Three, then Six, now Five

Tags

austrolorp, chickens, Coops, Easter Egger, eggs, nesting boxes

For weeks, Will has been pestering me about getting more animals.  Goats, pigs, ducks, horses, cows, you name it, he wants it.  I firmly put my foot down – “Not until after I’m back from Regina in June.  You can’t be a single parent, AND start rehearsals, AND run a homestead all by yourself.  No more animals.”

Then we bought three more hens.

Because as Will pointed out, looking after six chickens is just as easy as looking after three.  Which, to be honest, it really is.

A couple of weekends ago, I drove out to Blackstrap Lake, and bought three hens from a guy who was downsizing his flock.  When I brought them home, there was a brief, but fairly violent scuffle, in which the new pecking order was worked out, and then they settled very quickly into a happy little flock (Ginger broke a nail, and I just couldn’t get it to stop bleeding.  Eventually dipped her nail in cornstarch, and then bought styptic powder for future broken nails).  In addition to Ginger, who is a Basque hen, and the two Barred Rocks (little Barred Rock and big Barred Rock), we added an Austrolorp and two Easter Eggers.

An Easter Egger and the Austrolorp taking a dust bath together.

That day, I discovered a secret nest in the barn with seven brown eggs.  It belonged to one of the Barred Rocks, the little Barred Rock I think.  I decided to start converting the grain shed into a coop, so that I could get them all set up in a proper coop with proper nesting boxes.  The girls were very excited and very curious.  It was impossible to keep them out as I tried to clean out the old grain and rat poop (yes, I wore a mask the whole time).

Nesting boxes made from an old table I found, and shakes and siding from the building we demolished.  I used the air stapler – what fun!

Feeding station.  There’ll be one more in the middle once I move them from the barn. 

They’re helping.  Seriously. 

The next morning, Will  went to the barn to give them water and found the big Barred Rock hen sitting on the floor with her pals around her.  She was nearly dead.  He brought her back to the house, and she died in my hands about five minutes later.  Poor dear.  I have no idea what happened.  She was fine the day before, scratching around the yard and foraging with the others.  Her crop was full.  My only guess is that she either ate something stupid, like an old nail or a staple, or she ate some rat poison.  I had been finding empty old packets of rat poison as I cleaned out the grain shed, and I found some in the barn, too.  There was nothing I could’ve done.  It would be impossible to clean the barn or shed well enough to get rid of rat poison if there was still some around.  None of the other girls in the flock have shown any signs of sickness, so thankfully, whatever did her in didn’t spread to the rest.  Moving to the country, I have reconciled with the fact that from time to time, I’m going to lose animals.  It’s not easy, but I’ve accepted that it’s going to happen.

That night, Ginger and the little Barred Rock slept together in big Barred Rock’s usual nesting spot.  The next night, they were back on the roost.  I think they were mourning.  Or am I anthropomorphiz-ing?

Anyway, now there are five.  Work continues on the grain shed.  I’ve got to make a very secure run, and I’m not a carpenter, so it takes me a really long time to make anything since I make it, then realize what I should’ve done, take it all apart and rebuild it.  Sometimes two or three times.

Attempt No. 1 – wobbly

Attempt No. 2 – sturdier

Third and final attempt – sturdiest!  Hurrah!

Yesterday, I discovered ANOTHER secret nest in the barn containing eleven pale green eggs.

One of the stalls in the barn has about a foot of manure and straw in it that we haven’t mucked out yet.  I knew one of the Easter Eggers had been flying over the walls and scratching around in there, but today I went it to take a good look at the feed trough, and sure enough, she had made a lovely little nesting spot in some old hay in the feed trough.  Eleven eggs.  Sneaky little chicken.  On a positive note, that means Ginger or the little Barred Rock are laying since I’ve been getting three brown eggs a day, and I thought they were all from the new girls!

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The Chickens are Good

Tags

backyard chickens, Chicken, Chicken feed, eggs, Food and Related Products, Poultry

I haven’t written about the girls in a while (other than that disturbing/awesome experience with Liesl a few weeks ago).  I’ve been all about the garden, and I’ve neglected reporting on my chooks.

Things are going very well with my ladies. We decided to ditch the organic feed that we bought back in May. They simply weren’t thriving on it. They had lost weight and egg production had gone way down. They had realized they could pick through it and just eat the tasty bits, so they weren’t getting proper nutrition.

We decided to try a new line of organic feed from Early’s (our local feed store). Although I liked buying from a local farmer, my girls’ health is my priority. They are doing so much better on the new feed. We are getting two eggs a day (from Liesl and Scruffy) whereas we were only getting one or two eggs a week before. Ginger has gone into molt, but her neck feathers have already grown back in, and everyone has gained weight.

I got some fat, healthy chickens again. Hurrah!

 

Weird Egg Gallery

Tags

backyard chickens, eggs, Poultry, Strange eggs

Here’s a couple more for the Weird Egg Gallery.

Interestingly enough, they all come from Liesl. Older chickens lay the strangest eggs, I guess.

A Three-Egg Day is Always a Good Day

Tags

a good day, backyard chickens, eggs, laying hens, nesting box, Poultry

I love opening up the nesting box and seeing this –

It kinda makes my day.  Thanks, ladies.  Keep up the stellar work.

Yay for Ginger!

Tags

backyard chickens, chickens, eggs, Poultry

Ladies and Gentlemen –

Ginger has laid an egg.

First one in eight months.  Can I get an Amen?

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.  I’m hoping to hit some major garage sales this weekend!

Just in Time for Easter

Tags

Ameracuana, backyard chickens, blue eggs, Easter Egger, eggs

Scruffy is laying again.  Hallelujah!  She started “presenting” hardcore about a week ago, so we knew the eggs were on their way.

She’s laid two eggs in three days.  I’m not sure when she laid the first one, but I found it in the morning in the coop under the roost, and frozen solid.  I think she dropped it off the roost.  Must’ve been a bit of a surprise.  Yesterday, though, I could tell she was going to lay because she kept going in and out of the coop, finally settling in the nesting box to lay a perfect little blue egg.

Now Ginger, it’s your turn to start up again.  I’ve given up on Liesl.  She’s been such a good layer, but she’s five years old now.  She’ll be “retiring” this spring.

We’re Getting a bit Desperate

Tags

backyard chickens, chicken problems, egg production, eggs, hens not laying eggs

With the loss of Greta, we are now down to three hens.  Three hens who haven’t laid any eggs since September (actually, Liesl made a brief comeback in November and laid three eggs before she decided to quit again.  Little jerk.)

As the title says, we’re getting a bit desperate.  It’s not cool having to buy your eggs at the farmers’ market when you have three chickens living in your backyard.

We’re not the only ones looking for answers to this problem.  I went to backyardchickens.com (my go-to site for all my chicken questions) and the first thing I see is an article titled, “Why Aren’t My Chickens Laying?  Here Are Your Answers!”  Apparently, this question gets asked several times a day on the forum.

According to the article, these are the basic causes of decreased egg production:

Problem 1:  Decreasing day length.  Well, yes.  The daylight has decreased, but we’re now past the Solstice, so everyday is a little longer.  However, this shouldn’t have affected our girls as we put an artificial light in the coop when we winterized it, and set the timer to give them 14 – 16 hours of light per day.

Our one mistake here could have been putting the light in before the older girls finished their molt.  Having the light may have slowed down the molt, so that it wasn’t complete, and therefore the girls may never have restored to full egg production.

Remedy?  Turn off the light for a month.  We decided to cut the light entirely, giving Ginger and Liesl a chance to complete their molts.

Problem 2:  Molt.  Again, yes.  Greta and Liesl both went through pretty heavy molts in October, and sweet, stupid little Ginger decided to have her first molt in December.  Liesl and Greta had both finished by the end of October, and we thought Liesl had resumed laying in mid-November (turns out, she was just being a tease), but Greta never resumed laying at all.

Remedy?  See above remedy for Problem 1.  Hopefully, with the light gone, it’ll give Ginger and Liesl a chanced to complete their molts. Here’s the positive side of molting – not only does it replace the hen’s old, worn-out feathers, the molt also rejuvenates the oviduct (the part that makes the eggs), so that when the pullet does start laying again, she lays bigger, better eggs.  Hurrah!

Problem 3:  Broodiness.  Nope.  The stimulus for broodiness is usually a nest full of eggs.  No eggs = no broodiness.

Problem 4:  Flock health.  Oh boy, yes.  We’ve had some health issues in the flock.  Even today, I noticed that Liesl still had a bit of a runny nose, and Scruffy sneezed at me when I went in the run to give them some scratch.  Greta was certainly wheezing at times, too.  They seem to have caught some sort of respiratory virus.  I gave Liesl antibiotics when she was at her worst, to prevent any type of secondary infection.  Adding GermeZone to their water seemed to clear up the worst symptoms.

Remedy?  I’m going to try boosting their immune systems by giving them yogurt and apple cider vinegar. Some chicken keepers out there swear by it!

Problem 5: Age.  For the two older girls, yes.  We adopted Liesl and Greta when they were already three years old.  The woman we got them from raised them from day-old chicks, so I’m guessing that January 2013 would be their 5th birthday on this planet.  According to the article, chickens produce well until they are two or three years old, then egg production begins to decline.

However, this doesn’t apply to the babies.  Ginger will be a year old in January, and we have yet to see Scruffy’s first egg, even though she’s well past 20 weeks of age.  Is it possible the younger two aren’t laying because Liesl, the top hen, isn’t laying?  Do chickens behave like that?

Remedy?  Greta has already passed away, and we have made the sensible, but painful decision to dispatch Liesl in the spring.

Problem 6:  Poor nutrition.  The girls have unlimited access to a well-balanced layer ration that we buy from our local feed store, as well as a dish of crushed oyster shells.  In the winter, we give them vegetable scraps and old bread , as well as scratch (a mixture of cracked corn, millet, and black sunflower seeds) before bed so that their body temperature goes up a bit while they digest.  According to the article, all this supplemented food serves to unbalance their diet.

In late August of this year, our feed store changed the brand of layer ration.  We remember this because it changed from a crumble to a pellet, and the girls started making a huge mess of it, so Will built them a new feeder at the beginning of September.  September was also when egg production from all three laying chickens halted.  I thought it was because the older ones were molting, but perhaps it has something to do with this new brand of ration.

Remedy?  No more scraps and snacks.  Layer ration and oyster shell only. The article suggests supplementing only what the hens will clean up in 15 minutes or not at all, so we’re going to try NOT AT ALL.  I’m also going to investigate a new brand of layer ration.

Problem 7:  Stress.  I know that hens can get easily stressed out, but I can’t think of any huge stress factors that may be causing the lack of eggs.  It’s possible that taking Marianne away, and introducing Scruffy to the flock in late August caused the halt, but it’s been almost four months now, and things are pretty peaceful around here.  The lack of ventilation in the coop may also have contributed to some stress.

Remedy?  We added ventilation to the coop when we noticed frost building up inside, and after cutting a huge hole in the back wall, there’s been a noticeable reduction in the frost, as well as the smell of ammonia. Keeping the girls safe, healthy and dry are the best ways to reduce stress.

After all this analysis, my guess is that the lack of eggs is a combination of poor health, and possibly poor nutrition.  I’m definitely going to look into this new layer ration because I find it too much of a coincidence that all three stopped laying shortly after giving them the new feed.  But I can’t deny that their health hasn’t been the best either.  Hopefully with a balanced diet, and some immune system boosters, we’ll have eggs coming our way in the New Year.

Return of the Egg(s)

Tags

backyard chickens, decoy eggs, eggs, Molt

Hallelujah! A chicken laid an egg.  Egg production halted way back in September.  Then the molting began, and the chicken colds, and we were starting to wonder if we’d ever see an egg again.  But here it is – living proof that good things come in small packages.  I felt like a kid on Christmas morning when I opened the nesting box and found this little guy.

We’re not entirely sure who it came from.  It looks like Liesl’s, but Scruffy is also an Ameracauna, and is supposed to lay blue-green eggs.  It’s also a bit on the small side for Liesl, who tends to lay large eggs.  However, I’m 95% sure it’s Liesl’s because when I was herding the girls back into the run yesterday, she presented.  Scruffy hasn’t shown any signs of being ready to lay an egg yet, but you never know.

Anyway, now that (hopefully) Liesl is laying again, the rest should follow suit.  She’s the top hen, the unchallenged leader of the group, and the rest simply follow her lead.

By the way, I put the decoy egg in about a week ago.  Sometimes chickens need a reminder of what their purpose in life really is (i.e. lay some damn eggs).  Apparently, they see the egg, and they think, “Oh yeah, I used to lay those things.  Better get on that.”  Not sure if that’s really true, but it seemed to work this time.  (I know I could use a decoy now and then to keep me on track with my life’s purpose.)

Have your chickens started laying again?  Do yours go through a molt and take a little break, or do you have egg production all year long?  I’d love to hear about your experiences – leave a little note in the comment section below.

Egg Hiatus

Tags

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir, backyard chickens, chickens, eggs, Frank McCourt quote, soft-boiled egg

I ate the last of the eggs for breakfast on Saturday.  Hopefully, the ladies will start laying again soon.  It’s funny to think that eggs also have a season.  We are so used to being able to buy whatever we want, whenever we want at a grocery store, that we are really out of touch with the natural cycle of food.

I admit, with some shame, that up until last year, I had never eaten a soft-boiled egg.  I was reading Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (heartbreaking novel), and I came across this quote.  I have to say, I wholeheartedly agree.

I look at my brother Malachy. Did you hear that? Our own egg of a Sunday morning. Oh, God, I already had plans for my egg. Tap it around the top, gently crack the shell, lift with a spoon, a dab of butter down into the yolk, salt, take my time, a dip of the spoon, scoop, more salt, more butter, into the mouth, oh, God above, if heaven has a taste it must be an egg with butter and salt . . .

Not All Eggs Are Created Equally

Tags

Animal, backyard chickens, Chicken, eggs, Home, Poultry

To all the city dwellers out there who oppose backyard chickens because they think chickens stink (they don’t), or they make too much noise (not half as much as a dog), or it’s part of a “rural lifestyle” (it’s not; people kept chickens in cities up ’til about the 1950s), or they think the eggs are unsanitary (ridiculous!), I have only one question:  Would you rather eat an egg from a chicken that lives here . . .

Image via gmo-journal.com

. . . or here?

Look at Ginger spread her wings!

I know my answer.

P.S.  We made a decision this week – Marianne has got to go.  She’s just too noisy, and we’re afraid she’ll tick off the neighbours.  No, we’re not going to dispatch her.  The fellow we bought her from is willing to trade her for another (hopefully calmer and quieter) hen.  I’ll keep you posted on the new girl when we get her later this week!

Related articles

• Eggs From Jude’s Back Yard (christiescorner.com)
• Plump, Happy, Colorful Eggs (liberationwellnessblog.com)
• Three French hens (energybulletin.net)