The upside is that, apparently, eggs come in this handy carrying container I believe called a "carton." Purchased eggs do not come in a bucket - which is what I'm used to... very handy indeed this carton.
This is a carton - a very handy egg carrying device.
So what do you do when the hens are on strike? Nothing. You could be mad but there's no sense in that. The fact is that we have a bunch of older-ish hens and a suddenly very cold winter with extremely short days.
Could we put a light out there in the hen house to get them started again? Sure but we're not. The thing is that we only need a couple eggs and since we have.... *counts on fingers*... many, many chickens if we got them all cranked back up we would be flooded with eggs. We've done this before and it just isn't prudent. We ran out of friends to give the eggs to and frankly, the chickens could use a break.
Back when we had useful chickens.
Now when we get into the early spring those ladies had better get with the program. Especially when we get pigz again - then we will need all the eggs they can give us. But for now we have a bunch of laze about hens.
Is anyone else buying eggs? Does it kind of freak you out? We get them locally but they still aren't as nice as our own. Of course, now that we aren't rollin' in eggs - that's all I want to eat.
Happy Friday everyone!
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11 comments:
Yep...in the same boat here. Twenty of those little lovelies in my coop and most are on strike. I do get one or two every two or three days, which has kept me from having to purchase any...so far...
But...if you really want to shake them up a bit...send someone strange in to fetch the five roosters you need dispatched. Those girls were lookin' over their shoulders for days!!!! No eggs...but really worried ladies... :-) Have a great day OFG. Absolutely LOVE your blog!!
oh the humiliation! I like the idea of giving the ladies a break though.
OH MY GOSH! How dare you?! No, I'm just kidding. I also had to buy eggs this past week... My girls are on their winter schedule, and I got put in charge of bringing all manner of desserts to 4 different Christmases next week, so I had to go out and purchase them... I don't think I have actually purchased eggs in about 4 years! It was almost painful and I had to force myself to do it!
I freeze eggs when they're abundant. We've been very lucky this year, the ladies took turns moulting, so we never ran too low. I think it's been 10+ years since I bought an egg. I don't put my ladies under light either...they need their beauty sleep!
"So what do you do when the hens are on strike?"
Don't egg them on?
sorry, couldn't help it.
We are almost to that point depending on what we cook this weekend. Our birds are old on top of it feeling like winter for the last month. I am not sure we will replace them what with feed doubling in price over the last couple years. Maybe meat chickens in the spring.
I bought some a while back too. We use a light for an extra 4 hours a day. We're only getting 1 egg every other day. We only have 2 right now though. Will get 3 more come spring. I have a co-worker who buys my extra eggs when they're in full swing for $3.50 a doz. Helps with the feed bill!
I broke down and bought two dozen. Then I found a dusk to dawn light timer at the Dollar General store. I am giving them 4 hours of artificial light.
We aren't swimming in eggs. But we did get a few yesterday. If they could just give me 3 to 4 eggs a day I can work with that! It really helps out to get eggs!
We have the same problem! We have 15 hens so that in winter we might get 2 eggs a day for breakfast, but in spring/summer I try to sell as many as possible. I does seem the right thing to give them a break though.
Greetings from Little Prairie Wisconsin. Egg laying is not going well, to say the least. I actually think also that a few of my new hens I purchased are egg eaters. This is a deal breaker. I'll be taking out the hens 2 at a time as I need them. I make excellent hand made feed and I'm losing ground with little employment. The sale of eggs has nearly almost sustained the hens. I love raising chickens but the past 6 weeks of no laying is getting hard and I almost bought eggs. My two duck hens are carrying the chicken flock, so to speak.
I had to buy eggs today to make some things for Christmas meals too. If I wasn't making multiple things that required lots of eggs I'd be OK as we are still getting some each day. Ours generally don't stop laying completely, just slow down in the winter.
I have just started reading your blog and I was screaming over your pig butchering post. We just butchered our very large, very fat sow. She was given to us about 10 months ago and I swear I think her mama was a wild pig. She had TONS of fat and I have more lard than I'll ever need. The bacon is yummy, the chops are divine. I love a fat hog. I wish I'd read your info before we butchered ours. I'm not sure I'll talk my husband into getting another pig and if I do it must be a fatty.
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