If you want your hens to start laying

countryfied2011 · #1 02/16/14, 04:02 PM

Go to the store and buy a dozen eggs...

We used the last of the eggs last weekend that I stored for the winter(I do have some frozen but they dont make good devil eggs...haha) So on Monday we picked up a dozen eggs....Wednesday the hens started laying and now we are getting 5 to 6 eggs a day. We have at least 30 hens, by the end of the month we will probably have so many eggs we wont be able to give them away..

potatoguru · #2 02/16/14, 04:41 PM

I hate when that happens to me too...

farmerDale · #3 02/16/14, 05:53 PM

What you do next time, is make a show of it to the hens. You leave the yard for the allotted time needed to get to the store and back. Then you borrow a neighbors receipt for eggs from the store. Come back to the farm, head out to the hen house. Act as if you are shoveling some poo, or checking the waterer, anything that will make you have to stoop down and bend over. Ensure your receipt, (It must be from that day) is in your breast pocket, barely secure, so it will fall onto the hen house floor. Ignore it. DO NOT ACT LIKE YOU NOTICED YOU DROPPED IT!!! And do not toss it in there with your hand: they will be onto you in a flash. It must look ACCIDENTAL.

The next morning, after the hens have laid 125%, go collect your receipt and your eggs. Act disgusted that they are laying so many eggs, after having had to buy them. NEVER show happiness when collecting eggs. Murmur, complain, and show disgust that you already have too many eggs. I personally prefer to mention neighbors names, and the fact that you have no one else to pawn the eggs off on.

You have to be careful though, hens have been known to slow down laying if you overdo this ploy, to ensure you keep up feeding them well; They are as scared of being limit fed, as democrats are when a republican mentioned "cutbacks": You leave yourself at risk of over-trickery, and then the cycle begins again.

They want to play games? You play games right back, by playing THEIR game.

Good luck, I have been there and done that, until I found out the receipt trick from an old friend...

Fire-Man · #4 02/16/14, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryfied2011

We have at least 30 hens, by the end of the month we will probably have so many eggs we wont be able to give them away..

How old are these hens?

countryfied2011 · #5 02/17/14, 06:12 AM

FarmerDale, I love it....

Fire-Man, our hens range from pullets to geriatric...lol DH has about 10 in his barn that he uses for breeders(he has a couple that are least 6 yrs old still laying and raising chicks)--the rest hang out in his acre chicken lot or around my barn and the house. Normally by summer we will have anywhere from 50 to 75 chicks hanging around..lol We also have approximately 10 roosters.

We have a daily egg hunting contest also....since the free range stay out 24/7 and lay various places...

**ladycat** · #6 02/17/14, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryfied2011

Go to the store and buy a dozen eggs...

We used the last of the eggs last weekend that I stored for the winter(I do have some frozen but they dont make good devil eggs...haha) So on Monday we picked up a dozen eggs....Wednesday the hens started laying and now we are getting 5 to 6 eggs a day. We have at least 30 hens, by the end of the month we will probably have so many eggs we wont be able to give them away..

That happened to me too. The hens had started laying after winter solstice, but I was only getting 1 or 2 eggs a day, and I needed 3 or 4 just for cooking and baking. I finally broke down and bought two dozen eggs. The hens immediately went into overdrive.

Noslo_2 · #7 02/17/14, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryfied2011

Go to the store and buy a dozen eggs...

We used the last of the eggs last weekend that I stored for the winter(I do have some frozen but they dont make good devil eggs...haha) So on Monday we picked up a dozen eggs....Wednesday the hens started laying and now we are getting 5 to 6 eggs a day. We have at least 30 hens, by the end of the month we will probably have so many eggs we wont be able to give them away..

How do you store eggs for winter?

Megaputz · #8 02/18/14, 12:24 PM

Eggs stay fresh for weeks on the kitchen counter and for months in the fridge.

Stagger your hatches and breeds, maybe throw a couple ducks or other fowl in there so you're always getting eggs. Diversify your portfolio! It's an importanta part of hedging against eggflation.

If all the girls are different breeds it's easier to see who's productive too.

Last years molt sucked... At first it's "oh, it's nature" but after a month when eggs are running low you're kicking yourself for gifting eggs to everyone. You don't miss it until it's gone. Oh boy do you miss those fresh eggs. When you're down to your last few it's a real moral dilemma of how they should go. Until you are in a situation like that.... now I know how the members of the Donner party felt.

The only time I care to buy eggs from the store is Easter.

countryfied2011 · #9 02/18/14, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noslo_2

How do you store eggs for winter?

There is only two of us....and with 30 hens you get plenty of eggs even when some are sitting or have hatched chicks. Just today I collected 1 dozen. That gives us 3 dozen for the week they are just sitting on the counter. I normally dont put eggs in the refrigerator until it starts getting hot and humid here. My dad made me a candler a few years back so I check them before hand unless i am going to break them in a bowl.

To save them for the winter I don't wash them and put them in the fridge in DH's man cave at his chicken barn. With not washing they will last 6 months---so you are looking at August to start saving. When I started we had about 15 dozen, I put some in the freezer and the rest in the fridge. We were still getting eggs during the winter but those were DH's hatching eggs and we got those by turning the timer on in his barn. Those werent for eating...lol

I dont start gifting eggs until I know we have plenty for us...lol Same with stuff out of the garden.

Foxy · #10 02/19/14, 06:01 AM

Chickens have extremely good hearing. I think they can hear you talking about them in the house!

Last Summer my boyfriend's dog roughed up one of my dark Brahma hens. He pulled a lot of feathers but didn't break the skin. It scared her bad and she quit laying. Molted in Fall...no eggs. Winter came...no eggs.
The other night we were talking about her.
Me: You know that hen your dog molested last summer?
Him: Yeah
Me: She hasn't laid an egg since that happened.
Him: I guess you'll have to put her in the pot then.
The next day she laid!

Along the same line, here's another given....If you have extra eggs and cook up a couple dozen to feed back to the birds or dogs customers WILL call looking for more eggs!

aart · #11 02/19/14, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryfied2011

....... I put some in the freezer and the rest in the fridge. We were still getting eggs during the winter but those were DH's hatching eggs and we got those by turning the timer on in his barn. Those werent for eating.........

When you freeze eggs, do you scramble them in a container and freeze?

What does this mean? 'turning the timer on in his barn'
Supplemental light?
How do you keep your hatching eggs from freezing?(not sure where your' located..maybe it doesn't freeze there?)

krochetnkat · #12 02/21/14, 12:02 PM

Wish mine would do that. I actually took the carton out and said to them "You are forcing me to support mistreated chickens... now start laying!" They haven't laid an egg since. Maybe I made them feel too guilty LOL

froebeli · #13 02/21/14, 12:39 PM

I wonder if you can do the same thing to get a broody hen? I'm picking up some chicks tonight and have one hen that seems to want to be broody, but not quite. I hope this does the trick.

countryfied2011 · #14 02/21/14, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aart

When you freeze eggs, do you scramble them in a container and freeze?

What does this mean? 'turning the timer on in his barn'
Supplemental light?
How do you keep your hatching eggs from freezing?(not sure where your' located..maybe it doesn't freeze there?)

I have different little size containers and also the plastic ball freezer containers. So if I just want to freeze two for breakfast, I break both of them in a bowl just barely break the yolk and kinda swirl around a couple of seconds...you dont want to mix it all up and you dont want to get air bubbles(that is your main concern)...Then If I want 3 eggs like for baking a cake I do the same....then I just pour them into the freezer containers...when I want to use one I just pull it out and unthaw in the fridge

DH has a timer that turns the lights off and on his chicken barn. So if gets dark at 5pm in the winter he sets the timer for the lights to come on around 4:30 the same with going off in the morning

As far as freezing...he collects the eggs in the evening marks them and then when the hens start sitting he puts the eggs back under them or puts them in an incubator

aart · #15 02/22/14, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryfied2011

I have different little size containers and also the plastic ball freezer containers. So if I just want to freeze two for breakfast, I break both of them in a bowl just barely break the yolk and kinda swirl around a couple of seconds...you dont want to mix it all up and you dont want to get air bubbles(that is your main concern)...Then If I want 3 eggs like for baking a cake I do the same....then I just pour them into the freezer containers...when I want to use one I just pull it out and unthaw in the fridge

DH has a timer that turns the lights off and on his chicken barn. So if gets dark at 5pm in the winter he sets the timer for the lights to come on around 4:30 the same with going off in the morning

As far as freezing...he collects the eggs in the evening marks them and then when the hens start sitting he puts the eggs back under them or puts them in an incubator

Thanks..didn't think about introducing air into the eggs before freezing them.

So supplemental light for winter laying.

Do you live in an area the freezes during winter? I wonder about him collecting hatching eggs only once a day. I had to go out every hour to grab eggs for hatching before they froze.

countryfied2011 · #16 02/22/14, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aart

Thanks..didn't think about introducing air into the eggs before freezing them.

So supplemental light for winter laying.

Do you live in an area the freezes during winter? I wonder about him collecting hatching eggs only once a day. I had to go out every hour to grab eggs for hatching before they froze.

I live in Middle TN so we don't get winters like you would up north although this year we have had to deal with colder weather than normal. Actually we have had this type of cold weather just not in a long time. Most days though it has at least got up above freezing. Only a few days that didnt. So there hasn't been any problems with freezing. I am sure up where you are it would be difficult and I can see where you would have to check several times a day.