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12:10 pm
March 14, 2011
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I'm new to the whole chicken 
thing… this is my first year with them. All 14 of my hens were born this past spring, I believe in March. I have a mixed flock, Americaunas, Rhode Island Reds, one Polish Crested, Cochins, and Red Sex Links. Up until the last week I had been getting 12 eggs per day out of them, but over the last week I'm down to 6-8. Since the days are getting shorter (and we had some horrible dreary weather here in South Central Pa), I am supplementing with 65 watts of light in the coop, which I keep on for 14 hours per day. Is this a normal seasonal thing, the rapid drop in egg production in the fall? I haven't seen any evidence that they are eating 
the eggs, and I've started keeping them penned up until evening so I know they aren't hiding them around the yard.
12:23 pm
February 10, 2009
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Normal Jeana!
Your mileage will vary of course, but they are foraging less, getting fewer yummy bugs, light is decreasing, they're wanting to go to roost earlier because it's cooler and darker.
Feed bills are going to go up, and electricity bill too perhaps. I don't usually add much light because I'm not trying to get maximum egg production, but a couple hours in the AM or PM is helpful.
Once they get into a new routine and start eating their winter rations better, your production will likely get a little better, but your dozen a day is probably at an end till spring.
12:54 pm
March 14, 2011
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I hope my feed bill doesn't go up too much! We go through a $15.00 bag of Layena per week… for 14 hens, 3 roosters, a Pekin duck and 2 Indian Runner ducks. If my feed costs go up too much more they are going to have to go out and get part time jobs and start paying room and board! 
6:52 pm
November 29, 2009
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Ours still layed through their first winter, but there was definitely a drop. Some of them stopped entirely in the fall and didn't start again until spring. I hear ya on the feed prices. We've got 19 chickens, 4 ducks, and 4 guineas and even though they free range they go through a lot of food. We certainly aren't saving money keeping chickens! I always just tell dh "hey they're my hobby!" I could have a $300 shoe hobby so it could be worse….
7:20 pm
February 10, 2009
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It's definitely cheaper to buy factory raised store bought eggs at the super center, but who knows what the hens were fed, or how they were treated, not to mention how long the eggs sat in a warehouse, how far they got shipped and how long they sat in the back room at the grocery store before they ever made it out to the display case for sale.
7:52 pm
February 22, 2010
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Yep, it's cheaper to buy eggs in store but I still say there is a difference in taste…not to mention the looks.
8:27 pm
February 10, 2009
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Absolutely Miss Judy! That and I'd miss my girls if they weren't nattering around the yard!
9:56 pm
September 30, 2010
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it is normal to see a drop in production this time if year, however, sometime it might just be that they need to be wormed…if you don't want to use wormed from the feed store, old farmers around here suggest adding a little cayenne pepper to your girls feed
7:04 am
October 31, 2010
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Plus….I understand that MOST if not ALL supermarket eggs are now irradiated (in the name of pasteurization) so you can hardly get an egg in it's natural state anymore! 
8:30 pm
March 14, 2011
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Landodixy said:
old farmers around here suggest adding a little cayenne pepper to your girls feed
I'll have to try that!
8:58 pm
July 17, 2011
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My Black Australorp girls are beautiful and personable (henable?) and they produce big eggs with orange yolks, or they would have a hard time justifying the $25.50 I pay per bag of Countryside Organics feed for them. They were hatched the first week of March and started laying July 24th. Just the last two weeks they have started slowing down on egg production. We have had a lot of dark, overcast days and a lot of rain, which keeps them from foraging as much. I thought briefly about buying cheaper feed for the winter when they are not giving me many eggs, but went yesterday and bought another $53 worth of feed. I don't even try to figure out how much eggs cost me per dozen, because I know I'll never go back to eating those pale yolked eggs with thin whites that run all over the pan when you break them.
12:16 pm
March 14, 2011
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Wildflower_VA said:
I don't even try to figure out how much eggs cost me per dozen, because I know I'll never go back to eating those pale yolked eggs with thin whites that run all over the pan when you break them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yikes, that is pricey!! I guess my feed bill isn't so bad after all! And, like you, I could never go back to store bought eggs again. My daughter hit puberty at the age of 9 1/2 and I am convinced that it is because of all of the hormones and steroids and other junk they are adding to food these days. I wish I had started with chickens a long time ago! Oh well, better late than never I guess. And now that I can really appreciate the freshness of "farm raised", I ordered a 1/2 of a cow
from a local farm , pasture raised, organic, angus beef. (my neighbor and I are splitting the meat.. since I have a feeling that is gonna be a LOT of beef!) It's due to be slaughtered in early October, I can't wait to taste how wonderfully fresh that meat is! My next purchase is going to be a locally raised hog
(already butchered). It definitely makes me feel good to know that it is possible to feed my family food that I know hasn't been "doctored" in any way.
6:20 pm
August 24, 2010
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Another good wormer is Pumpkin. I take halved pumpkins and put em in a few different spots. In just a few hours time it's just a shell. I'm pretty sure I read this in the Backyard Poultry magazine.
Or it could be time for a moult, a little break. I think mine are moulting early this year, but I would prefer they moult before the super cold winter temps hit.
Jeana, you'll love the fresh beef and pork. We've raised our own "freezer" cows for 3 years now, but that's what hubby grew up on. And we buy locally raised pork from our butcher. The best bacon and chops ever. I despise buying my meat from the store after the convenience of "shopping" in my 2 freezers and knowing exactly what's in it, how the animal was raised, what type of life they lead. And the price breakdown per pound (over the whole animal..steak, roast, hamburger) is sooo much better than paying store prices. Even figuring in the cost of feed!
This is our 2nd year of raising our own Thanksgiving turkeys too, and I just brought home a Jersey cow. 
Never had fresh milk before, but WOW! No wonder I have never cared for the pasteurized, homogonized store stuff! Loving it!! 
10:04 pm
August 30, 2008
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I give my chickens all our food scraps, any left over raw milk, etc. That, with free ranging as much as possible, really keeps the feed cost down. No potato or avacado, but everything else goes to them. I have beautiful birds, and lots of eggs. They will cut back as the day gets shorter, but come February, I start to notice more and more eggs.
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