Texas

[hungnguyen]

Quote:
I use a portable lamp and plug this to a timer so it turns on at 5:30pm and shut at 8pm. This is enough to lengthen the day. If we don't use lamp, then most birds will start laying again in late Dec early Jan.

 

[bnjrob]

Hey guys and gals from gilmer tx looking to purchase some start off layers and was wondering what a good breed for my area would be looking for possibly threes hens and a roost all the help would be great thanks

That all depends on what you are looking for as far as meat vs egg vs dual purpose; whether you want hatchery stock or standard bred stock, bantam or large fowl.

If you don't have any chicken experience, you might want to get just a few from the feed store/hatchery to hone your chicken husbandry skills. That will give you time to get accustomed to the fact that chickens die for seemingly no reason no matter what you do - without you having spent the extra money on getting standard bred birds from a breeder. It will also give you time to see what you like and don't like about the kind of chicken you got.

Hatchery/feed store birds are generally going to have a shorter utility lifespan in that they will lay pretty much every day but they will generally run out of eggs in a couple of years, versus a true "heritage" standard-bred bird from a breeder that doesn't always lay every day and thus has more productive egg laying years.

Temperament of the chickens can also go by breed but even more so by BREEDING - meaning selective breeding for friendliness, even temper, flock leader traits people associate with cocks (aka roosters), will often be better from getting good standard-bred stock from a breeder. But there are hatchery stock birds that can be friendly as well.

It's kinda hard to tell you which direction to go in without knowing what your short term and long term goals are for your flock. But if you just want some birds for eggs, a little bit of bug killing, some manure for gardening, and fun - just about any hatchery/feed store bird will fit the bill in which case I'd say just get some that "look pretty" to you.

 

[bnjrob]

I can't use lights at night. Their pen is currently located right behind our house (literally on the other side of the wall from my master bedroom), and if I leave lights on outside then my blasted roosters CROW ALL NIGHT LONG. I've chosen sleep over eggs...

But I have gotten 2 eggs per day for the last 2 days. (No colored ones, just brown ones from my 34 weeks old BRs.) BUT I'm hoping this means the hormones are flowing again and maybe my others are getting close!

Heck, ours do that anyway without light. I was up really late a couple of weeks ago and the living room window was open - there was crowing going on from multiple pens at 0330. All I could do was just shake my head at our weird chickens.

 

[hungnguyen]

Quote:
Hello Boom, How often do they lay? In general, the hen will mature at about 8-9 mos and starts laying. Some lays 1 per day, the older hen may lay 1 per 2 days. Once they lay enough they will set. Some heavy layers will lay 25-40 eggs before setting, I raise Oriental and they lay only 9-12 eggs each time. If you don't let her set on the eggs, many will start lay again after 2-3 weeks. If she sets and hatches, she will raise the chicks for about 1-1.5 months before laying again. Many breeds stops laying during the moulting season , around Sept-Nov. Their laying habit returns when the day gets longer again i.e end of Dec. When they start laying do I need to refrigerate the eggs? Eggs are best if they can be stored around 50-60F. So keep them cool, in a shade area. However, in the hot summer, some of us want to keep in refrigerator at 45F, once bring out, let them get to room temp. for a day before setting. Also, in freezing weather of 25F at night, you may need to take them inside the house to prevent frozen eggs How long do I have before I need to eat them? Fresh eggs have the best chance to hatch. After 2 weeks, the hatching chance decreases badly. It is safe to say after 20 days, the hatching rate almost none. So if there are over 25 eggs in the nest, the hen cannot cover all, you may want to eat the eggs that are 2 wks old and keep about 15 eggs for setting. Another option is using incubator. Many of us share the old eggs with neighbors so they will like your chickend and reduce the chance of complaining. Welcome to the website.

 

[greybush]

Quote:That all depends on what you are looking for as far as meat vs egg vs dual purpose; whether you want hatchery stock or standard bred stock, bantam or large fowl.

If you don't have any chicken experience, you might want to get just a few from the feed store/hatchery to hone your chicken husbandry skills. That will give you time to get accustomed to the fact that chickens die for seemingly no reason no matter what you do - without you having spent the extra money on getting standard bred birds from a breeder. It will also give you time to see what you like and don't like about the kind of chicken you got.

Hatchery/feed store birds are generally going to have a shorter utility lifespan in that they will lay pretty much every day but they will generally run out of eggs in a couple of years, versus a true "heritage" standard-bred bird from a breeder that doesn't always lay every day and thus has more productive egg laying years.

Temperament of the chickens can also go by breed but even more so by BREEDING - meaning selective breeding for friendliness, even temper, flock leader traits people associate with cocks (aka roosters), will often be better from getting good standard-bred stock from a breeder. But there are hatchery stock birds that can be friendly as well.

It's kinda hard to tell you which direction to go in without knowing what your short term and long term goals are for your flock. But if you just want some birds for eggs, a little bit of bug killing, some manure for gardening, and fun - just about any hatchery/feed store bird will fit the bill in which case I'd say just get some that "look pretty" to you.

 

[wlhtx]

Heck, ours do that anyway without light.  I was up really late a couple of weeks ago and the living room window was open - there was crowing going on from multiple pens at 0330.  All I could do was just shake my head at our weird chickens.

Ha! Yep. We were up late last Friday night after a football game (my husband is a coach) and so our outside lights were on way later than normal. Subsequently, the roosters were going off all the way until about 1:30am. Ugh! The new barn is being built across the pasture, but their temporary pen is literally on the other side of the bedroom wall. If you could imagine the wall not being there, I sleep less than 3 feet from 40 chickens (7 of which are crowers). I LOVE them waking me up in the morning, but 1:30am had me thinking about chicken dinners...

 

[greybush]

Quote:That all depends on what you are looking for as far as meat vs egg vs dual purpose; whether you want hatchery stock or standard bred stock, bantam or large fowl.

If you don't have any chicken experience, you might want to get just a few from the feed store/hatchery to hone your chicken husbandry skills. That will give you time to get accustomed to the fact that chickens die for seemingly no reason no matter what you do - without you having spent the extra money on getting standard bred birds from a breeder. It will also give you time to see what you like and don't like about the kind of chicken you got.

Hatchery/feed store birds are generally going to have a shorter utility lifespan in that they will lay pretty much every day but they will generally run out of eggs in a couple of years, versus a true "heritage" standard-bred bird from a breeder that doesn't always lay every day and thus has more productive egg laying years.

Temperament of the chickens can also go by breed but even more so by BREEDING - meaning selective breeding for friendliness, even temper, flock leader traits people associate with cocks (aka roosters), will often be better from getting good standard-bred stock from a breeder. But there are hatchery stock birds that can be friendly as well.

It's kinda hard to tell you which direction to go in without knowing what your short term and long term goals are for your flock. But if you just want some birds for eggs, a little bit of bug killing, some manure for gardening, and fun - just about any hatchery/feed store bird will fit the bill in which case I'd say just get some that "look pretty" to you.

Right now just looking to get some eggs and possible meat till middle of the new year then ill be looking for longevity of life and eggs right now it's just me and my lady with a newborn and me and her go through about a dozen eggs in no time so would like to get a stock age of eggs then try and get a good coop for nine hens and a rooster and possibly some chicks and do a rotation of birds for slaughter But as of right now I'm really looking for eggs, wouldn't mind chicks but I would rather have some egg layers from get go and replace those down the road I grew up with chickens when I was younger but my dad decided to get rid if them so it's been ALOOOONG time lol thanks for all the help and hopefully that she's some light on my goals

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Hey guys and gals from gilmer tx looking to purchase some start off layers and was wondering what a good breed for my area would be looking for possibly threes hens and a roost all the help would be great thanks

There are more breeds of chicken then you can imagine and many of them will do what you want. Your real choice will be what you want your birds to look like and what color of eggs you want them to lay. Yes you do have a choice on egg color. Here is a great chart that will give you all the details of the breeds available. Enjoy!

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

P.S. Be careful you don't catch chickenitis (also know as chicken math disease).

 

[fowlmouthgirls]

I'm finally getting rid of my three little Roos! Yay, a gal from waxahatchie put an ad on CL wanting any chickens she could get, I'm meeting her at the Dallas Farmers Market, so hopefully it's really a she and not a serial killer with a chicken fetish! Lol

 

[Heidisgran]

order some Wheaton eggs...

What a stink...I'm so disappointed




just look how messed up these remaining eggs are UGH!!