chicken update.

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swampratt

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Ok so i got some chicks in February some reds and some cornish rocks from tractor supply.

I got reds the year before also.

I will no longer get reds as they are noisy and do not lay as well as the white cornish rock.. as i was told they were.

My white chickens lay every day since they started laying.
My reds from 2014 i have 2 of them and they will lay maybe 3 a week from the 2 put together.
I get 14 eggs a week from the 2 white chickens from 2015
and 3 reds from 2015 will lay about the same.

I will be cooking some reds soon..

Thought i would update you guys in case you plan on getting chick in 2016.
I will be getting some more to replace the lazy laying ones.

What is your experience in egg layers?
 

davek

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Egg production drops off a lot after a hen is a couple of years old. Just the way it is.
I think we're going to get some Americaunas in the Spring.
 

swampratt

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They have not made it to 2 years old yet and even the reds almost a year old are slackers.

I got 2 sexlinks from mary's a few years ago and those would lay almost every day for over 2 years.. only went broody 2 times.
Cat got one and the other just choked and died on the way back into the chicken house.

I hate stray animals in my yard.
 

nailbender_jr

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White chickens are smart....
Henrietta.jpg
 

Old Timer

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I have 13 red's born in February.
I was getting around 12 eggs a day in the summer, and with it cool now, I am getting 9-10 a day.

Do you feed them scratch grains? along with the egg layer. I give them a quart container of scratch grains each day.

Also, they like something green to go along with it. We let them out every evening a couple hours before dark.
They will put them selves to bed back in the pen. I just do out about dark and close the door.
They love the garden, and anywhere they can scratch through and eat green. Now they will pull up the roots and eat them.

We are trying to sprout some wheat to feed during the winter. Just water every day, let set an hour, then drain off.
After day 3, add light, and feed around day 7.
 

swampratt

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I used to do scratch but egg production slacked off.
When I mow the yard I put some in the coop.
Every time i let these current birds out the egg production fell off
 

cowadle

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if you want your chickens to lay in the winter you need to put a 40 watt bulb in the hen house with a timer on it. give them at least 11 hours of light including the daylight. if you haven't already done this and you start now you run a good chance of force molting them and egg production will really fall off. i have had americanas lay for 12 years
 

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We dumped the clippings in the pen, and what ever scraps from the kitchen.
I even tossed a leg from the deer I processed the other day, they fought over it, and picked it clean.
I think they would eat anything, as long as it did not eat them first.

The asplin truck went by, so I got a load of chips, and have been tossing them in the pen,
just to give them something to dig in. The pen is 60 x 40' and they stay out there most of the day.

I will have to try the light.

What do you use to keep the water from freezing?
 

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