New Flock!!

[aart]

Oh and I'm not fussy about color of eggs but I do like the looks of the greenish,blueish eggs.
We just go through alot of eggs now that we're gluten and grain free and I just cringe when I have to use eggs from the store.

Does that mean your chickens are going to need to be gluten and grain free too?

<scratcheshead> Kind of confusing..... being grain free means gluten free anyway, doesn't it?

 

[pheasntpro]

Grain free is getting rid of corn and rice and gluten is wheat. I'm actually not either but my wife and daughter are so my son and I just followed to hard to keep things separate. I think the eggs will be fine because we have been eating store bought eggs for about 3 months now and not have had an issue.

 

[Mrs. K]

What happened to the original 6?

I vote for the above mentioned breeds. If you had a bit of a pecking problem, try getting one less hen. MOST of the pecking order problems is caused by not enough space.

Flock numbers are not a static, this is a perfect count thing. It depends on the age and SIZE of the bird in the set up. Often times you can cheat a bit when the birds are young, or in summer, but come the fall, you need to be ruthless and go into the dark days of winter, on target of slightly below the target count. The nights are long, and they spend a great deal of time roosted up.

As for longevity of hens, really you cannot reliably expect them to lay forever, it works best if you have a multi-generational flock, which might be difficult with just 5, but realistically, you need to remove 2 and add 3 kind of sort of, each year,(this allows for the unforeseen loss of a hen). That will keep your flock into fairly stable egg laying years.

Think of having the flock as a constant, but the hens in the flock may come and go.


Mrs K

 

[aart]

Grain free is getting rid of corn and rice and gluten is wheat. I'm actually not either but my wife and daughter are so my son and I just followed to hard to keep things separate. I think the eggs will be fine because we have been eating store bought eggs for about 3 months now and not have had an issue.

I meant if you're grain free......you're automatically gluten free. I know that gluten comes from wheat.

Hatched some chicks for a local farmette that raises corn free meat birds and egg layers for someone who is deathly allergic to corn.