Chicken prep

[the-gnole]

Here is a chicken I made "Oven ready" a few years back





A few others

026.JPG (63.59 KiB) Viewed 1045 times

028.JPG (77.09 KiB) Viewed 1045 times

Weighed in at 11lb 1oz

[preppingsu]

My OH wants to do this to our chooks unless they start laying soon. Def not self sufficient in eggs at the mo.

[the-gnole]

We have 3 eggs a day from three chickens at the moment, more than enough for the three of us.

[preppingsu]

We have 3 eggs a day from three chickens at the moment, more than enough for the three of us.

Lucky you! We get 1 a day (sometimes none) from 6 chooks! Although 4 have been recent rescues and were in a pretty minging state so may still be recovering. However, we got the flags out the other day as we had 2!!!!!!

[diamond lil]

Awhh wee souls ! spring will soon pick them up. If and when it comes. We seem to have a blizzard here so I guess spring hasnt quite sprung yet . I am only allowed two chickens. Apparently. My OH thinks that gardens should be concrete (painted green as a concession to me) and covered in parked bikes & cars.

[Erinlouiser]

Hi could do with some chicken advice please... I got my first 2 chickens a month ago one lays a perfect egg every day without fail since the day I brought her home, the second lays every other day but the egg is normally soft or broken, I tried increasing the calcium intake and extra grit and oyster shell but she's still laying soft eggs??? could she still be settling in do you think?

I have added 3 more chickens to my garden today, I only went for 2 but came home with a freebie as she was born with a deformed foot the guy doesn't want to breed from her and as his chickens are as free range as you can get he wanted rid of her so her eggs didn't start hatching chicks that couldn't be sold. But thats extra eggs for me and she's a lovely tame little lady

[unsure]

ive been discussing this with the wife , she`s willing to give it a go , but it seems like a lot of work for a few eggs .
theres the feeding and housing to consider along with the local population of cats . the general looking after will fall to the wife as i`m at work alot of the time .
any one got any advice , ive been doing the research but from what ive found so far i think this could be a none starter .

[preppingsu]

Did you get them at 18 weeks approx, as point of lay?

It may well be shes still young. We had a few soft eggs from ours initially but they soon got better. I do find it amazing though that they can lay a complete egg with a soft coating without it beaking!

We also had some battery hens. Occasionaly we would get the inside of the egg laid and then the squashed egg shell bit seperately.

[preppingsu]

ive been discussing this with the wife , she`s willing to give it a go , but it seems like a lot of work for a few eggs .
theres the feeding and housing to consider along with the local population of cats . the general looking after will fall to the wife as i`m at work alot of the time .
any one got any advice , ive been doing the research but from what ive found so far i think this could be a none starter .

OK, a lot depends on how you look at it. From a cost point of view when you are starting out, they are not cheap eggs.
But its not just about getting cheap eggs. Its about having a food source that you are in control of. If the food chain breaks down, you have eggs. You also know what your chooks are being fed and how they are being looked after.
This is part of my vision of self sufficiency.

We built our own coop, mainly because the ones you buy are very expensive, not well made and often made from ship-lap timber which is an ideal breeding/harbouring place for red mite which is nasty!!!!
We added a run, with a roof, to stop the foxes.

Our local cats aren't that bothered by them.

Food (generally bought from Countrywide but they are not the cheapest) lasts over a month. A bag of grit has lasted nearly two years. They will also scratch for bugs etc and can be fed fruit/veg scraps as well.

We wouldn't be without out now and they have great personalitys.