Topic: Keeping Chickens

[Linda Tal]

We are going to be keeping some chickens and are trying to find out as much as possible about them.  From what I have read it seems that they do not lay eggs in the winter, does anyone know if this is true?  If so, we thought we'd wait until the Spring before we get them.

[Mrs Ava]

I believe laying slows right down during the colder months, but why I believe this is a mystery!  Now come in chicken fanciers!  ;D

[Palustris]

First if you search through this site there is quite a lot of info on keeping chickens which may be useful to you. Also try the Poultry club site.
The reason hens stop laying over Winter is that despite the massive breeding which has gone into them they are still tied to the Seasons like anyone else, and they should really only lay in Spring. Also they begin to moult around now, so they stop laying to produce new feathers. Some breeds of hens do lay for longer than others, eg Warrens and ISA Browns.
Time to get them is when they are available, they take a while to settle down before they lay, so getting them now would mean that they would have settled down in time to lay in late February/March (depending on the season). Whereas a Spring buy would mean that you would have to wait in Spring.
AND point of lay birds are more expensive than young ones.

[windygale]

Hello linda,with refs to making hens laying eggs over winter,Hens lay eggs on the amount of light and heat and in winter as we know the days get shorter and colder so the amount of eggs gets less, some egg farmers put 60Watt/100Watt lights bulbs in the hen houses and put them on timers, switching them on at 6am untill 9am  - 4-30pm untill 10pm only allowing the hens to sleep from 10pm/6am around 8hrs,
( the more light they have the more egg you have) try keeping the glass clean in the hen house, try putting a heater light in through the winter cold days and night, the warmer they are the better they lay(cold hen - food goes into keep warm / warm hen - food goes into laying more eggs) hope this help,
WINDY

[Palustris]

Very true, egg production is done by fooling the hens into thinking it is Spring all year round. Remember though that these hens have a laying life of about 2 to 3 years maximum before being replaced, all laid out!

[MrsFrog]

Hi!
I love this site, www.citychicken.co.uk
It's just about persuaded my hubby to let me keep a couple in the back garden! :)

[Jesse]

Linda we got three hens in October and I didn't think they would start laying until the spring. But one has started laying this week, at the moment we seem to be getting one egg from her every other day. If you are set up with hen house and can find some hens now then I don't see why you should wait until spring, like Palustris says, if you get them now then by the time spring is here they will be well settled and you never know you may get some eggs before then anyway. It's lovely to see some life in the garden at this time of year. Whilst all the plants are dormant at least I've got my three hens to watch and they are very comical! Visit the River Cottage forum, they've got some good advice there about all things relating to hens. http://forum.rivercottage.net/index.php

[christopher]

Linda, try www.practicalpoultry.co.uk 
It's full of info.

[Linda Tal]

Thanks for all your advice, we've just ordered some hens and are waiting to hear if we can get them before Christmas. 

 :)

[christopher]

Did you get them? If so, what kind, how many??

[Linda Tal]

No,  :-X we didn't manage to get them from our contact before Christmas but we have found someone who keeps chickens and lives quite close to us (from the PracticalPoultry.co.uk site) and he has two that we are collecting this Thursday.  One is a Maran X Black Rock and the other is a Light Sussex, both still quite young but should be ready for laying in about 4-5 weeks.

We're really excited and are looking for somewhere to get 4 more in the very near future.
 :D :D :D

[christopher]

Glad you're getting some, you won't regret it. They may not start laying until the daylight hours increase, the light sussex may be later than the hybrid too. Good luck with them!

[Linda Tal]

Just to update you..........

We collected 4 more hens on New Year's Eve, so that makes a total of 6 now.  4 of them are at POL and 2 are still young ones. 

On average we are getting 3 eggs every day, which I thought was quite good :). 

They've had 2 weeks to get used to being in their Ark and we've today let them out into the garden for a wander - they seem to love it ;D

We're so pleased we've finally got some and the kids are really taking an interest in them.  Hubby is trying to convert the kids play den (which they don't use anymore) into a Hen Den  ::), so we can get a few more!! 

There's no stopping us now .......... LOL

Linda.

[loz]

Good luck Linda, you'll enjoy keeping them.

I started five years ago with six hybrids, and have since had to move to a small holding, and now keep over two hundred, specialising in silkies and polands.

Believe me, there's never a dull moment.

Sometimes I wonder how I find time to get any gardening done!  ;D

[Linda Tal]

It's amazing how they've settled in and even changed over the last 3 weeks.  We're now letting them out to roam around the garden every day and they're getting more and more inquisitive about their surroundings!  We've only got to unlock the back door and they're sprinting down the garden to us. 

They're real characters - the youngest one, a Light Sussex, was picked on by the others at first and we were quite worried about her but now she's the first one out, the first one down the steps to the back door and the first one to reach you when you go outside - she's a real sprinter :D  She seems to be becoming more confident with the other chickens - she even took a bit of Yorkshire Pudding off another one yesterday !!

We're really enjoying them and I can see us having more in the future   ;D

[loz]

Hi Linda

Here's a trick for you, get a handful of cherry tomatoes and throw them in front of the hens, before you know it you'll have a load of Rudolph impersonators running around :D

(Keeps me amused for hours, and the chickens love toms!)

Loz

[Linda Tal]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

LOL sounds great - must try it.  Thanks.

Linda.