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Post by centralilrookie on Oct 6, 2023 9:22:50 GMT -5
Yesterday was a slow day for egg production so I gave the girls a little insight to the fact that cold weather is coming and that sweetheart loves chicken and noodle soup. I think one of the girls is a bit of an over achiever…… 😂
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Post by datgirl on Oct 12, 2023 14:33:29 GMT -5
We get one of those every once in a while too. Ouch is always my reaction.
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Post by centralilrookie on Oct 18, 2023 5:12:47 GMT -5
The girls are really hitting their stride with egg production. We had a couple dozen eggs in the garage fridge so I called one of sweetheart’s sons to stop and pick them up. As I hung up, that phrase doesn’t seem to fit with a cell phone 😂, I got a text from my neighbor that his mom would like a couple dozen if we had some to spare. The girls better not let me down today because after filling her request we are down to just 4 eggs in our fridge!!😂😂😂
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Post by gardendmpls on Oct 18, 2023 6:05:38 GMT -5
we are down to just 4 eggs in our fridge That happens to me in the summer. My grandson sells about 6 or more dozen a week and I give away some. Don't use so many eggs anyway, since my brother eats breakfast in day-hab and I eat a yogurt for breakfast. Since my chickens started the fall molt, I haven't collected many eggs. The ones that are over 4 years old have not started back up again laying and I am getting an egg every other day, which usually what happens in December, not October. This is why I have 35 chicks in the brooders upstairs.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 19, 2023 18:13:22 GMT -5
We eat an insane number of eggs! I've taken to buying the brown free range ones from Aldi. I've been making breakfast more frequently lately for some reason, comfort food I guess. Every once in a while I feel the need to "egg" binge!
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Post by heirloomfan on Nov 3, 2023 16:53:25 GMT -5
Have a friend who has chickens and we buy her eggs. Always great quality. I just asked her how her hens did with the latest cold snap and snow, she said they’re hanging out in the warm coop and not laying right now.
On a related note, saw some people on a few of the You Tube homesteading channels had viewers comment that they bought feed for their chickens and it was moldy, which they said hasn’t happened before so I thought that was interesting and probably upsetting to them. My friend hasn’t had that happen to her yet. There were others who noticed their feed formulas changed and their hens stopped laying because of the change.
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Post by gardendmpls on Nov 4, 2023 19:59:56 GMT -5
I believe the feed formula thing may not be connected to the decrease in egg laying. Always read people reporting their egg laying has decreased or stopped because of this or that. Usually these reports occur during the fall molt season or during the winter season. My chickens are just finishing their molt and I am getting an egg every other day or so. Usually the younger hens briefly start up laying after the moult, but then stop in December, but not so far this year due to most of them being over four years old, some even six or more (the oldest is nine). One of the neighbors will be taking many of the older ones, except for a few favorites, for barbecue purposes. I've got 34- 3 week old chicks upstairs that are feathered out enough that I can distinguish most of their breeds- there are 17 breeds of chicks. They are already flying around and will be ready to go out in two and a half weeks. I expect they'll start laying in March and April. Will sell a few in the spring when people are looking for young layers. Then I'll try to get a few chicks of the other breeds I want in the flock- Wellsummers, Hamburgs and Buff Brahmas.
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Post by gardendmpls on Jan 3, 2024 7:58:40 GMT -5
Got it done, finally. Gave away the older chickens (23) which went for culinary purposes to three chicken chasers and their large families. Have 11 adults left- one 9-year-old, one 4-year-old and the rest under 3.
Tried to catch the 12-week-old chickens crowding the 7-foot pen upstairs. There is a door in the top at one end and three other doors on the sides. The top door is easiest, but when I go there, they run to the opposite end and when I go to the side door there, they back away from it and scatter. After an hour I was exhausted. Called in reinforcements- my daughter around the corner and her two teens and my other daughter, her husband and three girls here from England. Found out my son-in-law is a better chicken grabber than I am. The kids kept them running from the far side, my son-in-law grabbed. I put on the leg tags (cable ties) and then we put them in cat carriers with the help of the two youngest girls (ages 6 and 2). Made a few trips out in the dark and placed them on the coop perch bars.
Still have four in the cage. One is for sure a rooster and the other three are looking to be roosters, too, but not sure yet. If they are they will be supper for someone. So, 11 plus 29 in the coop and 4 more upstairs (have a holding pen to put together in the coop for them until they are big enough). Plan to sell some of the extra layers to cover costs and make sure there is enough room. Now I need to get the vacuum and remove all the feather dust and pine shavings from the room.
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Post by binnylou on Jan 3, 2024 11:13:00 GMT -5
Chicken chasers…
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Post by gardendmpls on Jan 19, 2024 16:37:04 GMT -5
All chickens have been out in the coop. One for sure is a rooster and will go into my friend's pot when a little bigger. The three others I will have to wait on a little longer. Went out to add warm water to the font and found it was working. No ice. Did find a young chicken dead behind the bag of pine shavings. No clue why. The others seem to be handling the weather well.
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Post by centralilrookie on Jan 22, 2024 23:38:44 GMT -5
With the sub freezing temperatures and me changing the girls feed manufacturer our egg production has been on the low side this last week. I was tickled today to bring in 7 butt nuggets from the 10 ladies. 👏👏👏
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Post by gardendmpls on Jan 23, 2024 7:01:31 GMT -5
That's good. I am only getting two from the ~10 adult hens. Yesterday when I was out refilling feed, I noticed a chicken hobbling along. Took her inside. She has a deep scab around her ankle with maybe a bit of bone showing, not broken but exposed. Soaked her foot and put on antiseptic. She spent the night in a cat carrier. Will go to the vet today. There is an avian vet in the large 24-hour vet hospital nearby. The hospital is in a wealthy area so it usually charges a lot, but it does have a lot of specialists.
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Post by datgirl on Jan 23, 2024 10:02:41 GMT -5
I think we got two eggs from our 9 hens yesterday. Actually bought eggs yesterday at Sam's.
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Post by centralilrookie on Feb 19, 2024 10:59:08 GMT -5
The combination of increased sunshine and warmer temps have the girls laying between 7-9 eggs a day. We’ve been getting a couple of green shelled eggs a day and was quite surprised to start finding an extra green butt nugget the last couple of days….. somebody must have been holding out on me! 😂
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Post by gardendmpls on Feb 19, 2024 12:32:08 GMT -5
Will go to the vet today. Follow-up: The avian vet was no longer at the hospital, so I called the avian and exotics vet they recommended. Had to pay in advance when I made the appointment for the next day. They must have a lot of problems with no shows or non-payers. Had to travel 40 minutes to Great Neck. The vet was good. We talked for a bit so she understood my background. She said that for some people their chickens were pets like dogs, and she would do x-rays, surgery etc. She saw I wasn't that kind of chicken person and we agreed that she would clean out the wound and give pain killer and antibiotics. Because of the new laws that limit antibiotics given to livestock, the vet had to let me know she didn't have the certificate required to prescribe for livestock animals (comes with a lot of paperwork). She could only give the anti-biotics if I never used the eggs or ate the chicken. With livestock given antibiotics by a certified vet, they can be used after the specified period of time for the medication to leave the body (usually around two weeks), but the rest of us have to promise not to. Also requested the chicken only get pain killer for three days. Can't have chickens hanging out on the corner trying to score some drugs. As of now, Molly chicken is off the antibiotics and using her foot, which is almost healed. Will put her back with the others in a few weeks when the weather warms. Been dutifully throwing out her eggs for now. She will get the blue leg tag indicating she is a permanent part of the flock. Any chicken I spend close to $200. on is a forever pet.
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