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Science Forum Index » Agriculture - Poultry Forum » Attn RICK re "chickens not laying" MELBourne Austra;ia
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| Catherine Jemma |
 Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:35 am |
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Hi, just saw an older thread and thought I'd start it anew
Hey Rick that's a good sized shed, so with just a few hens and small ducks,
try leaving them locked up until mid-afternoon, say 2 pm , for a few days in
a row (instead of letting them out at first light)
This way they'll "have" to select an egglaying spot inside the shed, and
become established the habit of laying somewhere inside the shed
Your hens might well be laying more eggs than you're finding, but outside
the shed, and possibly even crows, lizards or other critters are gettin'
your eggs !
As an aside, (and with the greatest possible respect to Jill, who not only
knows everything about hens, I think her DNA must be half-chicken ! )
........for many years I have bought old, ex-battery-cage hens, which I'm
guessing are 2 years old already. They normally cost $3 each, or $5 each for
slightly supposedly younger ones
I get many years from my hens, although as I have a large shed to house
them, and virtually unlimited room for them to run around outside the shed
(if they choose to leave, when I open the door.....in Summer they don't
bother leaving the shed much as it's only desert outside and it's cooler
inside their shed than outside, shit, it's cooler inside their shed than
inside my bloody hovel of a house !
so "egg production" isn't a factor I worry about
Mine have unlimited wheat grains to feed upon
Once a year around harvest (Spring-Early Summer) I usually manage to get
some wheat in for free, often wheat that might have been spilled or rejected
from the silo for other reasons (legally speaking the wheat is designated as
"not fit even for animal feed") I get the wheat for free, for the petrol of
driving the car and trailer a few kms and the labour of filling a trailer by
hand (this year I got in about 1.5 tonnes (2 trailerloads each morning, at
first light before it got too hot, two mornings in a row)
I don't have "proper" weather and vermin proof storage for the wheatgrains,
so some sits in the trailers covered with plastic sheeting tarpaulins,
others can go into stacks of several car/truck/tractor tyres located inside
the hen's sheds
With a crudely fashioned lid, the hens (and rats) still eventually burrow
around the base and the wheat leaks out onto the floor dispenser-like
This is an "imperfect" system, and it very efficiently allows rats mice and
weevils to breed up. The hens hunt down and eat mice and the wild cats in
the area eat the rats
By the end of a year, the as yet un-eaten wheat is pretty far gone with
weevils, mostly just husks and dust ! remaining
However as I only have some 25 or so birds, and pretty much every year
scrounge up a tonne at least of grain, there's always far far more than they
can eat, even outside when rats and mice make holes in the plastic sheeting
and rainwater enters and some wheat becomes ruined by rotting
.......there'd still be a couple of hundred kilogrammes at least of wheat
remaining in their shed from the time before's scrounge, not counting the
1.5 tonnes I got a couple of months back (haven't even started on those
trailerloads yet)
Recently there were another couple of deaths of old, ex-battery, hens ("Isa
Browns") so now I'm down to just 19 of them hens. Some kind of stomach
swelling, I'm guessing a kind of internal cancerous growth is a common death
for this variety of hen (after many years). If picking the hen up, over a
period of some weeks, you can actually feel the extra mass, although those
hens are still vigourous and can outrun me, until their last few days
We've had shocking temperatures this Summer,, (global warming?) a couple of
weeks back, the official temperature in a nearby small town was 48*C ! We've
had several 45's and 46's Celcius. Last week was a dust storm of near
biblical proportions, it went CONTINUOUSLY from 8 am to 6 pm (I left then
hens in the shed ALL DAY that day, visibilty was just a few metres
NOTE.....Ensure birds ALWAYS have access to fresh drinking water (kept in a
shaded location, or can be too hot to drink !
There has been no green feed growing since about September 2006, on a
handful of days I let the hens out the door which allows them upto the house
but they ate almost all my Physalis leaves off etc so have to restrict them,
to allow those plants to recover. Short version, they've had no soft greens
as such since Sept or so. Note that native "saltbush" plants ("Atriplex"
species) exists in a back paddock they have access to, from a British
European perspective I'd say it's a wee bit like "Rosemary" the woody herb
bush. The chickens graze on this in small amounts (farmers use it as Summer
grazing for sheep, no nutrition, just some roughage to fill their bellies)
For the last several weeks I've been averaging 7 eggs a day, and I'm happy
with that, all the eggs I can use plus supplying several worthy
near-neighbours with 6 eggs every week and once a month, 2 dozen each to
another 2 worthy recipients
The last few weeks my hens have gotten occasional small serving of layer
pellets in the evenings, but only 'cause I's given half-a-bag of pellets, so
thought I'll use them up before the vermin gets it all !
I give them a shake of blood-and-bone type "meatmeal" occasioanally, and
they have unlimited shellgrit as much as they want
NOTE in a small backyard if you only had 6 hens or less you'd probably want
to maximise egg production, using young hens and selected feeds (much as
Jill suggested)
My "system" , by comparison, might be in-efficient in outright egg
production, but it runs on "available resources" that I get for free or
cheaply
cheerio
--
"Save the Cheerleader, Save the World"
......HEROES ep 5 Oct 2006
this email brought to you by Rubbish-Dump computer-power !
Find me at http://myspace.com/catherinejemma
check my weBlog http://catherinejemma.blogspot.com
Patsy....."So is killing NOT wrong anymore ?"
Trudy....."We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT
decides for us"
.................The Tribe episode 2:49 |
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| Joe |
| Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:18 pm |
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Guest
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In article <45f1622c@quokka.wn.com.au>, xena@agn.net.auREMOVEthis
says...
Quote: Hi, just saw an older thread and thought I'd start it anew
g'Day
As an aside, (and with the greatest possible respect to Jill, who not only
knows everything about hens, I think her DNA must be half-chicken ! )
She's amazing, isn't she?
.......for many years I have bought old, ex-battery-cage hens, which I'm
guessing are 2 years old already. They normally cost $3 each, or $5 each for
slightly supposedly younger ones
We got four ex-battery hens a couple of years ago (best $10 I've ever
spent); they're slowing down now (not to say, stopped laying completely)
and I'd like a few more but I'm worried they would be bullied.
Do you have any trouble assimilating new ones into the flock? We don't
have a huge shed for our girls, and putting half-naked newcomers in with
the older chooks would seem to be asking for trouble. Any suggestions?
Quote:
I get many years from my hens, although as I have a large shed to house
them, and virtually unlimited room for them to run around outside the shed
(if they choose to leave, when I open the door.....in Summer they don't
bother leaving the shed much as it's only desert outside and it's cooler
inside their shed than outside, shit, it's cooler inside their shed than
inside my bloody hovel of a house !
Here too.
Ours make a run for a calistamon (?sp) tree where it's nice and shady.
They DO look funny trying to run on tip-toe over the hot ground!
Quote:
Once a year around harvest (Spring-Early Summer) I usually manage to get
some wheat in for free, often wheat that might have been spilled or rejected
from the silo for other reasons (legally speaking the wheat is designated as
"not fit even for animal feed")
Now there's an idea worth following up. There's a silo just down the
road.
Quote:
NOTE.....Ensure birds ALWAYS have access to fresh drinking water (kept in a
shaded location, or can be too hot to drink !
This Summer, I've been making 500ml ice-blocks in old margarine
containers and putting them in the chooks drinking water on warmish
(over about 38ºC) days. They really appreciate that, and it's the first
year I haven't lost a single hen in the heat.
--
Please visit -
Water saving tips: http://graspages.cjb.cc/bigdry/ |
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| Jill |
| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:36 am |
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| Joe (GKF) |
| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:11 pm |
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Guest
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In article <45f3bf69$0$8732$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>,
news@NOSPAMkintaline.co.uk says...
Quote: Joe wrote:
Do you have any trouble assimilating new ones into the flock? We don't
have a huge shed for our girls, and putting half-naked newcomers in
with the older chooks would seem to be asking for trouble. Any
suggestions?
You would be better giving the new girls a separate area for a number of
reasons
forever?? I thought there must be a way of gradually introducing
newcomers.
--
Please visit -
Water saving tips: http://graspages.cjb.cc/bigdry/ |
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| Jill |
| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:18 pm |
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Guest
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"Joe (GKF)" <joedinmore@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:MPG.205f76be4e3250d598976d@news.aardvark.net.au...
Quote: In article <45f3bf69$0$8732$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>,
news@NOSPAMkintaline.co.uk says...
Joe wrote:
Do you have any trouble assimilating new ones into the flock? We don't
have a huge shed for our girls, and putting half-naked newcomers in
with the older chooks would seem to be asking for trouble. Any
suggestions?
You would be better giving the new girls a separate area for a number of
reasons
forever?? I thought there must be a way of gradually introducing
newcomers.
No - just for a few weeks until they start to get themselves re-orientated
It allows you to observe if any will need more time or care and them to bond
together.
Jill |
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