Just had a heart to heart
 

Just had a heart to heart talk with my 25 Rhode Island Reds. Told them starting mid march I'm gonna start eating...told them it was their decision on what was gonna be on the menu, eggs or meat. :s9:

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Show them this picture.

http://www.thisistrue.com/images/mike.jpg

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

hahahahahaha

....they better thing good and hard........hahahaha

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Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

I'll bet the rooster is doing some serious thinking right about now.

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

What- you had to order 2 dozen when 12 would've been good? I had the same little talk with ours.

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

HA. I've had the same talk with mine. LITERALLY. Mine got on board.

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Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

How old are they? Are you doing supplemental light?

We have the light on a timer to come on at 3 a.m.. We have about 30 hens and we're now getting at least a dozen a day.

I know that some people say that you don't need supplemental light during the winter, but ours do if we expect to get any eggs. And that's what the charts say as well.

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Got them as hatchlings in Sept. I guess they're a little over 5 mos. Doing the chick grow 20% along with cracked corn supplimental. Light on them for heat...It's cold now. I'm just getting impatient...Can't wait for that first egg!!!:signs1:

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

RIR's are champs. If you got them in early Sept, I predict that you will be getting almost an egg per day each from them by mid-March. They should start laying any day now if they're getting enough light. Are they squatting yet? They usually start doing that a week or so before they're ready to lay: when you come up behind them, instead of running away, they'll squat down. I give 'em a good back scratch when they do that. Next best thing to a rooster, I figure.

Mine are able to go out and forage all day since we're in a mild climate. We let them out at 7am and they go to roost at 6pm. Silly birds even go out in the pouring rain! Mine are a bit older, but they all just started laying like crazy 2 weeks ago. I'm convinced that it's the longer days that "triggered" them.

Don't eat them! :bear_cry:

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

I received my pullet hatchlings the week of Sept 22, 2008. They started laying a week or two ago.

Are you sure that you're not throwing off their diet by doing the cracked corn and chick feed?

Mine have been on laying rations supplemented by table scraps and whatever greens I can give them for months.

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Not sure, Feed bags said to feed the grower until first egg laid then switch to layer mash. Does that sound right?? Why would the cracked corn throw them off??

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

6-7 months to lay was what it took for both sets of by birds, dunno about the hatchling. (generation 1.5)
BTW there was a thread on possibly covering a run. DO IT! there's a mighty deep indentation in the cover of my birds' run. (Chicken wire top) Coyote deep.

edit-you guys are fast! Save the shells. Any more I just let them dry. I also bust the dud eggs right then and there. The chickens will mob you for shells and broken eggs.
Nobody told me this when I started. Hope that helps.

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Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Feeding the cracked corn is going to lower the overall protein in the birds' diets.

From Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry:

"One of the problems encountered with the mash-and-grain system is how to feed in the proportions that will provide the correct protein intake of approx. 16 percent. Production problems can frequently be traced to a low total intake of protein when a mash-and-scratch system is being used."

"The protein content of most scratch grains is approximately 9 to 10 percent."

I don't know how much of the corn they're eating compared to the mash. And it's probably still a bit early to worry over it. We give ours scratch grains sometimes, but just a handful or two to give them some fun being chickens and digging in the dirt.

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Good info Ralleia, Thanks.:ok:

edit: I remember as kids we fed the chickens anything and everything...had to give eggs away.

Hope I end up with the same problem.

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Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Congratulations! :applause_:shine::applause_

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:applause_ Yay! Expect an egg-avalanche; Soon you could be getting two dozen eggs per day. Hope you've been saving your cartons!

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Congrats!~ Been there myself.

We currently have 9 laying hens.

We've got 36 eggs in the incubator now. All set to hatch this Saturday. This is our first go at hatching, so we'll see...........

Re: Just had a heart to heart
 

Not exactly a Golden Egg but it will work. They will steadily get larger as the hen lays on...