Posted: 9/10/2016 12:38:14 AM EDT
| I've heard some people say that you can raise chickens on stuff as cheap as deer corn and grit. Someone I spoke to today says you need to feed more than that to get them to lay eggs. |
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Let them free range if you can, or get them an electric poultry fence that will allow them to have a large run. Move the run often. Our birds get normal feed, grit, oyster shell, but they mostly dine on bugs and grass out in the run. The eggs have nice orange yolks, are well formed, and come about one per day from each bird. |
| 4 hens here in the city. They get fed 16% layer feed ($10 for a 50 lb bag) and they get out of the run for an hour or two per day to eat bugs and weeds in an around the garden. I fill a 7 lb. feeder once a week for them. In return I get 3-4 eggs everyday, it couldn't be easier. The only thing I provide other than food and water is crushed oyster shells in a small container hanging under their coop if they feel the need for more calcium, that will last a month or more. |
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4 hens here in the city. They get fed 16% layer feed ($10 for a 50 lb bag) and they get out of the run for an hour or two per day to eat bugs and weeds in an around the garden. I fill a 7 lb. feeder once a week for them. In return I get 3-4 eggs everyday, it couldn't be easier. The only thing I provide other than food and water is crushed oyster shells in a small container hanging under their coop if they feel the need for more calcium, that will last a month or more. Pretty much what we do except we are rural and have around 16 chickens. |
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We sell enough excess eggs that the chickens are self funded. Quoted:
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If you want cheap eggs you are probably better off going to the store for them. We sell enough excess eggs that the chickens are self funded. Or just buy them from someone like you. By the time you buy the coop, fencing, feeders/waters and the little birds with all the feed... you have a lot of catching up to do with egg sales. GF has them and they are fun, I don't think we are really saving anything on eggs. Enough people in our area have them it is hard to sell them too... so we are constantly snowed under with eggs. |
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For nesting boxes, if I got 8 chickens I'd get the most eggs with 8 nesting boxes right? Not really, they tend to share boxes. I'd go three, maybe 4 if you have lots of room. I have 4 birds and 2 nest boxes but it's rare that they don't all lay in just one. Put a fake egg or if your cheap like me put a golf ball in the nest box, they will get the idea quickly that 's the place to lay their eggs. Biggest thing to do when building a coop is to make sure it has plenty of ventilation, it will keep the odor to a minimum. The general rule is 1 sq. ft of ventilation per bird minimum. |
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Not really, they tend to share boxes. I'd go three, maybe 4 if you have lots of room. I have 4 birds and 2 nest boxes but it's rare that they don't all lay in just one. Put a fake egg or if your cheap like me put a golf ball in the nest box, they will get the idea quickly that 's the place to lay their eggs. Biggest thing to do when building a coop is to make sure it has plenty of ventilation, it will keep the odor to a minimum. The general rule is 1 sq. ft of ventilation per bird minimum. Quoted:
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For nesting boxes, if I got 8 chickens I'd get the most eggs with 8 nesting boxes right? Not really, they tend to share boxes. I'd go three, maybe 4 if you have lots of room. I have 4 birds and 2 nest boxes but it's rare that they don't all lay in just one. Put a fake egg or if your cheap like me put a golf ball in the nest box, they will get the idea quickly that 's the place to lay their eggs. Biggest thing to do when building a coop is to make sure it has plenty of ventilation, it will keep the odor to a minimum. The general rule is 1 sq. ft of ventilation per bird minimum. And they'll all lay eggs the same day? |
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And they'll all lay eggs the same day? Quoted:
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For nesting boxes, if I got 8 chickens I'd get the most eggs with 8 nesting boxes right? Not really, they tend to share boxes. I'd go three, maybe 4 if you have lots of room. I have 4 birds and 2 nest boxes but it's rare that they don't all lay in just one. Put a fake egg or if your cheap like me put a golf ball in the nest box, they will get the idea quickly that 's the place to lay their eggs. Biggest thing to do when building a coop is to make sure it has plenty of ventilation, it will keep the odor to a minimum. The general rule is 1 sq. ft of ventilation per bird minimum. And they'll all lay eggs the same day? Healthy layers will lay around one egg/day, though they'll quit for a day or two if stressed or something else is bothering them. They'll also slow down significantly in winter, unless you use supplemental lighting in the coop to simulate a longer day length. If you free range, seems like there's always a rebellious hen or two that will ignore the nest boxes, and instead decide to lay in the middle of the firewood pile, under the deck, or... generally someplace inconvenient (for you). We've had mother hens with chicks come wandering up unexpectedly, when we didn't notice they hen hadn't returned to the coop at night for a while... sitting on the eggs in wherever secret spot they found. |
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And they'll all lay eggs the same day? Quoted:
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For nesting boxes, if I got 8 chickens I'd get the most eggs with 8 nesting boxes right? Not really, they tend to share boxes. I'd go three, maybe 4 if you have lots of room. I have 4 birds and 2 nest boxes but it's rare that they don't all lay in just one. Put a fake egg or if your cheap like me put a golf ball in the nest box, they will get the idea quickly that 's the place to lay their eggs. Biggest thing to do when building a coop is to make sure it has plenty of ventilation, it will keep the odor to a minimum. The general rule is 1 sq. ft of ventilation per bird minimum. And they'll all lay eggs the same day? I get 4 eggs half the time, 3 eggs the other half since they seem to take a day off every few days. All 4 of mine lay between ~10-~11 am each day. They will head back into the coop, jump in the nest box for 10-15 mins, lay an egg, walk to the door of the coop and give a couple of bawks to announce their accomplishment before going back into the run to forage. Sometimes if one is taking too long the other will hop into the other box or squeeze into the same box to lay. |