blutenstaub
Chirping
Haha yeah sheep are pretty insane....
Do your neighbors that only free range get more eggs than you? And if so, what else is different over there? (Breed, age, stocking rate.....)
Chickens can survive on only/mostly free ranging, but they're more likely to stay at a less nourished state where they're less productive than the "300 eggs a year" or whatever their breed average is supposed to be. Which depending on your goals might be totally fine. (Do you have them for cheap/free eggs? Nutrient cycling/scratching your sheep poop into the earth? Companionship? Showing off? Selling eggs/chicks?)
I also have been wondering if chickens laying at a slower rate increases their laying lifespan. I've heard that breeds that a heavy layers lay the most in their first year or two, then it drops off sharply after that, and the more infrequent layers lay infrequently but consistently for more years than the massive egg producing breeds. So, do both types of breeds have a similar egg reserve they just deplete at a different rate? Are chickens like human females, in that they're born with all the egg cells they will ever have, or are their ovaries more like human testes (as in, can keep making new egg cells throughout their lifetimes)?
Do your neighbors that only free range get more eggs than you? And if so, what else is different over there? (Breed, age, stocking rate.....)
Chickens can survive on only/mostly free ranging, but they're more likely to stay at a less nourished state where they're less productive than the "300 eggs a year" or whatever their breed average is supposed to be. Which depending on your goals might be totally fine. (Do you have them for cheap/free eggs? Nutrient cycling/scratching your sheep poop into the earth? Companionship? Showing off? Selling eggs/chicks?)
I also have been wondering if chickens laying at a slower rate increases their laying lifespan. I've heard that breeds that a heavy layers lay the most in their first year or two, then it drops off sharply after that, and the more infrequent layers lay infrequently but consistently for more years than the massive egg producing breeds. So, do both types of breeds have a similar egg reserve they just deplete at a different rate? Are chickens like human females, in that they're born with all the egg cells they will ever have, or are their ovaries more like human testes (as in, can keep making new egg cells throughout their lifetimes)?