15 grams! There's probably more shell than egg....it's the smallest egg we have gotten to date....
Although I am not selling eggs at this point, around here, organic brown eggs are selling for $4.50 a dozen.
Half a dozen nice brown eggs makes a great conversation starter with neighbors you don't know, and if times get tough, fresh henfruit is a great barter item.
Kippis!
4 barred rocks over here - small suburban lot - much fun
How many chickens?
After the initial coop construction - how much does it cost to feed, house and maintain (electricity,etc) your flock?
If you broke down the numbers - how much does a dozen eggs cost you?
How many do you have?
Are you going to change your FR name to Egg Logger?
A chicken has decided to take up residence in my side yard. She hides under the shed so if she is laying eggs I can’t get to them. There a couple of cats that seem to hanging out with her. I will see them setting with in a few feet of each other when I get home. What problems could I have if any with just leaving her out there. Is common for chickens to hang out with cats?
One more question — I’m sure someone will get around to asking this sooner or later —
What do you do about all of the Obama they produce?
(I know, I know - I'm just yolking with you)
Many eons ago, I raised 100+ of the nasty little things. No thanks. BTDT. Never again.
I don’t know anything about chickens and eggs, are they fertilized? Do you have to keep a Rooster around somewhere, and does he have to ply them with pizza and a beer;)
btw, every try a Peking duck egg? Delicious!
Lots of great questions....let me try and answer them all...
* 2 Rhode Island Reds (LaVerne and Maxine), 2 Golden Sex Links (Nicole and Paris), 2 Black Jersey Giants (Tyra and Oprah).
* We are still crunching numbers on coop construction costs versus eggs produced. We have been at it less than a year, and we need a year’s production to be able to have good data. We need to amortize the coop costs over 5-7 years, but we did pay cash and spent about $1200 for construction.
* We feed the flock more in the winter than any other time, because they free range in the yard in good weather and that cuts down the costs. Their metabolism is geared to produce eggs, but if they use too much metabolism staying warm, they stop laying.
* The coop cleanout door is directly across from my compost bin, and the bin is quite large. I compost the chicken manure with leaves, kitchen scraps and yard clippings, then use all of the compost in my garden beds. I also have a spot in the chicken yard where I let them scratch and I pile up the dirty straw there and let them till it into compost for me. I shovel some out when I need to.
* The “.75” is of course an average number. I take all eggs produced during the month to date and divide by the current day of the month to come up with an average number of eggs produced per day. Same goes with the Average Egg weight. Divide total weight of the eggs that day in Grams, and divide by the number of eggs laid that day.
* A hen is an egg machine, and her metabolism is geared for producing an egg roughly every 24 hours. They will produce eggs and lay every day whether the hen has been fertilized by a rooster or not. If a roo does fertilize her, the hen will lay a “clutch” of anywhere from 12-30+ eggs over a period of time, and attempt to brood them.
* Our City has an “Urban Livestock” Ordinance that allows residents 5 hens (no roosters). We have 1 more than allowed because we have 3 pair of hens of different breeds. Our neighbors have no problem because they get plenty of free eggs, and I share the produce from my garden. Half a dozen fresh eggs is a potent friend maker...
* For feeding I have 3 20 gallon galvanized trash cans that I keep filled with commercial layer ration, scratch grains, and whole horse oats (everything sells for about $11/50 pound bag). They also get vegetable scraps and on weekends my wife brings home the remains of the Costco fruit tray a vendor brings in, so the girls get fruit too. I supplement the layer rations with crushed oyster shells so they get extra calcium. I harvest rainwater off the roof of the coop, store it in a plastic barrel with a standard poultry watering dish, so they never run out of water.
* Chickens are incredibly efficient at gardening. If you protect the roots of your plants so they can’t scratch them up, chickens will make sure you have no weeds, will fertilize your garden as they go, and you will never find a bug on your veggies again. I use 2” x 3” “hogwire” to protect the vegggie roots, but the chickens can easily reach their scrawny necks through to clip weeds.
Certainly chickens are not for everyone, but they are a lot of fun, are easy to raise, and they reward you with lots and lots of fresh eggs. If you have never eaten an egg cooked while it is still warm from the chicken, then you have not yet tasted the best egg you will ever have. Once you start eating fresh eggs, having a couple of chickens in the yard makes a lot of sense.
I pay $2.00 a dz delivered. My egg lady was embarrassed that she had to go up in price this year. They were $1.50.
Organic and she brings them to my door every Wed.
I had ducks that were mutilated, someone’s idea of a Halloween prank, several years ago and while I miss them, the painful memory of what those evil people did to my poor flock has kept me from getting more.
I have also thought about chickens, but figure 2.00 a week to my egg lady outweighs the work and expense of keeping my own. She also has ducks and will bring me eggs for baking, no charge for those. She just knows I like them.
How many birds are in your flock? Do you track weather, breed, light, feed or any other variables?
We have 19 layers (one is real broody now) of different breeds (Barred Rock, Buffs, black Orps and Ameraucana). Unfortunately, our weather has been below zero quite a bit, but the ladies keep laying.
Our lighting schedule is 15 hours a day, but the coop has insulated windows (scrounged, of course). Anything below zero gets the heat lamp turned on. Feed is a local mash with a scratch grain supplement and a dose of kelp meal. We offer silage each week as well as any other table scraps that are suitable. This winter, we are averaging just over 14 eggs per day. The birds are just shy of a year old.
This summer, the plan is to range in paddocks to allow pasture recovery.
Thanks!
March is done and I have tallied numbers for my backyard coop egg production for the month and year to date.
I recorded my 2010 egg production on a different thread here...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2618506/posts
JAN 2011 128 Eggs 4.129/Day A.E.: 62.37 G 7983 G. Total 281.592 Oz. 17.6 lbs.
FEB 2011 133 eggs 4.75/Day A.E.: 62.21 G 8274 G. Total 291.857 Oz. 18.24 lbs.
MAR 2011 142 eggs 4.58/Day A.E.:63.43G 9007G. Total 317.713 Oz. 19.86 lbs
YEAR TO DATE
403 eggs; 33.583 Dozen; 25.264 Kilos; 55.7 Pounds (so far)
Production in the first three months of this year has exceeded half of what we produced in six months last year (765 eggs). Total numbers are up in March, but so is average egg weight with a whole bunch of 70+ gram eggs this month. As the warmer weather comes on the count and size will only increase.
Cheers!
April stats!
JAN 2011 128 Eggs 4.129/Day A.E.: 62.37 G 7983 G. Total 281.592 Oz. 17.6 lbs.
FEB 2011 133 eggs 4.75/Day A.E.: 62.21 G 8274 G. Total 291.857 Oz. 18.24 lbs.
MAR 2011 142 eggs 4.58/Day A.E.:63.43G 9007G. Total 317.713 Oz. 19.86 lbs
APR 2011 149 eggs 4.97/Day A.E.:63.57G 9472G. Total 334.115 Oz. 20.88 lbs
YEAR TO DATE
552 eggs; 46 Dozen; 34.736 Kilos; 76.58 Pounds (so far)
Interesting notes...
** 21 eggs that weighed over 70 grams (14%)
** Highest 1 day production weight ever this month; 6 eggs that weighed 398 Grams. We have never exceeded 400...
Warm weather is coming on now, and the eggs just keep getting bigger and better....
Cheers!!
Egg stats for May are in!
JAN 2011 128 Eggs 4.129/Day A.E.: 62.37 G 7983 G. Total 281.592 Oz. 17.6 lbs.
FEB 2011 133 eggs 4.75/Day A.E.: 62.21 G 8274 G. Total 291.857 Oz. 18.24 lbs.
MAR 2011 142 eggs 4.58/Day A.E.:63.43G 9007G. Total 317.713 Oz. 19.86 lbs
APR 2011 149 eggs 4.97/Day A.E.:63.57G 9472G. Total 334.115 Oz. 20.88 lbs
MAY 2011 148 eggs 4.93/Day A.E.:68.62G 10,156G. Total 358.243 Oz. 22.39 lbs
YEAR TO DATE
700 eggs; 58.33 Dozen; 44.892 Kilos; 98.97 Pounds (so far)
NOTES
** 28 eggs weighed 70 grams or better; 18.92%
** The weather has been abysmal with higher than normal rain and lower than normal temperatures all month.