These chicks are three months old. They will start to lay eggs at the end of February. They have a restricted run area at the present time to protect them from Hawks. We will soon expand this.
Now for the not so good news... Egg production has fallen dramatically starting last weekend when it was very cold in the mid to upper 20's. The hens that are laying are producing less that is required to fulfil what we need for our farm members. This means that there is no eggs at Rainbow Grocery and there will be no eggs at the market on Saturday. I do run a small back stock but the drop in production was much greater that I expected. So from now on Eatwell members who are up for renewal will be limited to 1 dozen per box delivery. I may also have to impose some other restrictions later.
So what I am doing to aleviate this shortage? I have ordered extra cracked corn which will give the girls more energy. We will feed this in the late afternoon so that they are warmer at night. I am considering changing our house design so that they can be closed up in an insulated house at night. I could also install some infrared propane heaters for the very coldest nights.
I believe the problem was caused by a farily sudden drop in temperature over just a few short days. Hens do not like any sudden changes so a few heaters on hand may make a difference if a sharp cold snap is forecast. Normally production rises at the end of February so this 'problem' will only persist for about six weeks. I do know that some of you get up to 4 dozen with your box please bear with us. The hens are eating like crazy, producing few eggs and we still have to pay the very high organic feed bill. We will be very happy when production rises again.