Made Easter eggers

[brewmaster15]

Finally got our first egg of the year on Saturday. I noticed a little different "singing" than normal so I went out to check. Nothing Sunday though... and our hens are getting pretty old, so I expect they're going to start petering out. Some have got to be five years old.

Jacob, Do you have a light on in the coop?

al

[brewmaster15]

These stories and pictures make my heart swell and then bleed. I lost all my hens except one to a fox. The one I still have saw her best buddy who was my favorite hen taken and came running in the house. I couldn't make her go outside for 2 weeks. Now, she's out during the day and spends most of her time with the cat outside the fishroom. At nightfall she comes to the front door and walks back and forth until I notice her and let her in. When I do, she heads straight for her cage and hops in.

I can never have chickens again because I want my animals to run free range. And I no longer have the strength to fence in a large enough area to fence them in nor can I afford the electric netting which wouldn't require strength.

I miss my chickens.

Liz sorry to hear that! I could never free range here.. too many neighbors with dogs and we have too many predators..

game cam at the back of the coops...

coyote
IM_00099 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

opossum
IM_00131 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

raccoon.. this one has raised kids under the shed thats one of my coops... she got one hen a few months ago.
Momma Raccoon by Al Sabetta, on Flickr
Momma Raccoon by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

We also have bobcat, fisher cats and foxes.. Everyone in my area has fenced in runs..

My neighbor tried free range, the predators were very happy, but they lost a lot of poultry..

al

[jwcarlson]

Jacob, Do you have a light on in the coop?

al

Nope! I let them have a rest in the winter (so lack of eggs is expected). They will ramp up a bit pretty soon now that the days are getting longer. I'm OK with the recharge period of them. A hen can only lay so many eggs anyway. And if the old ones are just eating feed and hanging around... *eh* the backyard isn't a business, and I don't need chicken soup that bad.

I've killed three possums in their run, the first two never got anything. But one this fall got one of our silkies. But I got him. They've only ever been an issue in the fall/early winter. They wake me up raising a stink sometime between 12:30 and 2 AM.

[brewmaster15]

We run the lights in the winter here..Dual purpose as they are heat lights this time of year. I know it shortens the production /life of them but with feed as expensive as it is, going the winter months here without eggs would hurt the wallet and my egg ham and cheeses .We do see a drop off in eggs in the fall before we run the lights and when they are moulting. Our hens are usually peaked out at 2-3 years... we rarely have them longer than that.

I havent lost a hen yet to a possum but have had them in the run.

Al

[brewmaster15]

Decided to hatch out another batch of eggs. This round will be F2 easter eggers from our previous batch of chicks. These give us light blue and light green eggs. They are pretty stocky chickens. All of the them have beards including the rooster (Red). Be interesting to see what we get here. The other half of the eggs we are using are from our new ideal poultry hens of various breeds .. these are the white eggs and brown eggs.The rooster for these is Ozzy.. our blue Ameraucana ... he is the father o "Red" and his flock. In theory Ozzy should give us more easter eggers.

Eggs were collected over the last 3 days and stored at room temp point down. INCUBATOR was setup yesterday and now we wait 3 weeks. It will be interesting to see the hatch rates here. Red only has 4 girls in his flock so I am guessing most of the blue green eggs will be fertile.. "Ozzy" has many hens in his flock as they are the main coop.. he is still a fairly young roo at about 3 years old but does his "job" well.
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[Greg-Florida]

Yeah ours says six hens and you have to permit it, blah blah blah... Just make your own rules.

That's the spirit Jacob! Love it!!
Rules are for mortals! lol

[Greg-Florida]

We have been keeping Chickens for a while now...years and years actually. The last 6 or so years we started keeping roosters too as many of our neighbors also had them and we live on the rural side of town. We did a few experimental breedings wherewe had broody hens hatch eggs...which was okay.. but kind of random with the outcomes. This past year we decided to try and make easter eggers .. hens that lay blueish/greenish eggs. Our Rooster is a Blue Ameraucana , Named OZZY and is a really gentle bird...hes good looking to. Supposedly if you cross this to breeds that lay white eggs , you can get easter eggers. WE happened to have a few white leghorn hens which lay white eggs. I bought a $100 incubator on line and started collecting eggs. .. we hatched out two small batches this summer. that have now grown up... and yes we get light blue to light green eggs. We re -homed several roosters from the batch but opted to keep one, a truly beautiful roo named RED. The neat thing about this batch of easter eggers is one , they are large birds, and two they have beards!

Ozzy.. Our carrier of the Blue gene.

Red and his flock.. we only have 4 of these hens... but plans to hatch out their eggs this summer and we also will cross Ozzy to some hens that we bought from ideal poultry this past fall.

Love the narrative on SPAZ, the photo hound!
Dude, do you ever sleep??

[brewmaster15]

Dude, do you ever sleep??

about 3-4 hours per night and catnap when I can. Been like that most of my life.

[Greg-Florida]

about 3-4 hours per night and catnap when I can. Been like that most of my life.

You know, I actually admire that. I could get SO MUCH MORE done in a day than I do!
I think I'll get more productive, you're an inspiration.

[LizStreithorst]

You are so lucky. All my life I've needed 9 hrs. My mother was the same so I guess there's a genetic component. Now that my spine wont hold me up without pain drugs I even need to lie down in the afternoon. My father had a bad back, too. I miss having the ability to work hard all day long, but my pain doctor says that I'd be worse if I'd sat behind a desk for all those years. I built up muscle strength from all that physical work. The muscles help hold me up.

[Greg-Florida]

You are so lucky. All my life I've needed 9 hrs. My mother was the same so I guess there's a genetic component. Now that my spine wont hold me up without pain drugs I even need to lie down in the afternoon. My father had a bad back, too. I miss having the ability to work hard all day long, but my pain doctor says that I'd be worse if I'd sat behind a desk for all those years. I built up muscle strength from all that physical work. The muscles help hold me up.

I hear you... I get 8 hours now but could probably do just fine with 7, and just getting up earlier and working more focused rather than allowing distractions. It's obvious Al is organized.
Liz, you might look into the benefits of an inversion table. I have one and love it for my back issues.

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks Greg. it doesn't work for degrative disc disease. I bought one a few years back and gave it away.

[brewmaster15]

Liz I wish something could be done for your pain.. I see someone daily here with that same condition and see her pain.

As for me.. Im not superman. Burning the candle at both ends isnt smart.... but Its just who I am. I slept normal hours until college. College came and I worked full time at a construction supply company to pay for my business degree at night ... slept 4 hours and drank 10 + cups of coffee a day. .. It was the only way I could do it . I have long since decreased the coffee intake but the.sleep schedule never changed. I am sure one day I will pay the price. Theres always a price tomorrow for what we do today.

Al

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks, Al. It's OK. I enjoy what I'm still able to do. I planted potatoes today, and I still change water every day. I'm still able to care for a horse, a cat, five dogs and a spoiled rotten chicken who comes in the kitchen begging for left overs. She's like having another spoiled dog.

[brewmaster15]

So we candled last night.. looks like a good batch of eggs.. we had two clear duds... and one got fat finger cracked...
But at this point we have a good 19 eggs that look fertile. . Clock is ticking ..we candle again in a few days as there were a couple questionable ones.