May has now come and gone.
May is the month when there is so much we always want to get done around the homestead with mowing and planting at the least. May is also the month when my job always comes to a smashing climax for the year which tends to take up most of my time and energy.
I haven’t had much time at work to blog this month, and I have found that I can not blog here at home on my Macintosh except for the comment feature. As a result, May of 2007 has seen fewer number of entries in this blog than any other month since I began this journaling journey 9 months ago.
Not that less has happened this month at Pure Water Hollow, just less words and pictures.
Now it is time for my Month In Review post, and I find myself to not be in very much of a reflective mood. As a matter of fact, I do not feel like writing much. These Month In Review posts of mine have tended to be rather lengthy in January, February, March, and April, but you are just going to get a condensed version for May.
(After writing it I see that it doesn’t look like it is very condensed. But believe me, had I written everything that has been running through my mind about our homestead happenings, then it would have been pages longer!)
Chickens:
333 eggs this month did not break April’s record of 352 eggs, but still a great month. We crossed over the 1000-egg mark for 2007 on May 5th, which was significant since we only had 947 eggs for all of 2006! We have more than doubled our layers over last year, so we should expect more eggs. Two of our hens are setting on nests that should begin hatching next week, and we are missing two other hens that are likely setting somewhere in secret.
We have made $45.00 in egg sales now since we began on April 20th. We took out of it the feed costs for April and May, which was about $21.00 for two 100 pound sacks of cracked corn. The remaining $24.00 we split between Erica, Matthew, Christina, and Simon, giving them each $6.00 for their efforts in raising the chickens. I know it is not much, but they were happy to share in the profits. (We use these times to show how at least 10 percent, in this case 60 cents, should be given back to the Lord, which they each did last Sunday.)
Pigs:
We are still waiting to get Porky processed. We spent $116.50 on pig feed in May for the 4 hogs, but we still have 2 100-pound sacks of feed that we have not yet used. That means they ate about $88.10 in purchased feed. There were many days in May that we did not have any spoiled milk to give them.
Goats:
Mathew got an addition started for the goat pasture, but it has stalled out waiting to be completed. In the mean time we keep buying feed for them: $57.50 in May. We also had Tiny Tim and Big Jim castrated today, making them both wethers. Our vet does it for only $10 a piece!
We could have traded Big Jim for a breeding buck, but we just are not yet ready to jump into having a buck lot and all the trouble that can go with that. Some day we will get a buck to breed with Mama Belle and Little Lulu and begin growing our herd, but lets get some pasture hills fenced in first!
We also got tetanus shots for all 5 of them and worm medicine for each of them, so our total cost was $52.50. We gave the shots and wormed them ourselves
Honeybees:
We put an additional hive body and super on our Genesis colony of honeybees on May 6th. They seem to be doing very well.
Trees and Berries:
We planted 20 dogwood trees across the road, 2 chestnut trees near the barn, and 7 pecan trees between the clearing and split rock. Matthew planted 18 trees along the east ridge all by himself, including 4 coffee trees, 7 chestnut trees, and 7 pecan trees.
11 of the 12 catalog cherry trees we planted last month are doing great. (One lost a battle with a lawn mower.) 3 of the 6 catalog blueberry plants we planted last month are still surviving. (The other three were apparently killed by Luna)
This time last year we had a bountiful cherry harvest, but this year not one cherry made it through the Easter freeze. Also no peach crop for us this year thanks to the freeze, but we do have one peach on a tree on the riverbank!
We have enjoyed many Strawberries beginning on April 19th and still continuing.
We have several plums growing in the plum trees and it looks like we may have many grapes on our vines later this summer.
The walnut trees have many walnuts forming on them this year! Last year we were disappointed in our walnut trees.
Raspberries and blackberries look like they will do well.
Weather:
Hot and dry. We are experiencing somewhat of a drought here. We had 2.4 inches of rain the first week of May and a half-inch on May 16th, but that has been all. We counted 7 days that reached 90 degrees or better, 9 days in the 80s, 13 days in the 70s, and only 2 days in the 60s. That sounds more like Florida weather to me!
Misc:
Please pray for my dad. He is in the hospital tonight and he has been battling cancer. Thanks.
1 comment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sheryl on June 15, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Hey,
Wow you all have been busy. I just got to read this post today. I really haven`t been on here that much. I was glad to hear about the egg production. I can`t wait until all my mine are laying. I only have 5 hens and two bantam hens laying right now but I got some that should start laying this fall. I hope anyway. Good luck. I am going to try and catch up on some more of your post and some others too.
-Sheryl
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The Death Of A Camera ~ OR ~ A Nice Afternoon On Our River
Picture Perfect Stupidity
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Pure Water Hollow. It was near 90 degrees once again with a blue sky and a bright sun. It was warm, but in the shade the gentle breeze made it comfortable. Later on this summer we will probably wish we had air conditioning, but I am usually thankful for nature’s air conditioning during this time of the year. Even though the days are near 90 (we have already had several above 90) the nights are down in the 60s. This tends to create a sort of natural air conditioned feeling in the shaded crevices of our property well into the afternoon hours as well as in our mostly shade covered home. We open the widows during the night and then "trap" the cool air inside in the morning. So far it has stayed comfortable.
The chores were all completed and I was back from running some errands in town. The children have been looking forward to getting in our river to enjoy the refreshing, cool, running water and to also explore all the wonders that one can find in the edges of the river among the rocks and boulders. They were overjoyed when I announced that today would be a good afternoon to get wet in the river!
Our property goes down along the river for a piece and we have played and explored the riverbank many times. We discovered that it is exciting and fun to wade in the river and a section of our part of the river is at the shoals where it is at the shallowest. On a hot summer day it is refreshing to wade out into the cool water. Last year we found out that we can wade across the entire width to the other shore, even though the current is quite strong along the middle.
I wanted to let the children go down the river in inner tubes on this particular Saturday, which we had never done before. To be on the safe side I decided to tie a rope from one shore to the other across the river. This was so they would be able to catch it instead of continuing on down the river away from our home. I had a 300 feet length of tough, yellow, braided nylon rope and as the children splashed around at the edge of the river I began to wade out toward the middle.
The water was not as cold as I thought it would be, and there was no "shock" as I stepped deeper and deeper in. Even though it has not rained much for weeks, the river was still a foot or two higher than it is when it’s at it’s lowest. As I went nearer the middle the current got stronger and stronger until it was difficult to stand up at times. The water level quickly passed my knees to my waist and was almost chest deep at the deepest part. I was thankful that I had a hold of a rope tied to the shore a couple of times and just when I thought it might be too deep and too strong of current to continue, it began to get easier and less deep and strong. Going the second half of the distance was not difficult at all and I quickly found myself on the other side of the river. The 300 feet of rope was more than enough and we probably had 75 feet left over after I tied it to the other side. The return trip across back to our side of the river would be easy now with a rope to back me up.
As I returned back out into the river the water was again waist deep about a third of the way across. It was about at this point, with rushing water swirling all around me, that a sickening feeling overwhelmed me…
It was such a beautiful day, and this was our first day of the summer to play in the river. I had Erica charge up the batteries for her digital camera so we could get plenty of good pictures of the children enjoying the first day of the 2007 river-play season. I also wanted to get pictures of their first time floating down our river riding on inner tubes. The pictures would be classic!
Erica had wisely decided that she did not want to get her camera wet, and she knew she was going to be wading in the river as soon as she got down there. Being the responsible young lady she is, she had given the camera to me for safe keeping.
That sickening, overwhelming feeling stopped me dead in the water (literally, and it was waist deep water) when I realized that I still had Erica’s digital camera…in my pocket! Not only was the camera submerged in water at that moment, but it had also been under water for over 10 minutes as I fought against the current crossing the river!
How could Lisa (my wonderful wife) have allowed that to happen! Why did she let me go out into the river with Erica’s camera in my pocket?
I reached down into the water and pulled the dripping camera out of my pocket. I moved it to my damp shirt pocket so it would not get wet as I waded back across the river. (Wouldn’t want to ruin the camera on the way back to my side of the river, you know.)
The children enjoyed their inner-tube rides down the river and Lisa and I enjoyed watching them. Unfortunately, no one can enjoy the pictures of the afternoon….
I can not begin to express how terrible I felt about the camera. It was an expensive mistake that Erica made, entrusting her camera to her darling dad. It cost her loving father over $100 to buy her a new digital camera, with the express instructions to be careful of whom she lends it to!
She got her new camera yesterday, and she seems to be happy with it. She has forgiven me and she still loves me. I am a blessed man.
2 comments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~Melissa on May 30, 2007 at 5:22 pm
You are blessed. Aren't we parents full of "ooops!". Glad you were able to enjoy the day despite the loss of the camera.
Warmly, Melissa
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SimpleFolk on May 30, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Oh, I'm sorry this happened to you! You know, your children are so blessed to have a father who spends time with them like you do. Those are beautiful memories in the making! I bet your daughter won't even remember the soggy camera. )
(You probably will for economic reasons, lol.)
Sounds like a lovely day anyway! You must have a beautiful property!
Amy
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Pure Water Hollow. It was near 90 degrees once again with a blue sky and a bright sun. It was warm, but in the shade the gentle breeze made it comfortable. Later on this summer we will probably wish we had air conditioning, but I am usually thankful for nature’s air conditioning during this time of the year. Even though the days are near 90 (we have already had several above 90) the nights are down in the 60s. This tends to create a sort of natural air conditioned feeling in the shaded crevices of our property well into the afternoon hours as well as in our mostly shade covered home. We open the widows during the night and then "trap" the cool air inside in the morning. So far it has stayed comfortable.
The chores were all completed and I was back from running some errands in town. The children have been looking forward to getting in our river to enjoy the refreshing, cool, running water and to also explore all the wonders that one can find in the edges of the river among the rocks and boulders. They were overjoyed when I announced that today would be a good afternoon to get wet in the river!
Our property goes down along the river for a piece and we have played and explored the riverbank many times. We discovered that it is exciting and fun to wade in the river and a section of our part of the river is at the shoals where it is at the shallowest. On a hot summer day it is refreshing to wade out into the cool water. Last year we found out that we can wade across the entire width to the other shore, even though the current is quite strong along the middle.
I wanted to let the children go down the river in inner tubes on this particular Saturday, which we had never done before. To be on the safe side I decided to tie a rope from one shore to the other across the river. This was so they would be able to catch it instead of continuing on down the river away from our home. I had a 300 feet length of tough, yellow, braided nylon rope and as the children splashed around at the edge of the river I began to wade out toward the middle.
The water was not as cold as I thought it would be, and there was no "shock" as I stepped deeper and deeper in. Even though it has not rained much for weeks, the river was still a foot or two higher than it is when it’s at it’s lowest. As I went nearer the middle the current got stronger and stronger until it was difficult to stand up at times. The water level quickly passed my knees to my waist and was almost chest deep at the deepest part. I was thankful that I had a hold of a rope tied to the shore a couple of times and just when I thought it might be too deep and too strong of current to continue, it began to get easier and less deep and strong. Going the second half of the distance was not difficult at all and I quickly found myself on the other side of the river. The 300 feet of rope was more than enough and we probably had 75 feet left over after I tied it to the other side. The return trip across back to our side of the river would be easy now with a rope to back me up.
As I returned back out into the river the water was again waist deep about a third of the way across. It was about at this point, with rushing water swirling all around me, that a sickening feeling overwhelmed me…
It was such a beautiful day, and this was our first day of the summer to play in the river. I had Erica charge up the batteries for her digital camera so we could get plenty of good pictures of the children enjoying the first day of the 2007 river-play season. I also wanted to get pictures of their first time floating down our river riding on inner tubes. The pictures would be classic!
Erica had wisely decided that she did not want to get her camera wet, and she knew she was going to be wading in the river as soon as she got down there. Being the responsible young lady she is, she had given the camera to me for safe keeping.
That sickening, overwhelming feeling stopped me dead in the water (literally, and it was waist deep water) when I realized that I still had Erica’s digital camera…in my pocket! Not only was the camera submerged in water at that moment, but it had also been under water for over 10 minutes as I fought against the current crossing the river!
How could Lisa (my wonderful wife) have allowed that to happen! Why did she let me go out into the river with Erica’s camera in my pocket?
I reached down into the water and pulled the dripping camera out of my pocket. I moved it to my damp shirt pocket so it would not get wet as I waded back across the river. (Wouldn’t want to ruin the camera on the way back to my side of the river, you know.)
The children enjoyed their inner-tube rides down the river and Lisa and I enjoyed watching them. Unfortunately, no one can enjoy the pictures of the afternoon….
I can not begin to express how terrible I felt about the camera. It was an expensive mistake that Erica made, entrusting her camera to her darling dad. It cost her loving father over $100 to buy her a new digital camera, with the express instructions to be careful of whom she lends it to!
She got her new camera yesterday, and she seems to be happy with it. She has forgiven me and she still loves me. I am a blessed man.
2 comments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~Melissa on May 30, 2007 at 5:22 pm
You are blessed. Aren't we parents full of "ooops!". Glad you were able to enjoy the day despite the loss of the camera.
Warmly, Melissa
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SimpleFolk on May 30, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Oh, I'm sorry this happened to you! You know, your children are so blessed to have a father who spends time with them like you do. Those are beautiful memories in the making! I bet your daughter won't even remember the soggy camera. )
(You probably will for economic reasons, lol.)
Sounds like a lovely day anyway! You must have a beautiful property!
Amy
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Mom Visits and Takes Pictures!
We were blessed at Pure Water Hollow Homestead to have a visit from my mom and step-dad on April 27the and 28th. I am glad that Mom had her digital camera with her and decided to take several pictures. There have been some additions to our homestead since their visit in October.
For one reason or another, we have not been taking many pictures around our homestead lately. Before they went back home I got Mom’s camera and transferred all of her pictures to our computer!
We have dragged our feet a bit getting them ready for the blog, but what follows are some of the pictures she took while visiting! I think visits to our home make for a neat scrap book entry of sorts, and this is a way to preserve our memories! (My brother’s family came down toward the beginning of April and you can see pictures of that visit in that post.)
They came bearing gifts, and this included new bicycles! Simon posed with his, ready for action:
Christina loves her bikes, too:
Here she is enjoying a ride on the beautiful day:
Of course, a big part of the visit was seeing our animals as we did the chores.
Here are the chickens:
And here are some of the pigs. This is Rufus and Porky:
And Rufus and Nellie:
And here is Tom observing them. The pigs are very friendly and came up to be petted:
Across the ravine from the pigs are our goats. Here is Little LuLu and Tiny Tim:
And Little Joe:
And Mama Belle:
Here are the three kids getting ready to eat their grain mix:
I like this picture of Matthew taking a bale of hay across to them:
Simon and Christiana love catching things from our pond, which is behind the barn. I thought Mom got some good pictures of it:
Doesn’t it look like a peaceful area?
After the feeding chores are over, we often take time to sit back and relax. Matthew looks tired in this picture, but I think he was just watching what was going on in front of the barn:
Here is one of Christina finding a place to sit down and take it easy. That is a roll of fence that the goats can not wait for us to get installed for them! If you look closely you can see the goat house across the ravine:
Before leaving the barn area, Matthew showed Tom how his four-wheeler works:
Tom decided to try it out on a drive back to the house instead of walking down from the barn. There they go:
But back at the house, there was more work to be done. Tom liked the looks of the mulch that the RECC has been giving to us. (The RECC has continued to deliver more loads of wood chips periodically throughout this past winter and spring)
We were glad to donate to their homestead as much mulch as Tom wanted to take in his truck:
Tom had an entire work-crew assembled. Matthew, Christina, and Simon all enjoyed helping:
Erica was around the whole time, but I noticed she did not make many of these pictures I got ready for the blog. Here she is with one of our favorite cats, Puff:
(Speaking of cats, let me show you a picture Erica took of the kittens that were born on April 21st. This was taken when they were 3 days old:
We had 4 more kittens born last week. I will likely post about the kittens in the future as we are trying to bottle feed them some of the time. The most experienced of the two mama cats, Cotton, was tragically killed on the road this week, leaving her 4 newborn kittens to be raised by the young mama,Icesickle. That makes a total of 8 kittens for a very young mama cat to take care of.)
Another person who did not make it in any of these pictures was the one who took all the pictures: my mother! Since I had access to all of the pictures from her camera we decided to take the liberty to use one of her that was not taken at Pure Water Hollow. Here she is, with Tom, at the ocean:
Thank you, Mom and Tom, for the wonderful visit. And thanks, Mom, for taking all of these pictures.
From all of us at Pure Water Hollow…
WE LOVE YOU!
1 comment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chas on May 10, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Your pictures were GREAT your mom did a wonderful job! I enjoyed seeing your animals and your home!
Have a great day!
Blessings,
Chas
For one reason or another, we have not been taking many pictures around our homestead lately. Before they went back home I got Mom’s camera and transferred all of her pictures to our computer!
We have dragged our feet a bit getting them ready for the blog, but what follows are some of the pictures she took while visiting! I think visits to our home make for a neat scrap book entry of sorts, and this is a way to preserve our memories! (My brother’s family came down toward the beginning of April and you can see pictures of that visit in that post.)
They came bearing gifts, and this included new bicycles! Simon posed with his, ready for action:
Christina loves her bikes, too:
Here she is enjoying a ride on the beautiful day:
Of course, a big part of the visit was seeing our animals as we did the chores.
Here are the chickens:
And here are some of the pigs. This is Rufus and Porky:
And Rufus and Nellie:
And here is Tom observing them. The pigs are very friendly and came up to be petted:
Across the ravine from the pigs are our goats. Here is Little LuLu and Tiny Tim:
And Little Joe:
And Mama Belle:
Here are the three kids getting ready to eat their grain mix:
I like this picture of Matthew taking a bale of hay across to them:
Simon and Christiana love catching things from our pond, which is behind the barn. I thought Mom got some good pictures of it:
Doesn’t it look like a peaceful area?
After the feeding chores are over, we often take time to sit back and relax. Matthew looks tired in this picture, but I think he was just watching what was going on in front of the barn:
Here is one of Christina finding a place to sit down and take it easy. That is a roll of fence that the goats can not wait for us to get installed for them! If you look closely you can see the goat house across the ravine:
Before leaving the barn area, Matthew showed Tom how his four-wheeler works:
Tom decided to try it out on a drive back to the house instead of walking down from the barn. There they go:
But back at the house, there was more work to be done. Tom liked the looks of the mulch that the RECC has been giving to us. (The RECC has continued to deliver more loads of wood chips periodically throughout this past winter and spring)
We were glad to donate to their homestead as much mulch as Tom wanted to take in his truck:
Tom had an entire work-crew assembled. Matthew, Christina, and Simon all enjoyed helping:
Erica was around the whole time, but I noticed she did not make many of these pictures I got ready for the blog. Here she is with one of our favorite cats, Puff:
(Speaking of cats, let me show you a picture Erica took of the kittens that were born on April 21st. This was taken when they were 3 days old:
We had 4 more kittens born last week. I will likely post about the kittens in the future as we are trying to bottle feed them some of the time. The most experienced of the two mama cats, Cotton, was tragically killed on the road this week, leaving her 4 newborn kittens to be raised by the young mama,Icesickle. That makes a total of 8 kittens for a very young mama cat to take care of.)
Another person who did not make it in any of these pictures was the one who took all the pictures: my mother! Since I had access to all of the pictures from her camera we decided to take the liberty to use one of her that was not taken at Pure Water Hollow. Here she is, with Tom, at the ocean:
Thank you, Mom and Tom, for the wonderful visit. And thanks, Mom, for taking all of these pictures.
From all of us at Pure Water Hollow…
WE LOVE YOU!
1 comment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chas on May 10, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Your pictures were GREAT your mom did a wonderful job! I enjoyed seeing your animals and your home!
Have a great day!
Blessings,
Chas
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
HSB My Favorite Chicken Contest
The Front Porch of HSB is running a contest about favorite chickens.
I wrote about our favorite chicken in one of my early posts here last fall. I’m taking the easy way out today, by just referring you back to that entry about our rooster, Big Daddy Dahmer. After you read about our mysterious hero it will be clear why he has to go down as my favorite chicken.
He is still with us and doing great. He now has his flock laying record numbers of eggs. I told you all how they gave us 22 eggs last Monday. Well, they followed that with 16 or 17 eggs every day of that week for a new week’s record of 112 eggs! This week they have given us 17, 17 and 14 so they are still on a roll!
A big part of their success is due to my favorite rooster, Big Daddy Dahmer!
(PS: My post did not win. There were many good chicken posts!)
I wrote about our favorite chicken in one of my early posts here last fall. I’m taking the easy way out today, by just referring you back to that entry about our rooster, Big Daddy Dahmer. After you read about our mysterious hero it will be clear why he has to go down as my favorite chicken.
He is still with us and doing great. He now has his flock laying record numbers of eggs. I told you all how they gave us 22 eggs last Monday. Well, they followed that with 16 or 17 eggs every day of that week for a new week’s record of 112 eggs! This week they have given us 17, 17 and 14 so they are still on a roll!
A big part of their success is due to my favorite rooster, Big Daddy Dahmer!
(PS: My post did not win. There were many good chicken posts!)
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
22 eggs!
The month of April ended with a tremendous effort on the part of the Pure Water Hollow hens! Never before has so much been given by so few, and we are indebted to them for their heroic performance.
Our 27 hens gave us 22 eggs yesterday, and that was with three of them still broody and setting. Most probably the setting hens did not lay so that leaves only 24 hens to produce the 22 eggs. This set the daily record for number of eggs laid, and I believe it will remain the mark for some time to come.
These hens are not necessarily bred for a high yield of eggs, and I had been figuring that they each average laying one egg every two days. Our flock consists of some game hens and a mixed breed that came from game hens and a barred rooster. They have great mothering abilities and foraging skills, but the egg production is just a bonus, so we are very pleased with how that is going now.
We sold some eggs last night to a neighbor and I sold another dozen eggs at work today. We are now sold out and I have orders for three more dozen as soon as we get them, so right now the demand is greater than the supply! That usually means a price increase in a capitalistic economy, but we are not planning on raising our prices yet. Perhaps we started the price too low at $1.50/dozen, but I think it is too early in our business to raise it now. Actually, I am amazed that so many people want to buy them. Pleasantly surprised may be the better way to put it.
I am curious to see how many eggs we get today. Since nearly all of the hens must have laid yesterday, I am not anticipating very many eggs today. We shall see. It is also fun for me to keep track of the egg records. Maybe that is a strange hobby, but I enjoy watching the numbers. We have 32 now for the first two days of this week, which is a 16 egg a day average. If they keep up a pace close to that they will break the single week record of 91 set the first week of April. Again, we shall see…
I am still planning to show some pictures in the near future that my mom took when they visited. I just have to get them uploaded, which can take some time. I keep finding so many other things to do.
Have a blessed May, everyone!
5 comments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sheryl on May 1, 2007 at 10:18 am
Ok, now I am very interested in the egg selling adventure. I hope to get to the point where I can start selling eggs. Are you going to put a sign out to advertise them? Right now, I only have 5 laying hens and 2 bantam hens laying. I get about 7 eggs a day. I was planning on selling them at a $1.25 dz. or a $1dz, not sure. I know brown eggs sell about $1.75 in the store. I would also like to start selling pullets and roosters. That will be a long way down the road. I have about 4dz eggs in the incubator. Hopefully in less than 21 days they will be hatched out. I can`t wait to hear more about you selling them and how well you are doing. Good luck. sheryl
I was going to ask you, what all do you feed your hens.
~~Purewater's reply:
7 eggs a day from 7 hens sounds wonderful! You should be able to start selling some soon if you wish.
As for the sign, we are not doing that yet. I did make up some fliers to put up at our post office and a couple of the little country stores close to home, but we decided that we better wait to even do that. We don't want to advertise any more at all right now as long as all of our eggs are selling the way it is. All I have done was to put up a flier on the bulletin board at my work and folks are buying all the eggs I bring in.
We feed our chickens regular cracked corn in the mornings and then they free range for several hours each evening. They love to scratch up for themselves bugs and worms and they eat whatever plants and greens that appeal to them. (They do seem to like my wife's bleeding heart flowers, unfortunately.)
Edited by Purewater on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at 1:20 PM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley on May 1, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I would be really suprised if it were physically possible for your hens to lay more than one egg a day….
When a hen goes broody, she would, in nature, continue to lay eggs until she had a good clutch of I don't know how many eggs, probably as many as would fit comfortably under her.
Of course, if you are taking the eggs out of under them each night, the broody hens might keep laying until her internal clock tells her to stop and set on her complete, invisible clutch.
Or, if you are letting them set on eggs . . . . a few of the hens might still be laying…. *shrugs*
Anyways, it's obvious I don't know the whole story, so take my words with a grain of salt. Sounds like you have some really superb laying hens, though. We get eggs around here (KS) for $1 a dz, and they go FAST! I was reading something the other day about commercial hatcheries feeding the chickens compounds to make the yolks different colors. The compounds did not sound like vitamins! Bleck!
The first thing I will get upon our return to the country is: chickens. Boy, I sure miss 'em!
Ashley
~~Purewater's reply:
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
I'm sorry if I gave the impression that we were getting more than one egg a day per hen. When I wrote about the 13 egg-a-day average or 16 egg-a-day average I was talking about the average for the entire flock of 26 or 27 layers, not just one hen. We had been averaging about 1 egg per hen every other day, but the average may be increasing to perhaps 3 eggs per hen every 5 days.
You are correct about the broody hens likely laying an egg a day to collect the clutch she wants. We have found that to be about 10 to 12 eggs, but after they get set, they will not lay anymore for up to a month while their instinct is telling them to hatch and raise their chicks.
We have been able to break them up off their nest by continually taking their eggs and throwing them off the nest. It takes about a week of doing this several times a day for them to realize that they no longer have any reason to set, and then they get back to the normal routine of laying.
Some of our hens have raised two clutches during one season and I think they may be capable of doing it three times if allowed to! This seems to be quite unusual from what I've read. I think it is due to their game hen background.
Thanks again for sharing, and good luck getting back to the country!
Edited by Purewater on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at 3:03 PM
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chas on May 1, 2007 at 9:03 pm
How Wonderful! We have 5 chickens now and are averaging about 3-4 eggs a day. I am very happy. I hope to get several more chickens and then work up to selling our eggs. I am happy for you. Your homestead seems to run so nicely. I love your end of the month reports too. Good work!!
Blessings,
Chas
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meme on May 7, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Wow !! All those eggs and I thought my whopping "3" were alot..Oh course it is alot since I only have three hens…lol…. Before I had these Misses I would buy yard eggs when ever I could find them. They have such a richer taste, and to think some folks do not eat yard eggs…yummy !!!!! Hopefully when the heat sets in they do not stop laying, (on this end they do stop for the summer months)..Debbie
Meme on May 7, 2007 at 8:30 pm
By the way my dad used to mark the laid eggs that the hen would set on and check daily for those new fresh eggs.. I think that is why he would mark them…lol….Deb
Our 27 hens gave us 22 eggs yesterday, and that was with three of them still broody and setting. Most probably the setting hens did not lay so that leaves only 24 hens to produce the 22 eggs. This set the daily record for number of eggs laid, and I believe it will remain the mark for some time to come.
These hens are not necessarily bred for a high yield of eggs, and I had been figuring that they each average laying one egg every two days. Our flock consists of some game hens and a mixed breed that came from game hens and a barred rooster. They have great mothering abilities and foraging skills, but the egg production is just a bonus, so we are very pleased with how that is going now.
We sold some eggs last night to a neighbor and I sold another dozen eggs at work today. We are now sold out and I have orders for three more dozen as soon as we get them, so right now the demand is greater than the supply! That usually means a price increase in a capitalistic economy, but we are not planning on raising our prices yet. Perhaps we started the price too low at $1.50/dozen, but I think it is too early in our business to raise it now. Actually, I am amazed that so many people want to buy them. Pleasantly surprised may be the better way to put it.
I am curious to see how many eggs we get today. Since nearly all of the hens must have laid yesterday, I am not anticipating very many eggs today. We shall see. It is also fun for me to keep track of the egg records. Maybe that is a strange hobby, but I enjoy watching the numbers. We have 32 now for the first two days of this week, which is a 16 egg a day average. If they keep up a pace close to that they will break the single week record of 91 set the first week of April. Again, we shall see…
I am still planning to show some pictures in the near future that my mom took when they visited. I just have to get them uploaded, which can take some time. I keep finding so many other things to do.
Have a blessed May, everyone!
5 comments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sheryl on May 1, 2007 at 10:18 am
Ok, now I am very interested in the egg selling adventure. I hope to get to the point where I can start selling eggs. Are you going to put a sign out to advertise them? Right now, I only have 5 laying hens and 2 bantam hens laying. I get about 7 eggs a day. I was planning on selling them at a $1.25 dz. or a $1dz, not sure. I know brown eggs sell about $1.75 in the store. I would also like to start selling pullets and roosters. That will be a long way down the road. I have about 4dz eggs in the incubator. Hopefully in less than 21 days they will be hatched out. I can`t wait to hear more about you selling them and how well you are doing. Good luck. sheryl
I was going to ask you, what all do you feed your hens.
~~Purewater's reply:
7 eggs a day from 7 hens sounds wonderful! You should be able to start selling some soon if you wish.
As for the sign, we are not doing that yet. I did make up some fliers to put up at our post office and a couple of the little country stores close to home, but we decided that we better wait to even do that. We don't want to advertise any more at all right now as long as all of our eggs are selling the way it is. All I have done was to put up a flier on the bulletin board at my work and folks are buying all the eggs I bring in.
We feed our chickens regular cracked corn in the mornings and then they free range for several hours each evening. They love to scratch up for themselves bugs and worms and they eat whatever plants and greens that appeal to them. (They do seem to like my wife's bleeding heart flowers, unfortunately.)
Edited by Purewater on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at 1:20 PM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley on May 1, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I would be really suprised if it were physically possible for your hens to lay more than one egg a day….
When a hen goes broody, she would, in nature, continue to lay eggs until she had a good clutch of I don't know how many eggs, probably as many as would fit comfortably under her.
Of course, if you are taking the eggs out of under them each night, the broody hens might keep laying until her internal clock tells her to stop and set on her complete, invisible clutch.
Or, if you are letting them set on eggs . . . . a few of the hens might still be laying…. *shrugs*
Anyways, it's obvious I don't know the whole story, so take my words with a grain of salt. Sounds like you have some really superb laying hens, though. We get eggs around here (KS) for $1 a dz, and they go FAST! I was reading something the other day about commercial hatcheries feeding the chickens compounds to make the yolks different colors. The compounds did not sound like vitamins! Bleck!
The first thing I will get upon our return to the country is: chickens. Boy, I sure miss 'em!
Ashley
~~Purewater's reply:
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
I'm sorry if I gave the impression that we were getting more than one egg a day per hen. When I wrote about the 13 egg-a-day average or 16 egg-a-day average I was talking about the average for the entire flock of 26 or 27 layers, not just one hen. We had been averaging about 1 egg per hen every other day, but the average may be increasing to perhaps 3 eggs per hen every 5 days.
You are correct about the broody hens likely laying an egg a day to collect the clutch she wants. We have found that to be about 10 to 12 eggs, but after they get set, they will not lay anymore for up to a month while their instinct is telling them to hatch and raise their chicks.
We have been able to break them up off their nest by continually taking their eggs and throwing them off the nest. It takes about a week of doing this several times a day for them to realize that they no longer have any reason to set, and then they get back to the normal routine of laying.
Some of our hens have raised two clutches during one season and I think they may be capable of doing it three times if allowed to! This seems to be quite unusual from what I've read. I think it is due to their game hen background.
Thanks again for sharing, and good luck getting back to the country!
Edited by Purewater on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at 3:03 PM
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chas on May 1, 2007 at 9:03 pm
How Wonderful! We have 5 chickens now and are averaging about 3-4 eggs a day. I am very happy. I hope to get several more chickens and then work up to selling our eggs. I am happy for you. Your homestead seems to run so nicely. I love your end of the month reports too. Good work!!
Blessings,
Chas
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meme on May 7, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Wow !! All those eggs and I thought my whopping "3" were alot..Oh course it is alot since I only have three hens…lol…. Before I had these Misses I would buy yard eggs when ever I could find them. They have such a richer taste, and to think some folks do not eat yard eggs…yummy !!!!! Hopefully when the heat sets in they do not stop laying, (on this end they do stop for the summer months)..Debbie
Meme on May 7, 2007 at 8:30 pm
By the way my dad used to mark the laid eggs that the hen would set on and check daily for those new fresh eggs.. I think that is why he would mark them…lol….Deb
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)