Thursday, January 17, 2013

Bird-Dog



BIRD



DOG

Alica asked last night how many birds we have.  We have 14 roosters on the old henhouse side, of them, 7 are last year's hatch, and 2 are two years old.  1 is four, and the others are five.  TOO MANY. 
On that side are 7 girls from last year's hatch... and four older hens who lay once in a while, meaning I may get two eggs a week from them.  The others, about six small birds and about four standards, are no longer laying.  


On the new henspa side are four roosters, only ONE of whom I intended to be there. 
There are 28 hens, large and small, meaning standard and bantam.  Of these, most are laying, but some only lay twice a week, as they are older.  All in all, I am getting from 16 to 24 eggs a day from both henhouses in the middle of winter.  

This week we have used about 7 eggs for our own use, and I broke a few.  
Today I found several eggs soaked with yolk, so I think one broke in the nest.  I have extra calcium grit in the henspa, as they have their yard, but no pasture to roam in for grit.  I have been taking anywhere from 7 to 9 dozen eggs a week to our food pantry, and they need every one! 
And actually... we are probably going to have to get a small college-sized refrigerator, and use it for egg storage, as I am taking up so much space in the kitchen fridge! 

I hope to replace the non-layers with between 8-10 new pullets in the spring.  

5 comments:

  1. I bet the food pantry not only needs every one, they appreciate every one too! That's a great way to use up eggs after you use what you can.

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  2. I did wonder what you did with all those eggs. How nice you can put them to go use at the food pantry. Hope your Friday is a fantastic one!

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  3. When ours were laying we put the crushed egg shells back in their pen for them. They ate them.

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  4. thank you for your card yesterday...we loved the pug on the front!! Have a great weekend! I think about you guys each day.
    stella rose and mom

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  5. Wow, that's a lotta birds AND a lotta eggs! Good for you guys for taking them to the food pantry. I'll bet they are appreciated very, very much! :)

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