introducing myself....and a chicken question.

[nine_rugrats]

Hi!! I was browsing the forums and of course this one the caught my eye. LOL. I am 41 yrs old. I have 9 children. Six boys ages 22 (he is in Afganistan right now) 20, 18, 15, 12, 11 and 3 girls ages 9, 6, and 4. I also have a step daughter who is 16. I went thru a bad divorce 4 years ago, and then remarried 2 years ago....then a month after was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Thru my whole 1st marriage we had been trying to work towards (what turned out to be just my dream, i guess) self sufficiency. After the divorce the kids and i moved to town and we were miserable. So after getting married we bought an old farmhouse. I am married to a city boy, so it has been a fun adventure. We lived in a 2 bed room single wide while working on the house...while i was doing chemo, for about 6 months. Last year we moved into the house tho and are loving it. We decided against ch&a, and are in the midst of winter with only the wood stove for heat. Always before i had "back up" heat.
We also have chickens, milk goats, rabbits, horses and tons of cats and dogs. last year my garden wasnt very good...I just wasnt up to working on it like i needed to. So I am looking forward to getting my garden going this year.
I work at a health food store 2 days a week....i mainly do it for a discount, and we homeschool so i am pretty busy, but I am hoping to meet some like minded people here. Everyone i know thinks i am so weird. I guess i am for oklahoma..lol
On to my question....My chickens quit laying when it got cold, but still we arent getting even 1. My mom has some and they are laying well still. Is is something i am doing?? They were free range, but we penned them for the winter cause of all the predators out here looking for food for the winter. Does that have something to do with it???

[Ms. B. Sprout]

Welcome to MDC!

I am here in Country Living/Off the Grid to learn about chickens myself, so I'm interested in reading the responses to your question.

[wendybird]

I am in OK also, and our chickens mostly stopped laying during the cold spells ( out of 20 birds we got 1 or 2 eggs per day). They are back to 6-8 per day, but it is only the white egg layers going well, the brown egg layers are every 3 or 4 days. When we ordered them that was mentioned in the catalog too, that the white egg layers were more winter hardy. I don't know if that helps...

[aikigypsy]

We have 4 hens and are getting maybe 1 egg every 1-2 days... if we can find them. Ours are still free-ranging in the daytime, and they hide those eggs. Could they be hiding their egg-laying spot somewhere in the pen? What are you feeding them? Does their penned area get enough light, or is it in the shade?

I am new to all of this, so I don't really know. Those are just the things I could think of.

[nine_rugrats]

Mine are all brown layers...but my mom has some from the same batch mine are and they are laying. At first I thought it was the light, so we replaced some of the regular metal pieces on the roof with the sky light ones. I am feeding 18% pellets. Which i feed twice a day. How often do you feed them if penned up?? My dad said have feed always available.

[Tizzy]

We put a light on our girls and continue to have full production even on the -25(C) weather. They always have feed and water available, if they run out of either we'll lose 3-4 eggs (out of 40) the following day, and/or they will eat some eggs.

For our light we have a 100watt bulb on from 4am-7:30am, by then the sun is up and doesn't set until around 5:45pm. So they get at least 13hrs of light.
The only issue with this is that as soon as the light turns on at 4:30, the one hen drops her egg from the perches or if I go in at night and flip the light on, she'll lay it then and it will still be soft. So I try to work by light of the heat lamp after hours.

[nine_rugrats]

Thats the olny thing different from what I have done in the past..the light. I think I will put one in this weekend. How do you have feed always available...mine will knock it out of the feeder so we just throw it on the ground.

[Tizzy]

We have a hanging feeder, one of those typical galvanized metal ones. I found when we fed straight mash they would throw it all over but if we fed crumbles, they got bored. The guys at the feedmill roll their eyes at us but we mix it half and half and have very little to no wastage.
If yours keep it up and you don't have that many birds, maybe look at large birdfeeders that have a grid of some sort over the feeding troughs. Then they can't get their beaks in to flip it sideways out of the feeder

[nine_rugrats]

I got 2 eggs today. I am now thinking that i wasnt feeding them enough. I have 19 hens and so i should be getting at least 9 or 10 a day i would think. The last 2 days i upped the feed. Today I really did. So hopefully that will help.

You should of seen my 6 yr old dd when she found an egg. I dont think she gsts that excited at Christmas...lo

[mattemma04]

My dd is actually doing her science project on how cold affects egg laying in our hens.We have 3 red sex link hens that we bought in May 2009 as chicks.We keep them almost 24 hours in a metal shed that is not insulated,and has 2 small plexi glass windows I cut out for them in the fall.Suprisingly we get 2-3 eggs per day.We might get 2 eggs if the nighttime temp was less that 10 degrees.I was planning to get buffs,but the red sex link has been so productive despite the cold and lack of sun.I will be getting more of them in the spring.
Hugs and healings for you!

[PinkCedar]

[Chicky2]

I know that in the winter here we stopped doing a light and just increased the amount of scratch grains they get (they also get lay crumbles) because the corn helps to create body heat. That enables them to continue to lay because they are not using all their energy to keep warm.

Also, there are just certain breeds that are better winter layers. Off the top of my head I know that White Giants, White Rocks, and Aracaunas tend to lay well in winter. And leghorns, too.

What kind of rabbits do you raise? Are they meat rabbits? We raise Californians here.

Oh, and if you go the Murray McMurray website they have great descriptions of the breeds, and tell more about which breeds are known for being good winter layers, good setters, good mamas, etc.

[PinkCedar]

Is the light for light or heat, or light *and* heat?

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by HornOfTheGoatNymph

Is the light for light or heat, or light *and* heat?

Light is for helping the chickens to lay eggs, as that is often dependent on the amount of light they receive each day. Some people use a heat lamp in extreme weather, which can help the chickens use less energy keeping warm so more energy can be used for egg laying.

When chickens molt, they may not lay eggs while they are using their energy to replace lost feathers.

HTH!

BTW, is that you in the pic? I have a pic of me, mostly nakie on a horse when I was HUGELY preggo, lol. I love that pic!

[PinkCedar]

Originally Posted by Chicky2

Light is for helping the chickens to lay eggs, as that is often dependent on the amount of light they receive each day. Some people use a heat lamp in extreme weather, which can help the chickens use less energy keeping warm so more energy can be used for egg laying.

When chickens molt, they may not lay eggs while they are using their energy to replace lost feathers.

HTH!

BTW, is that you in the pic? I have a pic of me, mostly nakie on a horse when I was HUGELY preggo, lol. I love that pic!

Thanks! I jut got Raising Chickens for Dummies a few minutes ago, and have been browsing the BYC site tonight, so I'm learning more.

Nope, not me. Sadly, I've not been on a horse since I was 13 (about the last time I collected eggs from a coop actually...). But it looks like me!

Your picture sounds *so* beautiful! I envy you.

We have a little herd of wild horses here that we care for, but I haven't ridden in so long, it's just as well that they're wild!

[nine_rugrats]

Thanks for all the advice. We are getting a few eggs now. I upped feed and added a light, but i think it was a combo of both that is solving the problem. I have never penned them up before...they must eat a lot when they are free ranging huh?? Cause i only ever fed ours once a day. And we have had hens for many years....

We are thinking about getting rabbits for meat also, but i was afraid we would get attached to them. I will have to research some more about it. My dad had them, but he is old school and doesnt get attached to animals that he is using for food

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by nine_rugrats

We are thinking about getting rabbits for meat also, but i was afraid we would get attached to them. I will have to research some more about it. My dad had them, but he is old school and doesnt get attached to animals that he is using for food

We will probably never NOT have rabbits for meat. I grew up w/them, too, so I learned at an early age not to get attached to my food. My kids have learned not to get attached to the animals we use for food. Let me know if you have any rabbit ?s! You may not even live too far from me. I'm in N. Tx.