Washingtonians

[mikeyb]

I'mmmmmmmm Baaaaaaaaaack!
OMG, my chile turned out really good and I PIGGED out. (burp) Now I'm stuffed and a tad uncomfortable, but heck I'll suffer.

Here's a question, I have (supposedly) 9 hens a laying, but I usually get only 6 to 7 eggs and 7 is a rare occasion and never more then that. How does that stack up with the rest of you that have been doing this a lot longer them me. (nubie) ?

 

[RaZ]

Here's a question, I have (supposedly) 9 hens a laying, but I usually get only 6 to 7 eggs and 7 is a rare occasion and never more then that. How does that stack up with the rest of you that have been doing this a lot longer them me. (nubie) ?

What breeds do you have? Not every breed lays every day. Even those that do sometimes take a day off.
Of my 11 proven hens, I average 8 per day. But now a few are in moult so the production has dropped to 6 per day on average. I expect that to fall again as the rest of the hens hit their moult.

 

[DeesHens]

Quote:
No problem. Yes, you are right about West coast. We are concerned without a buddy on the roost with her she might not stay as toasty as she is normally use to. Not sure about drafts? The coop has a vent on top and a bit of air can probably come from very small crack around the door & nest lid? Here is a pic so you know what I mean. The window in the door is plexi-glass. It looks like a hole in it but that is just the reflection from the gray/green side of the garage with the garage window corner showing ( white trim). The coop is insulated with styro-foam & covered with paneling. I thought a good rule of thumb would be to keep Betsy's coop above 32 degrees. I don't want her comb getting frost bit. Nights have gotten to be 40 degrees at times so we are preparing for colder nights. We want to keep her healthy and happy. Thought this black reptile light would be more natural so she could sleep well. But want to make sure there are no reasons it would not be good for hens. Thanks so much for your help. ~Dee~

 

[Greg Richardson]

Mikey. Thats normal.

 

[RaZ]

No problem. Yes, you are right about West coast. We are concerned without a buddy on the roost with her she might not stay as toasty as she is normally use to. Not sure about drafts? The coop has a vent on top and a bit of air can probably come from very small crack around the door & nest lid? Here is a pic so you know what I mean. The window in the door is plexi-glass. It looks like a hole in it but that is just the reflection from the gray/green side of the garage with the garage window corner showing ( white trim). The coop is insulated with styro-foam & covered with paneling. I thought a good rule of thumb would be to keep Betsy's coop above 32 degrees. I don't want her comb getting frost bit. Nights have gotten to be 40 degrees at times so we are preparing for colder nights. We want to keep her healthy and happy. Thought this black reptile light would be more natural so she could sleep well. But want to make sure there are no reasons it would not be good for hens. Thanks so much for your help. ~Dee~

Cold and damp are what cause frostbite most often. Get rid of the damp and you lessen the chance of frostbite.
And don't confuse airflow with drafts. From your picture and what you describe, I would guess that you have a decent air-flow/exchange in the coop.

Take what I say with a grain of salt. Here in Michigan, our winters are pretty low in humidity and can get cold. You may have more humid winter air and milder temperatures to consider. Consider getting a thermometer with a humidity (hygrometer) gauge so you know for sure what you are dealing with.

Your coop looks great. Good luck.

 

[Imp]

Quote:
No problem. Yes, you are right about West coast. We are concerned without a buddy on the roost with her she might not stay as toasty as she is normally use to. Not sure about drafts? The coop has a vent on top and a bit of air can probably come from very small crack around the door & nest lid? Here is a pic so you know what I mean. The window in the door is plexi-glass. It looks like a hole in it but that is just the reflection from the gray/green side of the garage with the garage window corner showing ( white trim). The coop is insulated with styro-foam & covered with paneling. I thought a good rule of thumb would be to keep Betsy's coop above 32 degrees. I don't want her comb getting frost bit. Nights have gotten to be 40 degrees at times so we are preparing for colder nights. We want to keep her healthy and happy. Thought this black reptile light would be more natural so she could sleep well. But want to make sure there are no reasons it would not be good for hens. Thanks so much for your help. ~Dee~




I've read in other forums that people use reptile bulbs and heaters with chickens. I cannot see anything about that bulb that would be a problem for chickens. 75 watts won't give off lots of heat, but your coop/tractor looks small enough that it shouldn't be a problem.

Russ- btw it is a beautiful tractor.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I'mmmmmmmm  Baaaaaaaaaack!
OMG, my chile turned out really good and I PIGGED out. (burp) Now I'm stuffed and a tad uncomfortable, but heck I'll suffer.

Here's a question, I have (supposedly) 9 hens a laying, but I usually get only 6 to 7 eggs and 7 is a rare occasion  and never more then that. How does that stack up with the rest of you that have been doing this a lot longer them me. (nubie) ?

I have (as I said rather complexly yesterday) nine laying hens; up until about Oct 1 I was getting seven or eight eggs most days; the pens of Hamburgs and EEs frequently had three eggs each. I got five eggs today, three Hamburg, one BLRW, and one EE.

I feed Layena free choice (in hanging feeders, which cuts way down on waste for everyone except the eldest BLRW rooster, who fights with full feeders; I'll be glad when he's gone) plus assorted greens (grass, lemonbalm, and romaine lettuce are popular) and right now windfall apples, at least one each day. The Hamburgs and the pen with the one Australorp and two POL Hamburg pullets get redworms and sowbugs out of the compost when I have the time to turn it. (All of the BLRWs are scared to death of live food, except the younger rooster thinks baby garter snakes are candy). Everybody gets raw oatmeal once a week and either cooked brown rice with lots of cheap olive oil (It's like five dollars a liter at TJ's) or scratch grains. I need to put out oystershell tomorrow come hell or high water. They also get any doggy bags if we eat out, and I cast a searching eye over left overs so they go to the chooks before they go to the garbage. Everybody gets cooked sweet potato once a month or so.

And, as I mentioned, the shake from orchard grass hay every once in a while, and, in winter, I often give them alfalfa pellets. Also in winter I put Vitamin D capsules (also cheap at TJ's) in the rice after it's cooked; my grandmother insisted on cod liver oil for her layers in winter.

(There's a possibility I'm overly influenced by my father's theory of feeding stock, but there were a couple of decades where any Holstein springer he took to Twin Cities always got the top price of the day. Also I'm really guilty about not free-ranging).

 

[Imp]

I'mmmmmmmm Baaaaaaaaaack!
OMG, my chile turned out really good and I PIGGED out. (burp) Now I'm stuffed and a tad uncomfortable, but heck I'll suffer.

Here's a question, I have (supposedly) 9 hens a laying, but I usually get only 6 to 7 eggs and 7 is a rare occasion and never more then that. How does that stack up with the rest of you that have been doing this a lot longer them me. (nubie) ?

I think you are doing well.

Russ

 

[Slinglings]

Mikey. Thats normal.

I'm a 'nubie' as well but I think it sounds normal too. I have two laying right now and am getting about 10 eggs a week..if you do the math that is the same ratio of eggs to hens per day as you .71 eggs per day per hen.

 

[Ogress]

Well I just skimmed through the last 150 posts and I hope I did not miss anything.

Sorry to all the people that have lost birds lately

. It really seems that these last few weeks or so have been really heavy with preditors. As you know I my self have been looseing quite a few girls and yes they alway tend to take my favorites first (kids say I am not aloud to call any my favorite untill the run I am building is finnished). Just the other day my SIL and I watched a hawk come and try to take one of my chicks, but her mom chased the hawk away and baby was hiding very well. Then Saterday I went out in the morning and one of my male turkeys was on the roof of the coop, he never goes up there unless there has been a coyote running around. So we did a head count and everyone is accounted for! Thank goodness.

As far as my flock for next year, I have decided that one breed I want is......Salmon Faverolles

I would really like to have myself about 3-4 hens and have to have myself a "Fudge" Roo!
If any one knows where I can get some hatching eggs that would be great. I know some one on here raises Faves, but I don't know how far away they are.

One other thing, I figured I would put this on here before I put it on Craigslist.
I have a clock for sale, but not just any clock this was built by a man named Jimmy Collier (this is the reason why my farm is called Collier Clocks Farm). He was an amazing man that built everything from clocks to race cars from scratch. If you do a Google search and read about him you will fall in love with him.
I have so much info on this man I could go on for ever, He is the reason that Evergreen speedway is what it is today. It used to be a dirt horse track, but Jmmy wanted a place to race his Model T and so he went to the Snohomish city councle and convinced them to turn it into a paved race track.
I would like to sell this clock to someone who will appriciate it in every way. If you want any info on the clock let me know. If not no biggy I just wanted to share it's beauty with ya'll before it goes.

That's one cool clock! how is it you came across it? Wish I had a use for it....