Been a while since I updated or the laying habits of older chickens.

Breakfast Eggs

Last year was tough. I seemed to spend more time with doctors than with chickens. So- the plan is to not have any accidents and stay healthy. I am sure that the chicks will appreciate the effort!

Many of you have noticed that my girls are not currently laying- that is to say I get maybe 2 eggs, maybe 8 eggs a day out of all those chickens. I am used to getting more than enough eggs during the winter to pay for their feed habit.
What is going on here? Not to worry, the girls don’t have some horrible problem. They are just getting older.

As your chickens age, egg production drops off dramatically. The first year is amazing. You get eggs almost every day- and they are huge!
Then the chickens molt- they lose many of their feathers, moan a lot and stop laying eggs until they grow the new feathers back in.

Now for the second season: They still lay eggs, but maybe 3 or 4 a week. The eggs are also quite a bit smaller. They still eat just as much food though, so the cost of keeping the birds has not gone down at all!

Time for another molt going into the 3rd year. You guessed it- fewer eggs than last year. Maybe one or two eggs a week if you are lucky. Now this is not a problem if your chickens are also pets- they will keep laying eggs for a number of years- just very few compared to the first couple of years.

How do we deal with this on the farm? Our strategy is to keep new chickens “in the wings” so to speak. That means that we must always have new chicks coming up to replace the older layers. The downside is that it takes 5-6 months for a chick to start laying eggs- and she is only cost effective for the first two years (Now you know why home pastured eggs are so expensive- it costs a lot to get the birds to laying age and the laying window is way too short)

Last year being what it was, we did not get our replacement chicks going until late fall. So we have beautiful black sex link chickens out back who look like they should be laying eggs- but won’t until the weather warms up.

So, we are asking you to have patience with us. Once this batch gets going, we can start on another batch. And soon it will be warm enough to start the meat chickens once again. Boy do I miss fresh chicken!

I will post an update when we start getting eggs again! Yeah!

 

A little bit about egg labeling- what does cage free really mean?

I just read a short but interesting article on the definitions found on egg cartons.

See: Lexicon of Sustainability: Cage free vs. pasture raised

Image via Wikipedia

People want to know how their eggs are produced and what kind of living conditions the chickens are subjected to. I agree that this information is very important and questions should be asked. Every animal has certain requirements for a healthy and satisfying life and chickens are no exception. A chicken who is raised in such a way as to be active, healthy and content will provide the best nutrition for the people who consume their meat and eggs.

A chicken who is unhealthy or stressed out will produce a lot of stress hormones just as people do- and these hormones are passed along through the eggs and meat to our dinner table. It doesn’t take a lot to imagine that this would not be as beneficial to our bodies than what happy, stress free chickens have to offer.

So what are we doing to keep our birds healthy and contented? We give them a very safe shelter at night and then let them go wherever they need to go during the day. Sure we lose a lot of chickens (which in return is very expensive), but the overall happiness of the flock is worth it.

Animals are also a product of what they eat. You feed chickens a healthy food, they make healthy meat and eggs. None of that cheap seed meal based food imported from China for the birds on our ranch! We try to grow as much healthy, pesticide free food as we can for them. Next, we sprout healthy grains that are not only green but highly nutrient dense. Finally, we supplement all that free ranging, bug eating behavior with the best packaged grain that we can afford making sure that they have enough healthy calories to stay active during the day and warm at night.

So I guess our hens are “free ranged” plus!

(like us on Facebook at Clerici Chicken Ranch for updates and availabilities)

Related articles

• Pasture-Raised vs. Industrial Organic: An Egg-cellent Stakeholder Engagement Lesson (triplepundit.com)
• Chicken Egg Color (flyingheartcountry.wordpress.com)
• Europe Bans Battery-Cage Eggs (planetsave.com)
• Free Run, Free Range, Cage Free-What Does It All Mean? (plowinginpearls.com)