Just wanted to get my comment in. Six months ago, I ordered 25 day old pullets. I now have 25 laying hens that just started laying this month.

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I have lots of chicken feed(laying pellets, grain etc) saved up. I was really ready for anyhting. Now, I am putting a dozen of my hens in a seperate pen, feeding them all the corn, wheat, beans etc. etc. that I have stored up for Y2K so now I have organic eggs to eat and sell. How's that for being flexable?. Eagle.

-- Eagle (eagle@alpha1.net), January 03, 2000

Answers

Eagle,

Good for you! I would be careful and would only feed 1/2 each of regular commercial laying crumbles and your other mixture. Also, crack or sprout the beans, I think. Of course you know they can also eat all your table/kitchen scraps as well! Enjoy!

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), January 03, 2000.


Krisi, Thanks for the info. Eagle

-- eagle (eagle@alpha1.net), January 03, 2000.

Good for you, Eagle! I wish you lived near me! We can buy organic, free-range eggs at the whoel foods place but to have them THAT fresh--wow!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), January 03, 2000.

Eagle, how many hours of light are you running in that coop? In North America, we don't get enough natural daylight until end of winter, early spring for the girls to emerge from their molt. Our cherished Rhoda (Rhode Island Red) stopped laying in October & I don't expect an egg for a good month and a half!

-- Daisy Jane (deeekstrand@access1.com), January 04, 2000.

Eagle...it sounds like you are doing great in the egg department! I bought 6 chicks who are now laying hens. They are Rhode Island Reds. They are producing well without any artificial light. I get 3 to 6 eggs a day. Someone told me that you can feed chickens raw rice. (I was told they do this in Asia and that the eggs are excellent). Has anyone tried this? Thanks for the info if you know.

-- Hope (hope@spirit.com), January 04, 2000.


Daisy Jane, Old Git, Hope. I got my chicks from a hatchery called Murray McMurray Hatchery http. www.mcmurayhatchery.com 800-456-3280. They have a real nice free catalog and they sell every kind of chicken, duck turkeys supplies etc you could imagine. I got 25 baby chicks about 6 months ago. They are a special breed of brown egg layers that lay all year around. They are called Red Stars. They come in a lot of different colors and are really good natured, gentle and easy going. They are what they call sex link chicks which means the males and female chicks are different colors when they hatch so when you order all females, you don't get even 1 male. If I have some hens that don't seem to want to lay, I make a special nest. You need 4 boards 3' long and 1' wide. Just nail them together so you have a box 3' long and 1'high and 1' wide and cover one end and put a nest of straw or hay in the back and put a nest egg in there.. The little hens like to get way back in the back where they feel that they have some privacy in a kind of dark hidden place. Most important of all, I'm a Christian and I pray about everything, Hope this helps some. Eagle

-- Eagle (eagle@alpha1.net), January 04, 2000.

Daisy Jane-didn't answer your question earlier. I don't have any artifical light, just the sun, just a little house so they can get in out of the weather. The Red Stars are just really a nice breed of year around egg layers.. Eagle

-- Eagle (eagle@alpha1.net), January 04, 2000.

I've got 25 hens, of several breeds -- buffs, barred rocks, etc. They're about 8 months old and are now starting to give me about 8-10 eggs a day. I have them in a corner of a big shed where I built a pen and surrounded it with hay bales. They also have an outside wired run. Made nest boxes out of 4 gal. plastic buckets, with the lid cut 2/3 off the top portion. I keep a light on until 8-8:30 each night. I get scraps from a local grocery store to supplement layer mash. They seem happy -- as a bunch of clucks!

-- (cluck@cluck.com), January 05, 2000.

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