NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

My birds have been letting me down also, no main flock laying except EEs occasionally. New pullets giant's and nakeds haven't started. I have been getting two eggs a day for the last couple weeks from my giant/silkie cross new pullets.

My OE didn't lay again til she got back in the Del coop. She lays nice big eggs too. A couple of Dels or the frizzles are laying but the EE's and marans haven't been laying. I think due to a molt and day light savings time. I don't want to push them.

Big Delores isn't getting up on the roost. I thought because she molted so badly but she's looking better. Still she sleeps on the floor. I have put her up on the roost but the next night she's on the floor. Not sure how old she is, maybe four or five or more. She gets into the coop okay and she seems to be eating all right. No signs of problems.

Trying to get set for the snow. Planted garlic with the grandson yesterday and he ate some of the last raspberries. Gotta get a hold of Tab next year. They're plants from her and very good tasting raspberries.

 

[nposluszny]

Wow, I do this to myself when I go AWOL due to work....just read the last 30+ pages, my head is going WOW!.. Some great photos, wish I had room for more birds here. The brabanter roo I got from tao is doing wonderfully! Angus is working together with Timmy, the runt silkie roo with no tail that I got guilt tripped into taking - each guy has his own side of the run with their little pack of ladies. That fresh feed talk certainly does have my interest...going to have to look that up. The ladies are still putting out 10-11 eggs a day (15 hens, lost one to a cat last week - told her not to leave the yard) and we're all pretty happy with that so far but I'm thinking that it will def drop off soon.

 

[Gramma Chick]

The ladies are still putting out 10-11 eggs a day (15 hens, lost one to a cat last week - told her not to leave the yard) and we're all pretty happy with that so far but I'm thinking that it will def drop off soon.

New ladies will usually continue to lay 1- 2 years ...after that they slack off

 

[nposluszny]

New ladies will usually continue to lay 1- 2 years ...after that they slack off

Even in reduced daylight? The only artifical light they will get will be some LED christmas lights that are on a timer - just enough for me to find the wood pile and see the stairs, don't think it'll do much for the ladies. I was actually hoping they'd take a break for winter, lol. My fanny hurts just looking at all the eggs in the fridge, I can only imagine how they feel.

 

[nposluszny]

And I think I'm gonna need you guys to talk me down from *gulp* squirreling up all winter to buy another coop and getting meat birds. I am so disappointed in the last few store chickens that I've gotten, they don't taste like anything. I go out of my way to order specality seasonings that are just magic by themselves and yet, they do nothing for the sad, sad things we get from the grocery store. I'm thinking that it's a ton of work, money, etc. etc. etc.........do home raised really taste that much better?

 

[Pyxis]

And I think I'm gonna need you guys to talk me down from  *gulp*  squirreling up all winter to buy another coop and getting meat birds.  I am so disappointed in the last few store chickens that I've gotten, they don't taste like anything.  I go out of my way to order specality seasonings that are just magic by themselves and yet, they do nothing for the sad, sad things we get from the grocery store.   I'm thinking that it's a ton of work, money, etc. etc. etc.........do home raised really taste that much better?  

I don't think it's really that much more work or money. Most people doing this just make a tractor for the meaties. Doesn't need to be anything close to permanent, because they'll only live in it for six to ten weeks. They do eat a lot of feed, but fermenting it cuts down on the amount they eat and helps with the noxious poop they're famous for. Plus, they can be let out to free range, and since they're little eating machines, they'll put themselves to work stuffing themselves with anything they can find, which would further cut down on the feed costs. So to get it going the first year there would be the investment in the tractor, but after that it's really just the cost of the chicks each year and the feed.

Several people in here do meat birds though and can probably tell you much better than I can what to expect in terms of cost and work.

 

[featherz]

Anyone kinda/sorta near me that will have white or brown leghorn/hybrid eggs in the new year? I had about 10, but they've been dying off the last two years with EYP as they are all over 4 years old and were heavy layers.

My brown leghorn is 6 years old and going strong, but the whites don't seem to do as well - and the brown was/is a hatchery bird!

In other news, my newbie nekkid necks are laying pretty well even with the change of seasons - the older biddies of course are on hiatus.

 

[Pyxis]

Anyone kinda/sorta near me that will have white or brown leghorn/hybrid eggs in the new year? I had about 10, but they've been dying off the last two years with EYP as they are all over 4 years old and were heavy layers. 

My brown leghorn is 6 years old and going strong, but the whites don't seem to do as well - and the brown was/is a hatchery bird!

In other news, my newbie nekkid necks are laying pretty well even with the change of seasons - the older biddies of course are on hiatus.  

I'll have brown split to Isabella and Isabella leghorns

Congrats on the naked necks! I've got a juvenile NN cockerel myself so next year I hope to be hatching some here.

 

[featherz]

I'll have brown split to Isabella and Isabella leghorns

Congrats on the naked necks! I've got a juvenile NN cockerel myself so next year I hope to be hatching some here.

Want!!

Love my NN - my NN boy Pugsley is the spitting image of his late daddy - ugly but a VERY good roo! (Gomez, his daddy, gave it up to save the girls from a hawk)..

 

[Chicken girl 15]

And I think I'm gonna need you guys to talk me down from  *gulp*  squirreling up all winter to buy another coop and getting meat birds.  I am so disappointed in the last few store chickens that I've gotten, they don't taste like anything.  I go out of my way to order specality seasonings that are just magic by themselves and yet, they do nothing for the sad, sad things we get from the grocery store.   I'm thinking that it's a ton of work, money, etc. etc. etc.........do home raised really taste that much better?  

Oh my YES!!! It's like eating white chocolate and dark chocolate. It's so worth the extra effort. However if you already have a lot on your schedule be cautious. It requires a lot of chickens to stock a freezer. There are options though. You could do all the work from day old to freezer. You could raise them and pay someone to process. Or you could find someone to do all the work for you. I chose to raise mine and process. I'm also getting my paperwork in order to open my farm to processing. At this point our farm is our livelihood.