Garden Tractor Forums banner

I Think I'm In For It...

1K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  oldedeeres 
#1 ·
or should I say, for a lot of eggs. We went from 10 older hens last fall to now 9 old hens( lost one over winter) and 18 young ones. Got a collection, Barred rock, Buff Brahmas, Rhode Islands, Black Giants, Americanas, Buff orpington, few others. Now that weather is getting warmer and days are getting longer, the eggs are starting to come. I was getting 4-5 eggs a week in Dec/Jan, now I'm already getting 6-8 per day.

I can tell the young hens are laying as the eggs are small, I know they will get bigger as hens age. I'me waiting for the Americanas to start, looking forward to some greenies! one of my old girls gave me a double yolk last week, made for a great samich! Should be able to get rid of most of them, my 4 sisters do a lot of baking and they also can sell to girls at work.

Who else has some chickens?
 
#5 ·
My dad, member nyabc has chickens too. He has nine older hens a few years old and his new hens, appox 25, just started laying at the beginning of the month. The new ones are a good mix. He is getting a couple dozen eggs a day I think.

He gives them to the neighbors. I take quite a few. I think in the spring, the older hens are destined for the stew pot.
 
#6 ·
Last spring we got 9 layers and a rooster, but through the summer we lost three hens. Dang cats, its nice to have good mousers,but when they start killing my chickens... lets just say I got rid of the problem.

Last fall they were laying about 6-8 eggs a day. Now through the winter we were getting 4-6 a day. In about a month or so I'll go get a few more to replace the ones we lost (one of the Barred Rocks was my daughters pet so will be getting a couple of those).

We sell a couple of dozen a week, though I didn't ask for the money, get enough to buy pellets for them. Also feed them alot of corn. I got around 60 bushels of ear corn from my buddy that was on the ground (one of the doors on the feeder house was open for a couple of rounds).

The kids really enjoy shelling corn with the old sheller and then running it through the burr mill. Its a bit of work doing it that way, but a little work never hurt anyone.
 
#7 ·
I would love to get some, but currently can not. We buy our eggs from a local farm down the road $3 a dozen delivered to our door. Night and day difference from the store. And the egg shells go to our labs, they LOVE egg shells Vet said it's ok too and their coats have never looked better.
 
#8 ·
I would love to get some, but currently can not. We buy our eggs from a local farm down the road $3 a dozen delivered to our door. Night and day difference from the store. And the egg shells go to our labs, they LOVE egg shells Vet said it's ok too and their coats have never looked better.
Do you chopped them up real fine and just add to food?

We were only supposed to have 12 new ones, the dogs got into the cage when little so the wife went and got another 9 so we ended up with 18 young ones. We were going to take the old ones to the butcher, found out how far, costs, etc and decided to just keep them, they are slowing dying off. I don't charge my family anything although my sisters feel obliged to pay me, really doesn't cover the feed. My one sister does take them to her work, she charges 2.50-3.00 a dozen so that helps a little. We got them just for ourselves, nothing like fresh brown eggs over the store ones, especially when I let them out to pick in the field for a few days.

Other than having to keep constant eye on "Chuck" our rooster, they are not bad to have, except in middle of August when temps are 95*, Wheehoo.
 
#9 ·
I would love to get some, but currently can not. We buy our eggs from a local farm down the road $3 a dozen delivered to our door. Night and day difference from the store. And the egg shells go to our labs, they LOVE egg shells Vet said it's ok too and their coats have never looked better.
We used to have Newfies. They loved hard boiled eggs in the shell. It was funny to watch puppies with them the first time. They'd play with the eggs until one broke its shell. Then the'd get the idea and eat them.

I'm considering chickens for our yard but we have fisher cats, coyotes, and foxes. There are mountain lions too but they don't exist according to the state of connecticut. What other preditor will leave a deer carcass 20' up a tree?

We also have lots of ticks with Lymes Disease, which is why we don't have Newfies any more. I'm told that the chickens are really good at cleaning out the ticks around the house. Some neighbors have chickens and some have ginea fowl. They have less ticks so, it is tempting to try. Good Luck, Rick
 
#11 ·
I'll have to see if they will eat them, my Boxer is dumb as a door knob, he would eat it, the Schnauzer is more picky.

I would love to have free range, but we have two huge owls and a pair of large hawks and sometime see fox....chickens are easy pickins. They are great though around the manure pile, when they are lose, we have virtually no flies.
 
#12 ·
You can always build a chicken tractor to put them in, and it will give you a bit more seat time when you have to use your GT to move it.
 
#13 ·
I tried selling my eggs at $2.50 and I still didn't have any takers.

I'm considering buying a few more this year.
 
#15 ·
I'll have to see if they will eat them, my Boxer is dumb as a door knob, he would eat it, the Schnauzer is more picky.

I would love to have free range, but we have two huge owls and a pair of large hawks and sometime see fox....chickens are easy pickins. They are great though around the manure pile, when they are lose, we have virtually no flies.
Boxers dumb ? Lol I could not agree more.
A few years ago I was over a friends who owns 2 boxers. I took a few dozen fresh clams for him and I to eat. Well guess who ate many of the shells ? Yep, his two boxers. We opened them in the garage and tossed the shells in a 5 gallon bucket. Stupid was leaving the doors open. Good thing they were cherry stones. He called his Vet and he suggested to keep a close eye on them to make sure they "pass" they did.
 
#16 ·
Boxers dumb ? Lol I could not agree more.
A few years ago I was over a friends who owns 2 boxers. I took a few dozen fresh clams for him and I to eat. Well guess who ate many of the shells ? Yep, his two boxers. We opened them in the garage and tossed the shells in a 5 gallon bucket. Stupid was leaving the doors open. Good thing they were cherry stones. He called his Vet and he suggested to keep a close eye on them to make sure they "pass" they did.
Yep pretty dumb, but makes for plenty of entertainment!
 
#17 ·
I love eggs for breakfast. Unfortunately my doctor doesn't like me eating them. I think if someone put green eggs in my refrigerator my doctor and I could be friends again. They are probably good tasting but the green part sounds a little scary.
Chris, I eat a lot of eggs, just watch how many yolks you eat. Ask your Doc, volunteer to remove 2/3 of the yolks and see what he says.

I have found that leaving one in 4 or one in 3 is enough yolk for flavoring and some color.

My FIL is allergic to Yolks and I make Deviled Eggs for him every Thanksgiving. I throw the yolks out, use about a quarter of the whites, some mustard, some Miracle Whip and some food coloring. I can get close to taste and he can enjoy them.
 
#18 ·
Every year we get 50 meat chicks( cornsh giant crosses) and butcher in the fall. The laying hens are a mix, I got 20 leghorns, 10 ISA browns and 10 columbians last spring and have been averaging 30 eggs a day all winter. We got the peepers in May and they started laying in Nov. which is pretty good considering the hen house is not heated, just well insulated. We charge $2.00 a dozen and can sell everything we don't eat ourselves. The dogs get scrambled eggs mixed in with their dogfood pretty often as well. Just don't give them too many or they'll gas you out of the house!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top