No more chickens soon

[helwen]

Well as it turns out we won't be learning how to butcher chickens after all. Seems even the younger of the chickens aren't laying well anymore, so a fellow will be coming to take them all off William's hands. He plans on getting new ones in March. With the weather being the way it is, it's probably for the best; he's been having a devil of a time getting the water pipes to stay unfrozen.

Comments

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I hope the next poults are hardy.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks. The older birds are 3+ yrs old so I guess they aren't a surprise, but the others are only 2yo. I think he would have stuck it out if it weren't for the water thing.

[calygrey.livejournal.com]

Do you have a light on in their coop? They won't lay this time of year without extra light.

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's a full timer system on the lights in their area. It's the same system that was in place when we had 3,500 chickens.

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

Alas! I had been looking forward both to the instruction and the companionship.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. There will probably be an opportunity down the line though. Meantime, I guess the next big thing will be sugaring next month.

I still have to check on the B. Will try to do that this week.

[aislinn-sca.livejournal.com]

It's actually normal for hens (especially older hens) to take a break from laying in the winter, even with supplemental light, and they will probably start laying again in the spring. Commercial operations usually get rid of their hens after a year or two because they because they want at least an egg a day, and chickens do get less productive as they age, but that doesn't mean that your chickens have stopped laying for good. I had one hen stop laying for over a year, and then start again, but usually it's only for a few months, so don't give up on the old gals just yet.

Oh, I've also found that certain breeds seem more likely to keep laying during the winter, and that the mediteranian breeds, such as leghorns, were mostly likely to give up for the winter. I guess they're so busy using energy to keep warm that they don't have much left over for egg production. I've had good luck with Buff Orpingons, which is one of the hardier breeds and they are also good natured (important for me with kids around), but there are several other good winter breeds out there also.

If you get new chicks in March, they should start laying by the end of summer and will be in full production just before your older hens stop laying again for the winter, so you should have eggs all next year if you give them enough light (I think 18 hours a day is what they need, but I'd have to look that up).

As for water, we always just carry jugs of water out to our chickens in the winter. There are supposed to be ways of setting up heated watering systems, but we've never tried one. I'm thinking maybe of looking into some sort of solar water heater and cistern set up, with a solar powered pump, so they can have water during the day, but I'd like for the water to drain out of the system at night to keep the pipes from freezing. Really just an adaptation of a system for home use which I saw in a magazine.

Good luck!

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Hi, thanks for the additional information! Unfortunately they aren't my chickens, plus if we get new chicks we have to deal with one set of the older chickens because we only have two rooms. William has been carrying water out while dealing with the frozen pipes, but there are ~150 birds so I think the amount of work involved plus not making enough money off of them to feed them are the true deciding factors. But if we get to have chickens of our own someday, I hope to keep them going for longer -- L and I would also definitely have fewer of them, though -- more for personal and friends use than for sale.

[harpnfiddle.livejournal.com]

we had a round heater (enclosed) that went under the waterer that kept the water from freezing. that and extra light helped the 1st winter, but as the chickens get older, they don't seem to do as well the 2nd and 3rd winter. even the Plymouth rocks and the RI reds that we had