Peeps in Europe!

[Erba]

I have Light Sussex and they are winter layers. My two original hens laid all through their first winter. This is their second winter and they haven't been laying much. My young hen is laying regularly though, but she just started to lay in December.

 

[AnnaWolf]

I have 2 EE pullets one of them is laying the other one is going trough a soft molt

I really hope they get broody this spring, i want some bantam dutch breedslike dutch bantams, dutch booted bantam, friese bantam.

 

[chickengr]

my chickens are at my friend's place. when they were with me they laid almost year around. they were free roaming in the backyard all the time. they are in the coops now and they don't lay. I have had marans, araucana, naked neck, silkie, etc.

 

[Perris]

I have Swedish flowers, araucanas, Norfolk Greys, silver duckwing Welsumers, and Barbezieux. Those hatched last spring and summer are laying - though a few of them are hiding their eggs I know not where - while all but one of the adults are still resting. The one that went into moult first has restarted, so I expect the others to start up again soon

 

[Papa John59]

@Erba thanks for the tip about Bionesto! If its good enough for you, then its good enough for me.....and its half the price of hemp! I think the pellets would be easier to clean. How often do you exchange the bedding?

We have a Leghorn, who has been laying daily all winter for us. Then we have a Light Sussex and an Amrock. Now these two ladies sat down for tea one afternoon and set a plan in motion that they would each lay every other day. But I think one of them keeps forgetting and lays everyday....so we get 2 eggs daily and about twice a week we get 3. But who's complaining? Not me as I have 3 growing kids who like their eggs!

 

[BDutch]

@AnnaWolf are you from the Netherlands and living in the USA now? Cause in NL you can’t buy easter eggers. Or do you mean Araucana's? They do sell (not purebred) Araucana’s with different coloured eggs.
And you made me wonder about the booted Dutch. Here in NL I never heard of booted Dutch. So I looked it up. The Dutch name is Sabelpoot. Lovely chickens.

@All I have 8 small bantams.

• 5 Dutch in different colours. They are getting a bit older now.
• 2 Naine du Tournaisis. (Doornikse krielen) .
• And one pullet, a mix of my light brown Dutch and Naine du Tournaisis.

The Dutch stopped laying in October. The pullet and one Doornikse who is a bit fat stopped in November. I have no supplemental light.
Since november only we get one little egg every other day and I have to buy eggs in the shop for the moment.

Next year I will start to give them hemp seed (for birds) in autumn as a supplement. This seems to stimulate chickens to keep laying eggs in winter. This winter I was too late for most of my girls. Just the one Tournaisis was still laying when I started to give the hemp seed. But she didn't stop. So maybe its not a fairy tale.

I do hope my pullet and the other Doornikse start to lay soon. The Dutch have a longer winter stop each year. I don't expect any eggs from them until March.

 

[AnnaWolf]

@BDutch I am a born and raised zeeuw, and we bought our home their. So yeah happy to live in the Netherlands.
I understood when you mix a Americauna or a Araucana with a nother breed you get easter eggers. And i now my bird are mixes thats why i call them EE's.
And i did sime resurch how to call dutch breeds in English that's how i new, but i can't find a name fo a Friese kip in English.

 

[Erba]

our Raiffeisen just closed down

Well you get 50 litre in a bag and it weighs 15 kg. They only charge you 4.99 shipping up to 50 kg.

How often do you exchange the bedding?

I change it completely once a year, and add to when it is trodden down. My coop never smells bad with that stuff. Straw always ends up smelling like urine. You can see what it looks like here.

 

[abpatchy]

That's a real nice looking coop.
How do you like that waterer? Is is hard to clean? I was looking at it but ended up buying a different one.

 

[Martaals]

Hello!
I live in the netherlands
I'm new here, but I already found that sometimes the info im reading is specific to the US. For example when I was researching what kind of bedding to use, I ended up with hemp which at first seemed difficult because it's a bigger hassle to get in the US, but it's actually really easy to get in the netherlands and not really pricey. So I ended up with a eucalyptus hemp that is produced not far from here. I also use a kind of anti coccidiosis floor cover from lava that looks a bit like cat sand, that I didn't find much info about but decided to try anyway.