And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Triple that number and you'll have all the eggs you can eat most of the year
My brother has had laying hens for years. As "Tsquared" says, as the cold weather hits, the hens really slow down to the point of maybe one egg per day, at most. And I mean of the six hens, only one will lay an egg. The rest of them "rest."
My wife got eight chickens a year ago in February. By the end of the summer, we were getting six to eight eggs a day. It didn't slow down at all in the winter. We used artificial lighting in the coop and run to keep the start and end of the day consistent all year. We had a heat lamp and small electric heater (500W) on a temperature-controlled outlet in the coop, so they would come on when it got too cold. They kept the temps in the coop 15-20 degrees above ambient, although some nights "ambient" was in the single digits.
I've had chickens of different breeds and in my experience the hens that lay the best through winter are the Buff Orpingtons. I believe one of the reasons chickens don't lay in cold weather is to save body heat. Dropping a warm egg on a cold day doesn't help the body to stay warm.
Many years ago I had 6 hens. It was just me and the wife. We were giving eggs away every week. It did slow down when cold weather hit.
ReplyDeleteMy brother has had laying hens for years. As "Tsquared" says, as the cold weather hits, the hens really slow down to the point of maybe one egg per day, at most. And I mean of the six hens, only one will lay an egg. The rest of them "rest."
ReplyDeleteMy wife got eight chickens a year ago in February. By the end of the summer, we were getting six to eight eggs a day. It didn't slow down at all in the winter. We used artificial lighting in the coop and run to keep the start and end of the day consistent all year. We had a heat lamp and small electric heater (500W) on a temperature-controlled outlet in the coop, so they would come on when it got too cold. They kept the temps in the coop 15-20 degrees above ambient, although some nights "ambient" was in the single digits.
DeleteI've had chickens of different breeds and in my experience the hens that lay the best through winter are the Buff Orpingtons. I believe one of the reasons chickens don't lay in cold weather is to save body heat. Dropping a warm egg on a cold day doesn't help the body to stay warm.
ReplyDeleteWe have 23 rhode island reds. To me the best breed. Have WAY more eggs than we can use! Happy friends and family, though!
ReplyDelete