BCChickens1

BCChickens1
Photo credit: Tracy Halladay

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Receiving Eggs Again

I don't have a light in my hen house.  Although I love getting eggs, I don't feel the need to push their physiology.  I let them molt, I see it as a physical renewal and preparation for winter.  Are they earning their keep?  Not even close.  I don't think there's anything wrong with adding artificial light to extend the laying season, I just choose not to.  Maybe I'm lazy.  I do have an extension cord out there, It provides heat to keep their water defrosted and powers the Christmas lights that I like to see during the holidays.

After probably 2 months of no eggs one of my hens has begun to lay again.  Sam our "Americauna" Easter Egger has laid two days in a row.  She has been one of my most prolific layers and provides the largest eggs.  Plus they're green...thus the name, "Sam" as in "Sam-I-am".  My son came up with that when we got her.

For Christmas, I got a trail cam...one of those cameras that you strap to a tree and when it senses something walking by it takes a picture of it.  We have camping property that I want to use it at this summer to watch the deer and moose that come by when we're not there.  I've been experimenting with it, mostly learning how to set it up and change settings.  After figuring out the basics, I decided it would be fun to put in the chicken run and see what I get.  The cool thing about this is not only the pictures but it tells the time, date and temperature.  Now, we've been in the 20s and below for the past week so I was interested to see how warm the chicken's run was.  Now keep in mind, the picture below was mid day, full sun and my chicken run is wrapped in plastic (except for a foot at the top to keep fresh air in).  I was very happy to see it was a comfortable 64 degrees inside their run!

In the front is Sam, on the left is Wheezy, behind Sam is Rosie (Rhode Island Red) and Olga (polish).  Henriette and Red are not in the picture...probably up to no good.  My guess is they're sitting in the nest boxes NOT laying eggs and laughing.


5 comments:

  1. I have been thinking about getting Chickens for a long time now, but haven't because of the worry about them getting too cold in the winter. But you seem to have that all figured out.

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  2. Some breeds winter better than others. If you keep that in mind and do what you can to keep the wind and moisture off them, they're pretty darn happy. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html is a resource that has a column with hardiness to give you an idea when you are looking. Utah gets quite hot in the summer, that is also a consideration.

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  3. Thank you Nathan, I still feel I need to learn a lot more before I attempt it. If I enter into it well educated I think I will have a better experience with them. any other links you might recommend ? or books.

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  4. On the right under resources is a lot of fun reading. The "USU-Basics for Raising Backyard Chickens" link is pretty straight forward. There is a lot of good information on the internet from enthusiasts who love them as pets and for their eggs. Searching under "Backyard Chickens" or "Urban Chickens" is a good start. www.backyardhickens.com is a friendly community with lots of people, pictures and good advice from others who have gone through it. Enjoy the education! I purchased a book from Amazon a couple years back, "The Joy of Keeping Chickens: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry for Fun or Profit". It is a nice book with gorgeous photos.

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  5. Thanks, I will check these out. Maybe this spring I will venture into chicken keeping.

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