Laying again.

[weg]

my chickens are laying again.I had to buy eggs one time this month and then thankfully my DIL brought me some from her farmer Dad.Now my hens are laying ,I got 6 in the last 2 days.I HATE STORE EGGS!

[sunshine]

Yay! No one wants to have to buy those yucky store eggs.
Ours have cut way back, but have still not quit laying. I'm getting a few eggs a day, and it's enough still.

[Granny Smith]

Mine are starting to lay again, since we put a light out there. It's still not enough, though. We use about 6 dozen a week (at least) and they're not keeping up with that yet. Hopefully, once all of the Leghorns start laying, they will, with some leftover to sell. I'm considering ordering another 50 Leghorns in the spring.

[sunshine]

I'm thinking of ordering chickens again, too, just to have a separate group to put out by my garden for bug eating duty. I want something heavier and more docile, though. Maybe some kind of Rock or Sussex.

[Valerie]

Since most of my young'uns just started laying in the fall, they're still going along pretty good. My old girls are starting back now, too! Tina went broody back in the summer, then molted, and now she is finally laying again. Pearl is cranking 'em out regular now, too, after her two-year vacation. Yesterday, we got 8 eggs from the 10 girls. For some weird reason, Dot took a month or so off, but she started back this week too. Sure do love me some real eggs, too!

I can't imagine not having chickens now.

[weg]

Two years off ?!!! She ought to be laying 2 or 3 at a time!!!!

[Cyngbaeld]

I'm going to need to separate my goose and duck breeds soon. I think the dogs are getting the few duck eggs. I get enough chicken eggs to eat though.

[sunshine]

My dog got one of my chickens yesterday. I'm very displeased with her about it.

[Valerie]

Oh man, that's bad. Dogs and chickens sure don't mix, no matter how sweet and wonderful the dog is.

Willa, about Pearl, it was the weirdest thing. She laid almost daily for the first year. Then she molted and never laid again. About the time our roosters started becoming "active" darn if she didn't start laying again. I know it's not true that you have to have roosters for hens to lay. We've had hens for over three years with no roosters and got eggs. But somehow, it seems like the hens lay a lot better when they do have the boys around.

[sunshine]

I haven't found that to be the case. Maybe it's more of an individual thing. My hens usually seemed so much more content without a roo.

I've had good luck with dogs and chickens in the past. It depends on the breed and also the age of the dog. My collie would go after the chickens as a pup, but she was smart enough to understand she had done bad when I told her so. By the time she was a year old, you'd find her laying under the playscape with a hen snuggled up against her.

I'm still hopeful for this dog, which is the reason I still have her. She's just a puppy, but she's smart. She just needs to grow up a little, I think.

Now, if she was a terrier, she'd be gone. I had one of those once, and there was nothing I could do to stop her from killing chickens. It was just bred into her.

[Cyngbaeld]

I had to train the Pyrs not to play with chickens/ducks/geese/turkeys, but they got the idea pretty fast and hang out with the birds all the time.

[Granny Smith]

Buddy couldn't care less about the chickens, but I've had several dogs that would kill them. I don't have those dogs anymore.

All of my hens have taken the past 2 years off - either that or someone has been stealing the eggs. We keep everything locked, so I don't think that's it. Can't be sure, though, there are other ways into the henhouse besides the door. They're laying again now, though. Go figure.

[Valerie]

Hmm, maybe they've been communicating with Pearl subliminally. Are they leghorns? She is.

[Granny Smith]

Nope. Mine are Buff Orpingtons and Araucanas.

[weg]

I sure hope mine dont take 2 years off! Wow thats a long time between eggs!!