Although we're still not getting huge numbers of eggs the numbers do seem to be improving.
Thanks to anyone who left advice when I asked about stopping an egg eater.
Regular egg collection by my wife and two little "helpers" have helped the most I think (and it's not been easy for her in all this mud and wet with two little ones). But I've also made sure there is plenty of extra bedding and added a grit feeder as well as mixing it in their food.
I've not seen any wet, eggy patches in the nest boxes in a long time so, without wanting to use a pun, maybe we've cracked it!
Thanks again for all your help and advice.
Blogging is such a good tool for a homestead! Real advice from people who are living it is hard to beat!
We had an egg eater in our flock too. We put a stone egg in the nest and left it there all the time. Eventually the chicken got tired of pecking the really hard egg.
ReplyDeleteI've put a few clay ones in there but it seems like I've spoken too soon with this post as this morning I found the wet remains of what was once an egg!
DeleteFor the first time in 6 years we have had hardly any drop in eggs all throughout the winter
ReplyDeleteI suspect the " refugees" that arrived in the autumn have kept numbers up because I have fed them up to optimum condition
Loosing my good layers to dog and then fox attacks has hampered my egg production. I've not put the honesty box back out yet as I've only got enough eggs to keep the guys at work going at the moment!
DeleteI also have found blogging so very useful for advice, help, and support. Stops the sense of isolation which can creep in when things aren't going too well on the smallholding.
ReplyDeleteYeah I know what you mean. It's handy having this community of like minded people to talk to and share your problems with, and also tell when things are going right. Most of the people I know just aren't interested about what apple tree I've planted or that I've been fencing at the weekend!
DeleteMy neighbour recently installed an electric light in her hen house. She's got far too many eggs than she needs.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Vera. Life on a smallholding is often very isolated and lonely. It's great to read other smallholding blogs.
Unhealthy for the hens
DeleteThey need to re charge just a little in winter
It would be a bit far to run a light out to the hens anyhow, and with it being so wet I'd probably kill them all with an electric shock!
DeleteReading other smallholding blogs is a great source of insperation and it really makes me want to get up and do more!
I am nearly ready for my first batch of hens so I am reading all the smallholding blogs as well! The more I read, the more I realise I do not have a clue. Klein came for lunch yesterday and brought me a load of books, all but one in German, the first of which was published in 1946! It is ideal because so soon after the war, everything had to be improvised so it shows you how to make feeders and waterers out of scrap and other such useful tips. Ideal for out in the wilds of Africa where we are living in the equivalent of last century!
ReplyDeleteIm lookng forward to seeing this Gulag you have built your chickens. As for the books some of the best ones are written around the time of the war, I don't like to buy anything more than I have to and they couldn't! I think I've even got a ministry book on keeping chickens somewhere - I must dig that out!
DeleteI've got 8 hens but only getting about 6 eggs a week in total. My oldest hen has just started laying again (2 last week) but then my regular 2 a week girl through the winter hasn't laid any for 2 weeks. I had four little bantams that were just about ready to start laying and were my replacement flock for all my "pensioners" but the week before last something got into their run and killed them all. Looks like a stoat or somebody's escaped ferret. So I need some more hens as several of mine probably won't lay again once the spring flurry is over.
ReplyDeleteI'm afriad when they have laid their last egg they have also clucked their last cluck on my holding! We seem to be up to around 8-9 eggs a day at the moment off 20 hens so not too bad but it should improve a little in the spring. I've lost a few chickens lately but luckily it must be something other than a fox as they only took one and left the rest alone.
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