"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[mire0042]

finally snapped a somewhat decent pick of my ladies. I also had a question about giving them extra light to help them hopefully start laying soon. At the moment I have a light on a timer set to come on from 5:30- 11:30pm. Should I change this? Or does this even help?

How old are they?

 

[CaptWeirdBeard]

How old are they?

5-6 months

 

[Ron Skekel]

5-6 months

They don't look that old. I let mine have a break but some do use the light. Pam

 

[mire0042]

I found this info on a BYC post and have used it to check my pullets/hens and it has been accurate so far for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lollipop 

I think the closest you`ll get to your goal, besides the hours and hours concept is to determine which hens are actually laying. This isn`t gonna tell you how many eggs or how pretty they are, but the method for determining a laying hen is simple. Pick them off the roost at night one by one. Over the vent are 2 pelvic bones. On a large hen, 3 fingers should be able to fit between those bones on a laying hen. If you can only fit 2 fingers, the hen is not laying. On a bantam, you have to consider the size of the hen and egg.

 

[mire0042]

And my RIR started laying around 5 months. We do have an outside light that shines in their coop some but not enough to make a difference in laying habits.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

How old are the chicks and are you using a heat lamp? I have 3 two week old SLW I want to put their brooder out in the coop too I just haven't figured out exactly how to do that since the brooder is 1 inch too big to fit in the door! I may just make a temporary one in the coop for now.

They are a month old. No heat lamp; they're fully feathered out now. We had to turn our brooder sideways to get it through the door of the coop. I put it up on 4 cement blocks to get it off the ground & the hens do a good job of picking up any feed the chicks spill through the hardware cloth. The coop is closed up at night so all are secure.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

That is what my father did when he had chicks he wanted to integrate into an older flock. He actually had a brooder inside the big coop that he kept the chicks in from the start with hardware cloth on top and one side so the older hens could check out the chicks. When they got old enough he let them out of brooder into coop. No big fights, just normal pecking order activity. Course he didn't have a roo until those chicks also, so no older rooster to fight with also.

Yes, I think this will work out nicely. I only have the four hens & no roo (hopefully one of the RIR chicks is one - I really liked my roo that I lost). They all seem to be getting along fine - no pecking through the hardware cloth or anything.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

5-6 months

They're pretty! I don't use a light. I let them have a break from laying.

 

[lakones]

I've been away for a while so I've got some reading/catching up to do...looks like everyone has been busy!!!

Does anyone know where I could get some roosters processed? Business or individual? I have 11 extra Roos and have not been able to sell any of them. I've had a couple of offers to help me do it, but I have no experience with it and trying to do 11 the first time seems like a bit more than I'm ready for.
Thanks for any info.

When I have more time I will update on coop/pens/birds/etc...

 

[Cody A]

^ Wish I could help you out Lakones. Ruston is a bit far from Zachary though. It's really not hard to do. If you skin them instead of scalding and plucking it would be easier and a lot quicker. It may be your best bet the first time around. If you have someone offering help you could try scalding and plucking the first one and then move to skinning them if you wanted. I have a plucker and use a crawfish pot and propane burner. You want the scald water at about 140-150 no cooler no hotter. Depending on the breed it takes about 20 seconds in the scald water agitating them up and down to be sure the water is making good contact with the skin. Put Dawn dish soap in the scald water. It helps with cutting the oils on the feathers and breaks the bond to allow the water to make better contact with the skin. Once you have them skinned/plucked the eviscerating is the easy part and goes fast once you get the hang of it. There's some good vids on youtube that show the process.

You could just pick one out to learn by and then decide if you want to carry on with the rest of them. It's one of those things you just jump in and go for it.