Egg production for the Chicken McMansion

October 31, 2010 | Self

[Bean Counter]

Now that October is closing out, I have tallied my numbers and thought it might be interesting to discuss egg production year to date in our Chicken McMansion.

June 2010: 2 eggs; 84 grams total; 2.963 oz.; .185 lbs

July 2010: 86 eggs; 4415 grams total; 155.735 oz.; 9.733 lbs

August 2010: 154 eggs; 8117 grams total; 286.319 oz; 17.895 lbs

September 2010: 134 eggs; 7512 grams total; 264.978 oz.; 16.561 lbs

October 2010: 140 eggs; 8923 grams total; 314.749 oz.; 19.67 lbs.

To date, our coop has produced a total of 516 eggs weighing 64.044 pounds. (One ounce is equal to 28.3495 grams)

[Bean Counter]

I have six laying hens cooped in our back yard. They free-range in the yard and I provide them 16% layer rations and scratch grains. The coop has a self-contained water system that is rainwater fed. During October, our six hens averaged 4.5 eggs per day, which ain't bad. Some days we get four, and other days we get six. They are always good, and nothing beats a fresh egg.

I started construction on the coop a year ago this month, and the first chicks moved in during February. I documented construction with plenty of pictures here:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283812

We use a lot of eggs ourselves, but we end up giving the majority away. We've made plenty of friends among the neighbors and anyone who can hear a chicken gets a half dozen hen fruit on a regular basis.

This started out as a project/hobby but it has become an anchor for our home emergency plans as well. 4.5 eggs per day out of just six hens is nothing to sneeze at, and when it augments the other supplies and foods we have in our larder it gives us security and one heck of a good source of renewable barter goods if things ever get really bad. I still can't believe we got almost 20 pounds of eggs last month!!

The only lesson is that raising chickens in your yard is as American as you can get. Most cities have an urban livestock ordinance that limits how many hens you and have, and usually bans roosters all together. Our coop is way more than most people need, but it is a good example of what you can do for your own self-sufficiency, and it's a lot of fun to boot...

Cheers!!

[ROCKLOBSTER]

nothing beats a fresh egg.

Besides, of course, an egg beater.

[null and void]

*GROAN*

Go to your room right now, mister!

[Past Your Eyes]

You can’t beat a boiled egg.

[Dallas59]

I agree. Nothing beat a fresh home grown egg. They just taste good!

[Lurker]

Thanks very much.

[null and void]

Just out of curiosity do you supplement their protein intake with a light-bulb?

[ThomasThomas]

I don’t understand, your counting eggs!

[narses]

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[Kennesaw]

EGG’citing!

Seriously, this is really cool!

[patriot08]

Great job. Nothing like a man who can build things.
But, wouldn’t the whole thing have been more attractive and suited to the surrounding environment if you hadn’t painted that one part green or whatever and just left it all rustic?

[irishtenor]

You must hereby and forthwith change your name to chicken counter. Or egg counter.

[irishtenor]

Whichever comes first, of course. What DID come first? The chickens, or the eggs?

[beebuster2000]

HONEY PRODUCTION IN MY BEE MCMANSION

caught a wild swarm earlier in the year and put it in a hive. taken off two gallons of honey since then. let me know and i will send you some for bfast on your toast with your eggs.

[GOPJ]

Nice job.

[WorkingClassFilth]

We’re doing about the same production (22+ eggs/bird/month) but as we phase into winter we’re incorporating more silage and alfalfa hay instead of fresh forage. Winter production will drop, but we don’t want to lose the nutrients for the bird or eggs.

What breeds are you running?

[whatexit]

Good stuff! We got our first chicks in spring of 2009, and was very surprised how entertaining they are. And yeah, the fresh eggs are delicious!

[whatexit]

We supplemented with Calf Manna last winter, and the hens that had begun laying in the fall kept production up.

[WorkingClassFilth]

That’s a milk replacement, right?

[Bean Counter]

I do have the coop wired inside and out, and that includes a 60 watt light outside. I go out at 6:00 (or so...) in the morning and turn on the light. I usually give the girls a bowl of hot oatmeal or corn grits in the cold mornings, or some cottage cheese in the summer; never more than a cropfull, but they do enjoy it.

Patriot, my wife recommended the bright yellow color, and what Momma wants, Momma gets. I figure it would not be hard to do an urban camo job on it if required, but until then, yellow it is. In any case, you cannot see the coop from the surrounding yards, except one. Next door can see the top over the fence, but it is not clear what it is.

As for the hens, I have 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Golden Sex Links, and 2 Black Jersey Giants. The Sex Links are a cross between a Rhode Island red Hen, and a Rhode Island White Rooster, which produces hens with golden feathers, and roos that have all white feathers. The Jersey Giants are decent egg layers, and their eggs tend to be larger like turkey or goose eggs, but the whites can be a bit rubbery if overcooked.

As for the feed, I am generous. I use 50 pounds of feed and about 50 pounds of scratch grains every 2 months. My hens are well fed, and they free-range in the yard as well. Locally scratch goes for about $8/50 pound bag and feed for a little more. I also buy an 80 pound sack of horse oats (about $12) and feed the hens a handful of whole oats as well.

If we were forced to, 6 hens could live comfortably in our backyard with nothing other than grass, weeds and the compost pile to live off of. It might reduce their egg production, or just reduce the size of the eggs they lay, but as long as they are well fed, healthy, and have a comfy place to live, they will continue to produce lots of very large eggs. Generally, they all lay one egg per day.

OBTW, I keep an egg book out of habit, and I weigh each egg on a small digital kitchen scale, and record it in grams to avoid the six place fractions of ounces. Since I’ve only been raising hens since June, it makes good sense to keep track of how they are doing, and so far production has been a steady curve upward. The egg book is also a good way to keep track of the health and maturity of the birds, as the size of their eggs increases all the time.

My current best layer is Laverne, a Rhode Island red, who just last week laid me 70, 71 an 74 gram eggs, three days in a row! Those are well over 2 1/2 ounce eggs, and are definitely Jumbo sized! We’ve also had a few 2-yolk eggs, the biggest laid by one of the sex-links that weighed in at 94 grams! I don’t know if that one hurt like heck or felt really, REALLY good....but she hasn’t produced another one like it, at least not yet.

Yes, I spent just short of $2 grand building a nice henhouse, but it was intended to be warm in the winter, cool in the summer and quiet. I built it over a period of several months, used all new materials, and paid cash. I am in a residential neighborhood, and noise is an issue, so the coop is double-walled and insulated. That also takes care of temperature control, and just body heat from the chickens is enough to keep the coop warm enough in the coldest weather we have seen so far. If need be, I can always put in a brooder lamp for artificial heat, but in this area that will be rare.

My coop is at the top end of coops, and there are lots of people out there who raise plenty of healthy chickens, and get lots of big eggs, with a lot less coop than I have. A few crates and a bale of hay will please most chickens...you don’t have to build a big coop like this one.

One other resource I would mention is a book that is available on Amazon: “Storey’s guide to Raising Chickens” is the best primer I have come across that covers all of the basics under one cover. Knowing how to properly raise chickens can be a real asset to you in any number of situations, and even if nothing ever happens, it’s amazing how much difference there is between store-bought and fresh eggs.