Maine

[quailtrail]

I got my final two girls of the season today. They really are araucana, though not sop since they don't have full tufts. The poor babes were definitely bottom of the pecking order as indicated by their missing feathers, but when they grow back out, they'll be beautiful. Now for the beautiful blue eggs...

they r lucky you saved them!!!!

 

[GrafixMuse]

Hi All, I am a new chicken owner from the Gray-New Gloucester area. I have seven 11 week old pullets. Although I recently joined backyardchickens.com, I have "lurked" for a while including reading through this entire thread.

I wanted to thank the people in this thread for mentioning Long Horn Horse & Pet Supply in Buxton. We built our coop in the spring and I wasn't ready for new chicks during the normal "Chick Days." Thankfully, Long Horn has later ordering dates and I was able to order chicks once we were sure the coop would be finished in time. I ordered a nice variety and received healthy chicks that have grown into fine looking pullets. Hopefully, they will begin laying in fall.

With the daylight getting shorter. I was wondering if any of you attempt to keep egg production up?

This UMaine Publication recommends "Keep laying hens on a constant 14 to 16 hour day."

We are getting to the 14 hour daylight time already with today's (August 6, 2013) sunrise at 05:36 and sunset at 19:57, giving us 14:21 hours.

Do you use a light bulb on a timer? If so, do you extend the light in the morning or evening or both? I would love to know your thoughts.

 

[mlowen]

Hi All, I am a new chicken owner from the Gray-New Gloucester area. I have seven 11 week old pullets. Although I recently joined backyardchickens.com, I have "lurked" for a while including reading through this entire thread.

I wanted to thank the people in this thread for mentioning Long Horn Horse & Pet Supply in Buxton. We built our coop in the spring and I wasn't ready for new chicks during the normal "Chick Days." Thankfully, Long Horn has later ordering dates and I was able to order chicks once we were sure the coop would be finished in time. I ordered a nice variety and received healthy chicks that have grown into fine looking pullets. Hopefully, they will begin laying in fall.

With the daylight getting shorter. I was wondering if any of you attempt to keep egg production up?

This UMaine Publication recommends "Keep laying hens on a constant 14 to 16 hour day." 

We are getting to the 14 hour daylight time already with today's (August 6, 2013) sunrise at 05:36 and sunset at 19:57, giving us 14:21 hours.

Do you use a light bulb on a timer? If so, do you extend the light in the morning or evening or both? I would love to know your thoughts.

I'm new, too. (I live in Windham.) Mine will hopefully start laying in a couple of months. I plan to leave them with natural daylight. They, like women, have all the eggs they will ever produce in their bodies already. If they have a chance to slow down with the seasons, they may lay longer in terms of years. I don't need high numbers of eggs and I don't have electricity to the coop, either.
I would recommend the Natural Chicken Keeping thread, here, too. Really wonderful people, as well.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Just scoped out an ad on Craigslist and someone has some Muscovy ducks. Anyone have experience with these? I'm wondering if they'll hold up in the climate around here, and if they'd be ok to hang around chickens all day? Any suggestions welcomed!

Although I have no personal experience, the guy down the road has a bunch of them, and no coop. I have pekins and I do not house them with chickens. I believe that muscovy are less water-loving than the pekins are, but the pekins are a giant pain in the winter. They put their bills in the water and splash. In the winter that freezes into a giant block of ice. I do not need that in the chicken run or coop. I keep my ducks in a really tiny "coop" and they are incredibly hardy. Their coop is mostly wire sides, it gets a tarp in nasty weather and a quilt over the front in really nasty weather.

Hi All, I am a new chicken owner from the Gray-New Gloucester area. I have seven 11 week old pullets. Although I recently joined backyardchickens.com, I have "lurked" for a while including reading through this entire thread.

I wanted to thank the people in this thread for mentioning Long Horn Horse & Pet Supply in Buxton. We built our coop in the spring and I wasn't ready for new chicks during the normal "Chick Days." Thankfully, Long Horn has later ordering dates and I was able to order chicks once we were sure the coop would be finished in time. I ordered a nice variety and received healthy chicks that have grown into fine looking pullets. Hopefully, they will begin laying in fall.

With the daylight getting shorter. I was wondering if any of you attempt to keep egg production up?

This UMaine Publication recommends "Keep laying hens on a constant 14 to 16 hour day."

We are getting to the 14 hour daylight time already with today's (August 6, 2013) sunrise at 05:36 and sunset at 19:57, giving us 14:21 hours.

Do you use a light bulb on a timer? If so, do you extend the light in the morning or evening or both? I would love to know your thoughts.

Welcome! Glad you finally joined us.
I do not use a light, and will not. I do not believe in artificially getting them to lay. My most unhealthy chickens are the ones that lay constantly; I'd love for them to get a break and get some nutrients back into their body. Some will still continue to lay in winter, although your overall yield will be much reduced. I also don't believe in heating the coop; if the power goes out it's a much more severe drop in temperature that they're ill prepared for than the drop from day to night that they are much more prepared for when unheated.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[CoopChick719]

Hi All, I am a new chicken owner from the Gray-New Gloucester area. I have seven 11 week old pullets. Although I recently joined backyardchickens.com, I have "lurked" for a while including reading through this entire thread.

I wanted to thank the people in this thread for mentioning Long Horn Horse & Pet Supply in Buxton. We built our coop in the spring and I wasn't ready for new chicks during the normal "Chick Days." Thankfully, Long Horn has later ordering dates and I was able to order chicks once we were sure the coop would be finished in time. I ordered a nice variety and received healthy chicks that have grown into fine looking pullets. Hopefully, they will begin laying in fall.

With the daylight getting shorter. I was wondering if any of you attempt to keep egg production up?

This UMaine Publication recommends "Keep laying hens on a constant 14 to 16 hour day."

We are getting to the 14 hour daylight time already with today's (August 6, 2013) sunrise at 05:36 and sunset at 19:57, giving us 14:21 hours.

Do you use a light bulb on a timer? If so, do you extend the light in the morning or evening or both? I would love to know your thoughts.

Very smart of you to build the coop first! Often people get the chicks thinking the coop will be done on time and then stuff happens....anywho! I don't light my coop to keep up egg production in the winter. I like my girls to have a rest & recharge. However, I do leave the lights (two 25w energy savers) on during the day for them to eat. My coop is very dark in the winter. It has 2 windows--1 is large but is covered by the pen & pine trees; the other is very small. So the lights are on from 7am to 4pm in the winter & occasionally on dreary rainy days--much to my husband's dismay!

 

[hoppy]

welcome, when i add light (only in the winter) I add it to the morning before the sun comes up. on at 6:00 off at 8:00am. then at night they naturally coop back up.

This UMaine Publication recommends "Keep laying hens on a constant 14 to 16 hour day."

We are getting to the 14 hour daylight time already with today's (August 6, 2013) sunrise at 05:36 and sunset at 19:57, giving us 14:21 hours.

Do you use a light bulb on a timer? If so, do you extend the light in the morning or evening or both? I would love to know your thoughts.

 

[GrafixMuse]

I'm new, too. (I live in Windham.) Mine will hopefully start laying in a couple of months. I plan to leave them with natural daylight. They, like women, have all the eggs they will ever produce in their bodies already. If they have a chance to slow down with the seasons, they may lay longer in terms of years. I don't need high numbers of eggs and I don't have electricity to the coop, either.
I would recommend the Natural Chicken Keeping thread, here, too. Really wonderful people, as well.

I have not read the Natural Chicken Keeping thread and will begin to explore it. Thanks for the suggestion. Thank you as well for sharing your view on artificial lighting.

 

[GrafixMuse]

Quote:
Thank you for your reply. I don't want to treat my chickens like factory raised egg layers but I would like to have eggs over the winter months. That is why I wanted to ask your opinions. I do see your point in allowing them to take a break. They also probably use more energy in winter trying to stay warm. I wasn't planning on heating the coop for the exact reason you mentioned. We do tend to lose power every now and then.

 

[GrafixMuse]

Very smart of you to build the coop first! Often people get the chicks thinking the coop will be done on time and then stuff happens....anywho! I don't light my coop to keep up egg production in the winter. I like my girls to have a rest & recharge. However, I do leave the lights (two 25w energy savers) on during the day for them to eat. My coop is very dark in the winter. It has 2 windows--1 is large but is covered by the pen & pine trees; the other is very small. So the lights are on from 7am to 4pm in the winter & occasionally on dreary rainy days--much to my husband's dismay!

I have to thank backyardchickens.com for teaching me that building a coop could take longer than you think. I didn't want to order chicks until it was ready, but we were making great progress so felt it was safe. I was lucky to have the coop ready and the temperatures warm enough to place the chicks into their new home mid-June at 4-weeks with a heat lamp at night until they feathered out and the temps increased. The chicks were happy to stretch their wings. I do have windows in the coop on the east and west walls. So they should get some natural daylight during the winter while the sun is out. Do your chickens lay at all during the winter with only 9 hours of light?

 

[GrafixMuse]

welcome, when i add light (only in the winter) I add it to the morning before the sun comes up. on at 6:00 off at 8:00am. then at night they naturally coop back up.

Thanks, Hoppy! It does seem to make sense that if I were to supplement light in the winter that I should do so in the morning so as not to interfere with their natural roosting time.