherwise they wouldn't make crumbles.

 

[Poetical Peeps]

Is it bad to feed your chicken - chicken? lol grilled chicken leftovers? lol

It's illegal, actually.

 

[popsicle]

Most people would say that it is ethically wrong to feed chicken to a chicken. Most people would say purposefully feeding any livestock a cannibalistic diet is ethically wrong.

 

[RockerHen]

:I'm sure the person who asked isn't making a diet for their birds solely out of chicken. I don't see any problem with just giving them scraps even if they happen to include chicken. Chickens don't really understand ethics lol. I've had roosters try to mate with dead hens. I've had hens kill and eat their chicks. If a chicken is bleeding the others will peck at the wound. It's not illegal in the US to feed chickens chicken. It's discouraged, because it can affect the flavor of meat birds, but not illegal. There's a whole thread about it lol https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/450600/do-you-feed-your-chickens-meat-like-chicken/10

 

[CarolynF]

So here's a thought about using lights in the coop at night. Near the equator they get the same number of daylight hours per day All Year Long. In Hawaii the length of daylight changes very little from summer to winter. Are we going to tell those folks to artificially alter the chickens environment to have long days and short days? Probably not.

Someone mentioned that chicks and other baby animals born in the winter have less chance of surviving so the animal naturally avoid it. But.... that's only in the cold-winter areas of the world. Warm-winter areas aren't that way.

Is it possible.... just maybe... that we're over thinking some of this stuff?.

Just my opinion. I'll be quiet now.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Quote: lol! Nonsense.
Chickens are scavengers. I feed them chicken all the time. Only when we try to impose our own morels on a chicken does it seem weird.
Consider this...
If cows or horses were locked in a pen and one died... the rest of the animals would starve to death before they ate it. Cows and horses will only eat cow or horse if they are tricked into it by the meat being disguised as grain or other feed.
If a chicken dies...the others will eat it before it hits the ground. lol They are scavengers... they are on this earth to keep the planet clean. They crave protein. Chickens eat chicken in the wild.


Just a side note about the Hawaii-light thing. Believe it or not my hens actually do nearly stop laying December-February. There is a 10 to 20 temp difference from summer to winter but I guess there is just enough light difference for them to notice and they decide to take a break. lol