Monday, June 24, 2013

Where have all the eggs gone?

This is a copy of what I recently sent out regular egg customers...


We've had some egg challenges - I checked our tally sheet - at the beginning of last month we were getting between 8 - 10 eggs a day. Now, the girls are laying between 2 - 4. This is frustrating for me, but because chickens don't talk, I can't ask them what's causing the decrease. 

Here's what I can deduce:
There are 11 hens.
  1. 2 are broody. Broody chickens do not lay eggs. Two hens eliminated from the 'laying pool'
  2. Trudy is busy raising 3 chicks, so that means she is not laying. That makes 3
  3. Candy is out on loan, sitting on peacock eggs. She's broody AND gone. That makes 4
  4. There is an egg destroyer in our midst. At least one egg a day has a hole pecked in it. As soon as we figure out who is doing the destruction, we will remove her.  That makes at least 5.
  5. Hens don't lay daily.
At least 5 eggs a day are either not being produced or being destroyed. 11-5= 6.

6 potential eggs a day and we are getting between 2-4. Phooey.

I thought I had a solution - I found a neighbor who had some chickens, and had extra eggs. Perfect! - I could supplement my eggs with hers. That was, until I found out she was feeding them non-organic feed. There went that idea! 
....
The good news? We have 8 chicks - sex unknown - that will be ready to lay in December. David and I are encouraging them all to be hens.

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