It will be interesting to see how many eggs we get this year. I know that Honey is quite a good layer (97 eggs last year) and that Amber has always had a problem laying her eggs (35 eggs last year) and even when she does lay an egg it is usually broken and not able to be eaten by us.
I know that Sparkle is a really good layer (109 eggs since her arrival on 5th April) but Topaz is an unknown quantity (6 eggs from her arrival on 5th April). She was broody for three weeks and after laying one egg she started her moult so I don’t know if she will be prone to going broody or if she will hit her stride next year and start laying properly. That was a huge difference between these two girls.
I have no idea if the game girls will be good layers or constantly broody. They came to me (on 11th June) after being broody for the farmer (he keeps them because they make good broodies for hatching eggs for the farm) and Emerald laid 1 egg and Toffee laid 6 eggs before they both started their moult.
The farmer needed them to go broody whereas I would try to discourage it but as I know from Topaz this year it isn’t always possible. So it will be a total surprise this year to see if they go broody a lot or if they lay well. I know that bantam game birds are not known for being good layers so we will see.
Peaches and Barley started laying in November at six months old and are quite good layers and may even improve in spring. In two months Peaches has laid 15 eggs and Barley has laid 18 eggs.
Altogether we had 286 eggs from the bantams last year but two girls came to me in April and four girls came to me in June so I would expect a higher number this year. It will be our first year with eight bantams from the start of the year it so will be interesting to see how they all do.
I am looking forward to seeing how the girls progress and to having more lovely eggs to eat. The only down side is that I dread Amber returning to egg laying again. You can never tell how things will go though as we had thought we were about to lose Amber so many times but she kept bouncing back. Every year I hope the next year will be easier on her. On the upside she isn’t being bullied and she does have all her feathers. She is now looking better than she has since we first had her.
Here’s to 2015 with happy chickens and lovely eggs and happy chicken keepers. Happy 2015 to every one.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
This is interesting .
I think they make up their own minds. As you know I have two of my four laying . Little Bluebell the youngest and the old girl Clover who I never thought would lay again after her moult.I was away for a week and a friend looked after the girls and I thought that Bluebell and Clover might not lay so much but I was wrong (not missed as much as I thought ,John still threw out the corn)
I am really against the idea that some people believe in that you have artificial light to make the chickens believe it is daylight hours.
Surely they deserve a break and time to grow new feathers and get themselves all shiny and bright for the new year.
Last year I only had to resort to buying 6 eggs once ..The idea of sharing 1 egg was not my idea of a good breakfast and the shop eggs how ever organic were not as good.
I too definitely do not believe in adding light. As you say they need the break to grow their feathers. Also they all have their amount of eggs in them from the start so the ones that don’t lay as well will continue to lay for longer.
I too had to buy a few eggs this winter for the first time since having chickens and I too hate to have to do that. Peaches and Barley are keeping me going for now but I know that next year I probably won’t have any eggs over winter.
I am looking forward to seeing how this year goes though as it’s all going to be quite new with the girls that joined the flock last year.
I am just so happy to have a fully feathered flock at last.
Hi, Carol
Happy New Year to you and all your readership.
I fully agree with Jackie and yourself: they do need a break, and the chance to re-energise before the next season. Hopefully, Amber will have fewer problems this year: certainly, if stress were possibly a factor, you’ve removed the problem of feather-picking and, one year older, you’d expect fewer eggs and fewer difficulties: fingers crossed! I’ll email you an update about my flock in a few days, but for comparison, I think that Sparkle has been outstanding, and Honey really productive. We must remember that we have bantams, not commercial layers. Persistent broodiness amongst my wyandottes in particular has meant that they’ve only produced between 40 and 50 eggs each – although mostly they did not come into lay until April. My star has been Dart, with a total of 177 for the year (not counting whatever she laid during the 4 weeks spent in chicken boarding), but no one else comes close. I do wish that she’d stop and take a break, especially as she’s taken to laying outside, meaning that today’s offering hit the frost-hardened ground, broke and was being eaten, until I intercepted it! I’m pleased that your leghorns are laying consistently and, hopefully, will not suffer from broodiness.
Happy New Year to you too.
I am hopeful that things will be better for Amber this year. I used to feel to so guilty that I had bought her into a stressful environment but now there is no bullying and no feather pulling. She is now in the middle of the pecking order (number four of eight) so in a good position. I also think that now Honey has moved above her they no longer feel the need to have their dust ups. I feel she has a much better life in the flock now and really hope this will help her.
I also agree that our bantam flocks are not all about eggs and any good egg layers are a bonus. It does look like Peaches and Barley are shaping up to be good egg layers.
Your Dart though is exceptional! What a girl. That is an amazing amount of eggs. I wonder if she will take a break at all this year, probably not now. It will be interesting to see what she does next year.