Topic of the Week - Let's talk about eggs

[lazy gardener]

Quote: You are creating a very small box for flock owners. I would never waste my money on organic, non GMO feed. However, my flock is a working flock, and I derive much enjoyment from my flock. they work my land, they eat fermented feed, they are protected from predators. I have a rooster. And he is a good flock master, takes good care of his hens, and loves his babies. My flock gets artificial light, after they have gone through a natural shut down and molt. Otherwise, I'd be going at least 4 months without eggs. A rooster has no bearing on egg production according to current research. However, that is something that I would like to do a study on... "does the presence of a rooster in a flock possibly stimulate pullets to POL sooner than pullets reach POL in a flock without a roo." There are many different husbandry styles, and I am thankful that poultry ownership has room for all of those styles. As long as the needs of the birds are being met, I'll not criticize.

 

[Lizardlicks]

I've heard reasoning that a rooster can cause a decrease in egg production as frequent matings stress out the hens, but I think the answer to that, if there's any truth to it at all, is have enough hens to spread it around, or get a different rooster who is gentler on his girls. I feel the benefits of a more natural dynamic of my flock + the added predator protection + potential to refresh my flock for basically free when needed far out weighs not having a rooster.

 

[PeepersMama]

- Which breeds or types of chickens are good egglayers?
By far the best breed/hybrid layer I've ever had are my black sexlinks. They are consistent layers (still laying fairly often at 3), lay huge eggs, and are amazing free-rangers. I can't emphasize huge eggs enough; Batgirl used to lay eggs that were 70+ grams every single time. And her sisters all lay XL eggs, too.

Second favorite hybrid, austra whites. They've got their pros and cons, but the biggest con is that they are broodies! 7 out of 9 have tried, and one of them hatched and raised 7 chicks like a pro. Other con, they're white, Easy targets for predators. The one thing they've got on the BSL's is that they are the nicest chickens I've ever had. They aren't brutally mean like the links, but instead they all roost side by side every night, with little to no pecking.

- How do you get the best production from your layers?
My girls had a nice long break this winter, but when we added suplemental light they picked right back up. We also gave them 18% feed, and I'm pretty sure that that gave them a good boost.

- At what ages did you get the first eggs from your pullets?
Our first egg was at 16 weeks, and they started slooooowly trickling in after that. On the second round, we got two eggs on the same day at 15 weeks from our EEs.

- What do you do with your extra eggs? (Yes… I know it's winter for most of us at the moment and that's only a dream but...

)
We sell our eggs at church, and the annoying thing is when we have too many, no body buys, but when we're short 3 dozen, everybody wants some! We eat eggs alot too, which helps.

- Eggs of different colours - Which breeds lay which colour eggs?
I absolutely adore my EEs. All of them except my Silly Lilly laid blue or green eggs, with Rosie's eggs being the brightest blue. Penny even lays hers with little tiny white speckles!
Interesting thing - blue eggs aren't "dyed" en route to the world. The shell is actually blue. Green eggs are just blue eggs with a layer of brown dye. Don't believe me? Go crack a blue egg and you can see inside the shell is blue, whereas a brown egg's inner shell is white.

 

[dunnmom]

Here's what I've learned about eggs in my first year of chicken keeping. My girls will lay if they feel like laying. As long as they're getting plenty of nutritious food, water, good weather, and they don't get stressed or sick, they typically lay daily or every other day. I have American Buff Orpingtons, and I'm more than happy with their production so far. We had Barred Rocks and Wyandottes, but only kept the Orps because we liked their temperaments the best. They began laying between 20 and 32 weeks if memory serves. They lay medium to jumbo sized eggs in all sorts of shades of light brown. They took a couple of months off this winter, but they earned the rest period in my opinion. Truly, we had 4 dozen eggs in my fridge at times. I did not try to push them to lay by supplemental heat and light. I know that they are born with only a certain number of egg cells, and would like to do what I can to help them avoid early hen-opause. We ate a lot of boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, I baked, gave a few dozen to neighbors when we just couldn't pare down our reserves. My girls will be 1 yr. old end of March, so I'm hoping their second laying season will be as good as the first. I'm not stressing over the egg production side of things too much, because they are good pets, and we are merely gaining experience for our eventual move out to the country where we will be able to expand on what we're learning now.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Since a couple people have mention it already, I'm curious: can others report better production from their birds on fermented feed vs non-fermented?

I have been fermenting feed for my flock for the past two years now, and during that time my egg production had gone up, my growth rates have improved, and my flock has been healthier overall. I have a friend that ferments feed for her flock, but she is often busy and doesn't get to it. She has noticed that when ever her birds are on the fermented feed their egg production goes up, and when ever they go off of it their egg production declines.

 

[Sweetman1205]

**Teila***
Oh my!! I'm sorry to hear of your troubles!! What breeds are your chickens? I have had great luck with Road Island Reds!! Australorps are amazing as well! I recently got two Easter Eggers and they are excellent layers as well! I can see that one of them "Saturn" tends to get Broody over her eggs , but as long as I pull them out every night and don't let her sit on any she has been doing better! As far as food goes I try and give them extra protein via dried mealworms. During the winter I also do a wheat fodder. And I have noticed that my girls will not eat genetically modified corn. So I try to stick two natural organic and whole grains that are not genetically modified. Free range and there we go!! Could they be laying in a hiding spot? Sometimes they will do that you could always put some fake eggs in your laying boxes until they get the drift. Looking forward to furthering our conversation! Have a good day

 

[Lizardlicks]

Oh my!! I'm sorry to hear of your troubles!! What breeds are your chickens? I have had great luck with Road Island Reds!! Australorps are amazing as well! I recently got two Easter Eggers and they are excellent layers as well! I can see that one of them "Saturn" tends to get Broody over her eggs , but as long as I pull them out every night and don't let her sit on any she has been doing better! As far as food goes I try and give them extra protein via dried mealworms. During the winter I also do a wheat fodder. And I have noticed that my girls will not eat genetically modified corn. So I try to stick two natural organic and whole grains that are not genetically modified. Free range and there we go!! Could they be laying in a hiding spot? Sometimes they will do that you could always put some fake eggs in your laying boxes until they get the drift. Looking forward to furthering our conversation! Have a good day

That's a good point. My EE's will hide their eggs at any opportunity, even with fake eggs and the other chickens laying in the nest boxes like good girls! And if I find one hiding spot, they'll switch to another. I've gotten pretty good at putting my chicken thinking cap on and looking around the yard for nice nesting places when the colored eggs start to go missing again. If you have chickens that should have started laying but you can't find any eggs, might be time for a scavenger hunt, lol.

 

[RodNTN]

- Which breeds or types of chickens are good egglayers?
White Leghorns and Sex links are the best layers. My Leghorns lay 6 to 7 eggs a week, without a break. And the sex links lay just as many, plus their eggs are bigger! They lay spring, summer, fall, and winter. Also, they are lapdogs who love attention!

- How do you get the best production from your layers?
A clean coop, nice nests, fresh water, good food, lots of attention, an occasional treat or two, lots of daylight, and lots of greens always do the trick for me. In the winter, I put a light on my birds and they lay like it was spring!

- At what ages did you get the first eggs from your pullets?
Leghorns begin laying at 18 to 22 weeks, other birds begin laying at around 6 or 7 months. It depends on the bird too. My bantams start laying sooner than my heavier birds usually do. And it also depends on what time of the year they hatched. I always get my chicks in the spring, to make sure they start laying before winter.

- What do you do with your extra eggs? (Yes… I know it's winter for most of us at the moment and that's only a dream but...

)
We sell our extra eggs. And right now (and no, we are not keeping a light or anything on them) and we are getting anywhere from 14 to 24 eggs a day from 27 hens. So, we have to make sure we are doing away with extras because we are up to our ears in eggs! We are also making a lot of eggs dishes

- Eggs of different colours - Which breeds lay which colour eggs?
We get blue and green eggs from our Easter Egger's. White eggs from our Leghorns, tinted eggs from our Silkie, brown eggs from our sex links, Production reds, Rhode Island reds, Plymouth rocks, Light Brahmas, and pinkish/brownish eggs from our Black Australorp.

 

[Eggsakly]

Oh, Teila, your post had me holding my sides and laughing out loud for a few minutes!! It is hilarious! I cannot look at that "bullet shaped" egg without laughing. My goodness, that is unique. Thank you. What a wonderful post.

 

[dunnmom]

I think it's interesting to see the different philosophies and practices at work within the BYC community. The different ways we all feed and manage our flocks seems very much a part of us and shows plenty about how we are as people, in my mind. Being new at this, I've used this BYC site as sort of a salad bar of wisdom and folly, and I really appreciate all that is shared.

Thanks to everyone for offering your experience!