The new heated waterer base and galvanized waterer are working great. 5 gallons lasts me about 5 days with my 13 chooks, as cool as it has been. The coop has been staying about 10 Degrees warmer than ambient, and I am still getting 8-11 eggs per day out of the 12 pullets, which I think is great. I think the supplemental lighting (a 40W appliance bulb on a timer) is paying off. Another of the BA's went broody about a week ago and is sticking to her nest like glue, so I think it is a good possibility that one of the BA's will become a mom next spring!
I don't free range them as often these days, as there isn't much left in the yard to eat, or there is snow on the ground. My neighbors have been great about bringing over fruit and vegetable scraps though - one of the neighbors has apple trees at another place and has been bringing over about 2 gallons of apple peelings and cores every other day, and the birds have devoured them. Definitely cuts down on the feed bill, but probably doesn't help much with egg production!
I took my boys to visit the Mountain View Hutterite colony last weekend, about 18 miles north of Bilings. They gave us a special tour. They have about 20,000 laying hens (mostly white leghorns, some RIR's). The chickens are not too used to seeing humans, as they restrict access for health and code reasons. We never saw so many chickens in one barn. The chickens were getting nervous fast, seeing us walk past them, so we didn't stay in the chicken barn for long. My boys were a little sad to see how the chickens lived, but thought the automation was neat. The eggs are generally never touched by human hands - the workers just run the equipment and feed cartons in at the end! They haul the eggs into Billings three times per week, so the eggs are fresh when they arrive at the stores (mainly Wal-Mart and Sam's Club). We also toured their dairy operation, and their baby chick barn, with thousands of new chicks - very impressive. Have a great weekend all!
I don't free range them as often these days, as there isn't much left in the yard to eat, or there is snow on the ground. My neighbors have been great about bringing over fruit and vegetable scraps though - one of the neighbors has apple trees at another place and has been bringing over about 2 gallons of apple peelings and cores every other day, and the birds have devoured them. Definitely cuts down on the feed bill, but probably doesn't help much with egg production!
I took my boys to visit the Mountain View Hutterite colony last weekend, about 18 miles north of Bilings. They gave us a special tour. They have about 20,000 laying hens (mostly white leghorns, some RIR's). The chickens are not too used to seeing humans, as they restrict access for health and code reasons. We never saw so many chickens in one barn. The chickens were getting nervous fast, seeing us walk past them, so we didn't stay in the chicken barn for long. My boys were a little sad to see how the chickens lived, but thought the automation was neat. The eggs are generally never touched by human hands - the workers just run the equipment and feed cartons in at the end! They haul the eggs into Billings three times per week, so the eggs are fresh when they arrive at the stores (mainly Wal-Mart and Sam's Club). We also toured their dairy operation, and their baby chick barn, with thousands of new chicks - very impressive. Have a great weekend all!
hows the boys doing, im betting your enjoying them as they are you. How cool to take them on a nice field trip to see the chickens. Wow your getting the eggs, I was to until... this week. then only a few a day, so today we hung christmas lights in the coop and set them on a timer lol. they will be hoe hoe hoing at 3:00 am as I set the timer for then. with only about 7\8 hours of real light now , its not enough even for the hardest egg layer. so the time is set from 3:00 until 8:00 am, I hope this is enough time. I love your chickens, but your rooster is beautiful. I wanted to show you mine today, he is only 14 weeks old, but I believe he is going to be beautiful. I hatched out 4 chicks in September, yesterday they turned 14 weeks and thank goodness we got only one rooster. he has not made a peep yet.
