Interesting point!
I as an omni... actually don't like eggs that much... and especially the smell of them BROWNING.
What todo with my girl's eggs?
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I as an omni... actually don't like eggs that much... and especially the smell of them BROWNING.
AllenK RGV
Chicken Addict
We feed ours to our dogs, or give them to the neighbors. My wife is vegan as well so eating those eggs isn't high on our list.
@EggSighted4Life to each there own but please dont make assumptions, I live on 15 acres in the middle of the missouri ozarks surrounded by several hundred acres of forrest, I have many predators that would love to get at my eggs/chickens but i take my role as protector of the flock very seriously. I have 4 dogs and 3 cats that protect my flock. I can and do leave my eggs for a couple weeks and not have any issues at all.
some people are just lucky though, I dont use nest boxes or even lock my chickens up at night either. they live in a run that is made with concrete blocks, a 2x 4 roof and the front door is left open 24 hours a day. the only problem I ever had was a black australorp that nested on the ground one night and got attacked but not killed.
I only have 19 years of chicken experience though..
some people are just lucky though, I dont use nest boxes or even lock my chickens up at night either. they live in a run that is made with concrete blocks, a 2x 4 roof and the front door is left open 24 hours a day. the only problem I ever had was a black australorp that nested on the ground one night and got attacked but not killed.
I only have 19 years of chicken experience though..
We remove eggs every day and hens still go broody. In fact if not broken some will continue to set on nothing. One hen set on nothing for several weeks early in our adventure with chickens. We finally broke her but realized our mistake. When setting they eat less and this one apparently wasn't getting up to eat at all, almost lost her.
Hens have eggs in their body in sets called a clutch. What triggers broodiness is the laying of the last egg. If it was a wild hen you would know she would go broody at that time, but with domestic hens you can't be sure, so leaving the eggs there risks losing them.
We store the eggs we want to use for setting at about 55 degrees for no more than 7 days to maximize hatching although they are good longer. We usually use eggs from 2 or more hens to make a setting. Leaving eggs in the nest can work, that is how hens do it naturally, but they can get dirty, cracked etc during that time. Of course we get our setting eggs from breed pens and almost always use a different hen for brooding the eggs. Takes a little coordination to get a broody mom ready when our eggs are but usually we have plenty of broody moms to choose from. We let potential mothers set on nothing or an egg or two for up to a week while waiting to accumulate eggs from breed pens. I give them treats on the nest and get them up every other day if they don't on their own to make sure they are eating enough. They will still set until the eggs hatch even if they have been setting for a week before they get their eggs.
Here are some guidelines. https://aglifesciences.tamu.edu/pos.../08/EPS-001-Incubating-and-Hatching-Eggs1.pdf
Sorry, don't mean to make assumptions...
That's quite impressive track record... Some people ARE just lucky, I guess. It's pretty much a guarantee here if you don't lock up your flock you WILL experience MUCH if not total loss.
Like you and I both have said... each to their own... we are here to share our experiences and learn from each other.
Hope you have a great day!
Eggs form in the body of the hens in sets. These are called a clutch. If she is going to go broody (as a silkie this is quite likely) it will be after she lays the last egg in that clutch.
https://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKBroody.html
I found this one of the best discussion on the web regarding using broody hens. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/08/caring-for-broody-hens-facilitating-egg/
Of note, in raising an army of silkies, you are going to need to import some for your next years breeding or you will be crossing father to daughters, sons to mother or sisters. If the hen and rooster you already have are related that will exacerbate the inbreeding problem. I would recommend a new rooster maybe every other year and segregate out any father or brothers. Keep some records so you know who is related to who. You can also set up breed pens to control who mates to who. There are reasons we humans have laws about incest. By accident we bred full brother to sister and got only 1 egg to hatch. And our chickens are mutts with many breeds in their ancestry so they already had some quite diverse genetic.
We kept chickens as you do for about 5 years. Then a neighbor had a visitor with dogs. We asked that the dogs be kept tied up. But the people decided to let them run. It was during a storm so we didn't hear the carnage. In less than 1 hour they killed 30 chickens. After that we got an electric netting fence. We had no more dog attacks and the occasional fox attacks stopped. You never know when your luck might run out. I wish we could still do ours the way you are doing, but the peace of mind our fence brings us is worth it and has prevented land based attacks for 15 years now.
Electric netting fence is pricey but this is our retirement hobby and we don't mind spending it. Before we moved we had an acre enclosed, since moving we have a smaller flock and only 1/4 acre enclosed, but much more area than many runs.
I do a lot of things people say not to do and have great results. You should read as many points of view as you can find then trust your instincts and do what feels right for you. Not everyone can be like me and have coyotes, foxes, bobcats, raccoons, bears, etc.. running around and never have a loss. I happen to be able to grow great gardens without deer getting into them too lol I'm just lucky. The things you read here shouldn't be taken as absolute truths, not every method works for every person. to the OP good luck on your journey
I suspect however you are the exception to the rule and exceptions often eventually fail. I never had any problem growing corn and after 20 years I had raccoons decimate my whole stand overnight. I had raccoons around all that time. Corn is one thing, losing 30 chickens as we did in one hour is another. If people want to take their chances the can, but new people should be aware that the dangers are out there. Been doing chicken raising for over 20 years and I find that you can expect that the unexpected will very likely happen eventually. Never had weasels and then one night a weasel wiped out a whole clutch of chicks. Our dog killed it the next day. Never had a weasel attack again. But I know people who have been wiped out over and over by them. We still lose chickens from one thing or another but we try now to anticipate and protect against those things that haven't happened but could.
I wasn't aware I presented anything I wrote you as an absolute truth, I just told my experience and what we did about it.
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