Washingtonians

[JennS]

OK, so you could get Brahma eggs on here, (did you see they had Light and Dark ones? LOVE the dark brahma's also known as silver penciled!!!), BLRW eggs from me, and then try and score some Barnvelder eggs from Royce, and you would be all set!!!! LOL!!!

LOL I'll skip on the Brahmas. They are just bigger than I want to start with. If I get Barnevelder eggs, I would love to get some of your eggs, too!

Jennifer

 

[Hinotori]

Bleh. I'm so fickle!!!! I still can't decide on supplemental lighting this winter. All my girls are first year pullets but I'm so worried that if I don't supplement that we'll be feeding 11 chickens all winter and still buying eggs. We go through 3.5 dozen eggs a week on average. Right now, that's what we're getting from 7 confirmed layers and 2 that may or may not be laying sporadically, though I don't think they've started at all. I just worry that my poor 14 week olds will technically reach laying age at the end of October and won't actually start due to lack of light until March when they're 8-9 months old! That would royally suck. SOOOO, this is for those on the wet and icky side: DO YOU USE SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING? If not, do your first year pullets still lay reliably during the winter as long as they aren't molting?

Mine layed quite well without extra light. Had three girls that layed 5-6 eggs a week until late January when they finally molted. I've hatched eggs from one of those girls now.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
Bwahahaha, that's what's so funny about our diet. It's just kind of a joke. We won't eat animal products that are mass produced because they're inhumane, meaning we barely eat any meat at all including chicken. I will only eat chicken from friends' farms, the ones I processed last month, etc. We also only eat fish that wasn't mass caught (fish from friends who caught them and killed them humanely, etc). I know, we're weird, but we have just really been convinced that the quality of food is way more important, as is humane treatment of animals. If we aren't able to acquire humane meat, we don't eat it. Maybe vegetarian plus those things would be better description? LOL

 

[FirewifeJess]

I even drink Vegan Shakeology for breakfast

 

[chickenjane82]

Bwahahaha, that's what's so funny about our diet. It's just kind of a joke. We won't eat animal products that are mass produced because they're inhumane, meaning we barely eat any meat at all including chicken. I will only eat chicken from friends' farms, the ones I processed last month, etc. We also only eat fish that wasn't mass caught (fish from friends who caught them and killed them humanely, etc). I know, we're weird, but we have just really been convinced that the quality of food is way more important, as is humane treatment of animals. If we aren't able to acquire humane meat, we don't eat it. Maybe vegetarian plus those things would be better description? LOL

Oh no, not weird at all, thats how we eat, I guess Id call it more "humane/clean/natural eating"?

 

[chickenjane82]

We go even weirder and try to stay soy free, artificial sugar, flavor, color free and gmo free too.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
Yes, that's a fantastic way of putting it! I will have to take a mental note so that people stop looking at me funny. 99.99% of people have no idea why I refuse to buy meat at the grocery store. It's sad.

 

[chickenjane82]

Lets just call it eatin "weird"

 

[RaZ]

Definitely! PM me sometime and we'll compare. Though right now I only have 9 at POL, 7-8 of them already laying. I average 6 eggs a day and they are 23 weeks old. The other two are only 14 weeks old and might not lay at all this fall/winter. Hoping that's not the case!

Last year my first hen (a BSL) starting laying at 20 weeks (September), her sisters and the other girls waited until about mid-November(29-30 weeks). By Thanksgiving, all 6 were producing.
So I think you have hope that your 14 weekers will produce before long.

I don't discount that light is important, I just suspect that good nutrition is more conducive for egg production.

 

[FirewifeJess]

We go even weirder and try to stay soy free, artificial sugar, flavor, color free and gmo free too.

Us too. We are dairy, gluten, soy free, non-GMO everything if we can help it, and I avoid aritficial color and sugar like the plague. You should see how insane my children become when they have it! Oh my gosh they're like demons if they have candy, and not just from the sugar; we've linked MAJOR behavioral issues with Jeanine to Red Dye #5 & 40