Chickens?

[agg221]

58 minutes ago, Will C said:

That’s a cracking colour egg 👍

It is quite impressive (and completely natural). All six chickens lay different eggs so are easily identifiable. That one came from Raven who is (unsurprisingly given the name) a Black Araucana. Everything was wrong - she was introduced later as a single chicken to an established flock, my wife got her because she wanted one, but particularly this one because she felt sorry for her as the runt. She had a damaged leg, couldn't stand properly and she had a really bad mite infestation. Extremely hard work for six weeks to get her recovered and introduced to the flock (involving a lot of controlled interaction in the garden with judicious use of a water pistol to manage interaction with the others!)

 

Now, she is smaller than the others but makes up for it with her feisty nature. She will always walk slightly oddly but she is happy and alert and extremely productive - over 250 eggs last year including two double-yolkers. They are definitely entertaining characters!

 

Alec

[Stere]

 

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Biggest cost not accounted in that is the winters and then the years after they slow down then stop laying, which is where they turn into pets I guess.

 

Also don't kill off the old hens either so they are like pets.

 

 

Did experiment with  lights on timmer as that controls laying but haven't bothered recently. It did seem to work but seems abit cruel into tricking then to laying more eggs.

 

How To Use Artificial Light for Chickens In Winter

POULTRYKEEPER.COM

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Egg production is linked to daylight hours. Artificial light for chickens during winter months can extend laying. Here's how...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2022 by Stere

[Ben Pinnick]

Never worked out the cost before, but we only pay £8 a bag for Farmgate layers pellets (20Kg) bag from either of our local stores (One farm foods/supplies the other pets). I mix in some Vermx too and thats a bit more at around £12 I think. So average is probably £9 per 20kg. One bag feeds our 7 for probably a month when they're allowed to fully forage (ours are normally 100% free range with the option to range over 5 acres, but they rarely go more than 30m from the coop/house) but its more right now where they're trapped in all day.

I read somewhere allowing roughly 1kg per week per bird is roughly correct and would seem about right for our hens right now, so that works out around 45p a week in food. Bedding cost etc. is so minimal that its only going to add a few p, so say 50p per bird per week if you ignore capital costs. Given you get probably 5 eggs per week average over a year if you keep a mixed flock of fancy (read awkward) chickens and good layers, you have roughly 10p per egg costs.

[Ben Pinnick]

Also if you are going to get some 'new' chickens I would recommend Amber's. They are super friendly and very good layers. We even had one that consistently laid up to 100g double yokers for nearly a year. They're also super friendly, the sit on your lap of their own choice kind of chicken. Unfortunately someone walking a footpath on our land let their dog run into the same field as our super layer was foraging in and she was no more

We have a mixed flock at the moment but if we do replace/add it will be more Ambers.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Ben Pinnick

[cowolter]

In general, they're pretty hardy creatures. Main thing to look out for is predators. Make sure the coop is very secure at night. Weasels can dig. Raccoons can open simple doors. I'd recommend Storey's guide to Raising Chickens book. Your library may even have a copy.

[MattyF]

Have found electric fences a must , well for us anyway as I've seen foxes go through or under enclosed runs .. they seem to get a few hits off an electric fence and never go near them again.

[Bob_z_l]

2 hours ago, MattyF said:

Have found electric fences a must , well for us anyway as I've seen foxes go through or under enclosed runs .. they seem to get a few hits off an electric fence and never go near them again.

Yep. Decent energiser and sheep netting.

 

[peds]

This little mother clucker, only just a baby herself, is doing a grand old job so far. Six eggs hatched from a clutch of eight, the remaining two were dragging on so I took them away. Ah well.

 

Great fun to watch. Mum is teaching them well.

[gary112]

13 minutes ago, peds said:

This little mother clucker, only just a baby herself, is doing a grand old job so far. Six eggs hatched from a clutch of eight, the remaining two were dragging on so I took them away. Ah well.

 

Great fun to watch. Mum is teaching them well.

Brilliant

[peds]

It is, they were mostly hatched on Easter Sunday, perfect timing. The kids' egg hunt ended here in the chicken shed. The big chocolate egg and a handful of little chicks was a much better finale than two years ago, when one of our cats nearly eviscerated the Easter bunny right in front of them (a wild rabbit happened to hop through the garden at just the wrong time, and after being chased for a few laps, luckily he went through a hole in the fence just marginally too small for the cat). That would have put a dampener on the whole thing.