The hens did not fail me. It is not their fault. I don't get up early to let them out to take advantage of early sun. They don't have water in their cage those few hours. Plus, last night at 4 PM, they were headed to their cage beside the door. Also, they have not been fed enough protein the last few weeks. They have laid faithfully for two years and their prompt, daily, egg-laying days are most likely over. But, I expect they are capable of laying more eggs each day if I can get conditions right for them.
When their hen defense is complete (hopefully, next Monday), they will become more reliable layers once again. When they cease to lay, they will be pets. I will limp by this winter on what they lay. Next year, I will give a broody hen eggs to incubate. It seems they all try to be broody, sitting all day on eggs if I allow them. Hopefully, I will never have to have baby chicks in the house again. But, I will if I must. Actually, I kept them in here too long.
 |
| Compare the sizes: my hens laid the brown egg This brown egg is one of the smaller eggs my hens lay. It belongs to Fancy. The egg on the right, the white egg came from the carton of Large Eggs.The white egg is a commercial large egg. I always wondered how my eggs compared to store eggs in size. Look at the same eggs in the picture below.  |
Hopefully, when the hen security is set, they will get more than 7 or 8 hours of daylight. I suppose I am lucky to get any eggs at all.
Your turn
Do you have hens who are laying? Have you had a chance to compare your eggs with store-bought eggs? If you are planning on getting hens, see what you have in store? I think that is a drastic difference, don't you?
