ISO advice on raising laying hens...

[Sprout]

Sorry to be useless, but at first I thought this said "advice on laying hens." My first thoughts were:

1. It helps if you're a chicken.
2. Call me crazy, but I think they come out as eggs, not as hens immediately.

I'm glad most people aren't as dim-witted as I am at the moment, so you've managed to get some real advice! I think it's time for bed!

 

[CWS4322]

You're good. I should have phrased that differently! Can you tell I know nothing about laying hens?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Sorry to be useless, but at first I thought this said "advice on laying hens." My first thoughts were:

1. It helps if you're a chicken.
2. Call me crazy, but I think they come out as eggs, not as hens immediately.

I'm glad most people aren't as dim-witted as I am at the moment, so you've managed to get some real advice! I think it's time for bed!

Smart aleck!

 

[Sprout]

You're good. I should have phrased that differently! Can you tell I know nothing about laying hens?

Nah, i just missed the key word: "raising."

and yes, PF, "Smart Alec" is one of the nicer labels I've been given.

 

[CWS4322]

We had a busy day yesterday. We drove east 1 hour to pick up 4 2-month old barred Plymouth Rock pullets, and I caved. I had to have a rooster. I wasn't going to get a rooster but I fell in love with how handsome the Barred Plymouth Rock rooster is. Another reason for me to get additional cards for my camera--I need to take pictures of them. They've settled in very nicely. It is too cold and wet to put them outside in their "chicken run" (a 4 ft. x 12 ft. run that has a top and a bottom, as well as "roosting boards" and I guess what you'd call a coop. I won't be leaving them out at night, they can go in the barn. Which is where they are now. Each has it's own personality. They are quite fun to watch. And, they are very people friendly, which the breed is known to be.

After bringing the livestock home, we turned around and headed south-west for an hour to pick up the new rototiller in New York. The same model was 50% more here in Canada, so we paid the HST (which would've been less than the HST would've been if we'd bought it here). All in all, we saved about $250 getting the rototiller in the States. It is so much quieter than the other two we have (one of which breaks down more than it runs...the other is too light weight to do all the rototilling we do). So, all in all, it was a busy day at the farm...and a lot of time in the truck.

 

[sparrowgrass]

Oh, you will have such good breakfasts. And lunches and dinners, too.

Fried rice and egg drop soup are so good when you have real eggs to go in them.

 

[CWS4322]

I can hardly wait until they start laying eggs...right now, they are just fun to watch! My DH is back in the city for the week. He'll probably be surprised by how much they will have grown during the week.

They are really attractive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock_(chicken)

Although, the how to raise chickens book I have has a picture of a PURPLE chicken--but there's no caption identifying the breed! Being that I love purple, I'd like purple chickens!

 

[sparrowgrass]

When that first egg shows up, you will be so proud, you will crow just like you laid it yourself!!

The first ones will probably be small, even teeny, and some may not have a yolk. When I get a teeny one, I leave it on the windowsill to dry out. Don't worry, they won't go rotten or explode, the water content will gradually evaporate. I use the little ones in decorative nests or pile them in a bowl.

Some of the girls may start out with big eggs, or double yolkers. Takes them a while to get regulated, I guess. You will also be surprised, as time goes on, to see very oddly shaped eggs ocasionally--long and pointed, wrinkled, or with little bumps and knobs of calcium.

Commercial producers pull all those oddly shaped eggs and send them to bakeries.

 

[CWS4322]

I'm picking up two Rhode Island Reds that are 27 weeks old on the weekend. They are already laying, but I anticipate that they won't lay for a few weeks once they get here. Figured if I wanted to add to the "flock" I should do so sooner than later. The chicken coop and chicken yard is big enough to have up to 10. I don't know that I could handle that many eggs.

Have you ever frozen dggs from your hens in the shell? I read you can do that and use them for baking...friends say they want eggs, but I doubt they will come to the farm to get them. I am not about to start delivering eggs...

Ironically, the first house my DH and I rented when we were first married was known as "the eggman's place." I guess we've come full circle 23 years later.

Any suggestions on introducing the Rhode Island Reds to the barred Rock Plymouths?

 

[medtran49]

I saw something in my Internest travels about preserving eggs using salt, you might want to Google it.

My friend that has the hens sells eggs and people do come to her to pick-up so don't rule that out. There are people that want freshly-laid eggs that badly.

 

[Claire]

Amazing what you can learn on this web site! I know next to nothing on the subject, but will say that a camp site we used to frequent in northern Florida had a flock of Muscovy ducks and one chicken (a cock). He used to herd the ducks and was, without a doubt, "cock of the roost" even though he was smaller than them. So I assume ducks and chickens can live together. But, then, maybe this was a demented flock.

 

[CWS4322]

I know that people who live on sailboats preserve fresh eggs in salt. I've got a cookbook/food guide for those sail around here s/where and that is included. Getting fresh eggs is sometimes a challenge when you are out at sea <g>. If I remember, the eggs in the salt can keep for up to 12 months.

 

[sparrowgrass]

You will NOT have any trouble getting rid of your eggs. I keep friends and family supplied from my 18 hens, and often have to tell folks that they have to wait for a couple of days for eggs.

Eggs last a long, long time--if you don't wash them. Washing eggs takes away a protective coating. If you do have to wash them, and sometimes they are really dirty, wash them in warmish water with just a drop of dish soap. (Cold water causes the shell to contract, and bacteria on the surface may be drawn into the egg.)

Store washed eggs in the fridge. Unwashed eggs keep just fine in a cool place. If you want to hardboil some of your eggs, use washed ones, and let them sit in the fridge for at LEAST 3 weeks. If you use them sooner, you will not be able to peel them.

If your older hens are already laying, they will probably continue to lay after you move them. I wouldn't worry too much about how to introduce them--they will probably sort things out themselves in a day or two, especially if they have room to get away from each other. If you notice serious fighting (blood, especially) separate them with a piece of chicken wire, so they can still see each other and try again in a couple of days. You could also put the 'ringleader' in a big wire dog crate for a while.

 

[CWS4322]

I decided to pick up 2 Rhode Island Red laying hens (28 weeks old) yesterday. They are so tame. Lovely birds. I anticipated that it would be a couple of weeks before they adjusted to their new environment and laid eggs. One of them gave me an egg tonight! It was so cool to see the egg in the nesting box! Clean, perfectly shaped, and the size of a large egg. Wow! The shells are really porous when you take the eggs out of the nesting box. I knew that, but I didn't know the shell was that porous. I coddled that egg all the way back to the house (and probably had a grin from ear-to-ear--I was so proud of that hen and to be carrying that egg to the house).

The person I bought the hens from has had chickens for years. His brother works for one of the large egg producing facilities in the area. I was shocked when he told me that the eggs are sometimes held for 12 months in the warehouse before they are shipped to grocery stores. In our area, farm fresh eggs go for $2.50-3.00 / dozen. The last time I checked, eggs in the grocery store (not on special) were $2.87/dozen.

I'm hoping the other hen will start laying again soon. This having laying hens is fun.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I decided to pick up 2 Rhode Island Red laying hens (28 weeks old) yesterday. They are so tame. Lovely birds. I anticipated that it would be a couple of weeks before they adjusted to their new environment and laid eggs. One of them gave me an egg tonight! It was so cool to see the egg in the nesting box! Clean, perfectly shaped, and the size of a large egg. Wow! The shells are really porous when you take the eggs out of the nesting box. I knew that, but I didn't know the shell was that porous. I coddled that egg all the way back to the house (and probably had a grin from ear-to-ear--I was so proud of that hen and to be carrying that egg to the house).

The person I bought the hens from has had chickens for years. His brother works for one of the large egg producing facilities in the area. I was shocked when he told me that the eggs are sometimes held for 12 months in the warehouse before they are shipped to grocery stores. In our area, farm fresh eggs go for $2.50-3.00 / dozen. The last time I checked, eggs in the grocery store (not on special) were $2.87/dozen.

I'm hoping the other hen will start laying again soon. This having laying hens is fun.

So...did you have an egg tonight?

 

[pacanis]

Wait until you get your first soft egg... it will freak you out. Very weird. It looks perfect sitting in the nestbox, but it's like handling a water balloon when you pick it up.

 

[CWS4322]

And what is the cause of that? Not enough calcium in the diet?

 

[pacanis]

And what is the cause of that? Not enough calcium in the diet?

I don't know. Maybe. I've only seen two (in four years from five hens) and both times it was early Spring, so it was a first egg after their winter break from just one hen.

 

[CWS4322]

Speaking of which, I probably best go let mine out of lock up <g>.

 

[CWS4322]

My other little red hen laid an egg for me, so now I have two. I'm having an aspargus-mushroom-cheese omette made with FRESH eggs for lunch!!!! I also got a card for my camera, so maybe I'll take pictures of the eggs, and the omelette cooking...and when it's done...but probably start with a picture of the girls...