Well it is now well into December at Compost Mansions and I shall yet again bore you all witless with my egg tally and hennish round up for the last month ;-))
The biggest news is that, despite it being the lowest egg production period of the year due to the short day length, I have now got a regular order for a couple of dozen eggs a week from assorted people, so the egg mountain which was threatening to overwhelm us inside Compost Mansions has diminished a little. And the feed bill has a contribution!
Henny, who was moulting for the whole of October, has slowly begun to come back into lay and now looks splendid with her new feathers. Henny laid 16 eggs in November. Ginger continues to lay well, in the last week of Oct she, too went into moult but only a partial one, so she just looks a bit moth eaten and has carried on laying an egg every few days. Not really surprising as Henny and Ginger are the same age. Despite all this Ginger managed to produce 20 eggs!
Attilla laid 21 eggs and has nice new feathers on her neck and Cathy laid no eggs at all but she IS a baldy, moulting girl and an ex batt as well! You can see her lovely new feathers as I have had sucess with the purple spray on her and whoever was eating her feathers has stopped and they have grown back beautifully, she even has knickers again!
Sweetipie was STILL too busy being a good mum to the Sweetie Six during Novemeber to bother with egg laying and Genghis Hen is too silly.......and has laid precisely NO eggs at all.....
But yet again, the absolute stars are Babs and Goldie! Yep the new girls laid the most eggs! Babs laid 25 and Goldie laid a magnificent 26 eggs out of a possible 30. This clip is of Goldie doing a tightrope walk on top of the Broody ark!
As we are now into even shorter days and it has been quite overcast and gloomy on some days the girls are doing really well to lay so many eggs! Hen egg laying is controlled by day light so we really are getting a good return from our girlies. I am giving them LOTS of extra treats and high protein nibbles to help them grow new feathers as fast as they can, and as a reward because I love them all..... THANK you all, my lovely, lovely girls and boys, you are making my life a lot brighter!
Good to hear you are doing well with the eggs at Compost Mansions, well done girls!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have and Egglu... how does that work out?
ReplyDeleteYes TGS I am most impressed with the girls, I didn't eggspect to still be getting this many eggs using only the natural daylight we get from the sky!
ReplyDeleteHarvest Moon Homestead, welcome to The Compostbin! Yes, I have an Eglu as well as a Flytes of Fancy wooden house ( aka Cluckingham Palace) and a lovely Broody Ark made for me by Compostman.
The Eglu is very good and I am most impressed with it after 18 months of ownership, easy to clean and generally very good. BUT it doesn't provide perching height for chickens who wish to perch at night and the chickens DO have a tendency to sleep inside the nest box at night...
I got a wooden house earlier this year when I got more hens , because I didn't like the look of a Cube so much and it was very expensive. So far I don't regtret the choice I made ( although if I ever get an infestation of Red Mite I may regret it a bit!)
Are you thinking of getting an Eglu?
I have been stunned by my hens! both wyandottes came back into lay after they broody in June & didnt lay at all argg! the silver sussex are troopers & have had an each from them nearly every day since having them. But now we are back to 4 a day which is odd considering the short amount of light at the moment :o)
ReplyDeleteGTM
Hi GTM!
ReplyDeleteI know, its good isn't it? I had 6 eggs yesterday from 6 laying hens!
Must be the eggcelent care we show them, or summat....
That was a baaaaaad pun,
Sorry, I'll get my coat.....
:-))