Friday, December 17, 2010

Woo hoo!

Who would've thought that a couple of strands of christmas lights would actually work??? Well, it did. Slowly our egg production seems to be increasing.

I'll keep you posted!!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Christmas in the coop

Well, the meeting was held and it was a unanimous vote. The girls opted to have a couple of strands of outdoor christmas lights hung inside their coop, rather then one by one meeting their demise. Just kidding...I've decided that unless absolutely necessary (ie: a zombie apocalypse) our chickens will not be executed for food.

Two strands of christmas lights were hung yesterday and stapled along the ceiling of the coop. They were put on a timer to go on at 3pm and off at 8pm. The additional light will stimulate the girls to start laying again on a regular basis. Now normally I am against this. Being that the winter time is a time for chickens to rest their reproductive systems. Chickens are born with a set number of eggs that they will produce. So unfortunately by inducing egg laying in the winter will shorten their long term laying. Meaning you either get more eggs now and less later, or you let nature takes its coarse and you have eggs longer. Makes sense?? Last winter we only had 9 chickens. 9 chickens don't eat as much and poop as much as 21 chickens. So last year egg production didn't matter. This winter, with so many mouths to feed. I need to sell more eggs to keep their feed bucket filled.

Besides, every one of them loves the new look to their coop. Very festive :0) Now lets see if it works....

Monday, December 6, 2010

Workin 9-5

Well, tis the season for egg production to go down. Shorter days, cold weather and the never ending molting of my girls. It is all starting to take a toll on the girls pulling their weight to pay their way.

We went from 10 eggs a day, to 6 eggs a day and now we're down to 3. What's a chicken mamma o do. These girls need to make some money or they won't be eating this winter. I think it's time for a sit down with them. Chicken meeting will be held in a couple of days :0)