Okies in the BYC The Original

[al6517]

Good morning all : Yes it does look very nice outside today, I too like many of you will play outside today, maybe get some more done on my coop expansion. Garden is still way to wet to mess with, but I have my plants and I am ready when the soil is.

AL

 

[al6517]

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I got in pretty late last night, it looks as though you had some problems at KT's Ranch!!!!. What happened?? is everything OK, do you need any help.

AL

 

[al6517]

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AAAAHHHHHH the 8th wonder of the world, the scented aroma of Man smell, You go Lynn!!!!!! LOL. Luvs that is so funny stumbling around looking for the perfume source, I would be cracking up LOL.

AL

 

[nnbreeder]

Monty he is not Homozygous. some were fully feathered. The ones that hatched fully feathered were very typy for RIR as far as I can tell so far.

Henny it does make me wonder just how high a quality that hay will be. After they roll it up I hope they don't stack it anywhere near you!

 

[al6517]

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I think she told me that she keeps LRG round bales in the run. sometimes that can lead to the bales sitting for a long time get wet/rot & mold. I store all of my hay outside the coop and just peel of the dry top layers by the time I get to the bottom it is pretty nasty so into the compost pile it goes.

AL

 

[nnbreeder]

Round bales will build a hard shell on the outside which will shed rainwater. If you watch horses or cattle eat the bales they will eat it from the center to the outside. But if you roll up straw or whole grain hay and there is mold present in either the head or the shaft of the straw it can do a lot of damage to livestock.

There have been times I have baled up hay just to get it off the field and then piled it and let it rot down.

 

[al6517]

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Oh I agree, you really have to inspect it hard.

AL

 

[nnbreeder]

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The light thing is for the shorter daylight times of Fall through early Spring. A hen needs 14 hours of light to produce eggs. Are you having trouble with your girls laying?

 

[quenston]

Actually they are starting to pick up now but there for a while i was only getting 2-3 eggs per day out of 9 hens and now they have picked up to 5-6 which i figure is normal.... I was told not to feed them apples that they would quit laying for 4-6 weeks if they eat apples but heck I am still so new that I dont know what to beleive lol

 

[nnbreeder]

I've noticed that my hens will drop off in production during extended periods of rain, cloudiness like we have been having.

Hens that are two years old or older will also drop off production a little although some of my hens are around 9yo and still producing well. A regular cycle for a hen is to lay a clutch of 6-10 eggs and drop off for a few days before starting back up.

One trick I use is to raise the protien content of the feed and feed 20% grower instead of the 16% layer. If you do that though you have to keep Oyster shell in a seperate dish or the shells will get thin.

Stress will also force a drop in production as will illness too. One year I didn't get a single egg and I was looking for answers, it took me a month to find that a dog was coming over in the wee hours of the morning and stressing out the girls.