With cold weather, short days, and the unexpected loss of a few of our laying hens, we are staring at empty nests and empty egg cartons. The hens are beginning to molt and recharge their systems after a long season of laying.
Cartons and nests are empty!!
We are therefore closing down egg sales until next year. Our chickens are allowed to rest. The typical commercial egg model involves things like forced molts, artificial lighting, and aggressive culling. We rely on the sun and seasonal day lengths to provide a natural cycle for the girls - no lights. And we do not cull our laying flock, meaning that the hens live out their full natural lives whether they are laying or not. This is pretty much unheard of in the egg industry, even for "free range" or "organic" operations. The benefit of older hens, besides their wisdom and personalities around the chicken yard, are the jumbo eggs they produce as they get older. We are happy producing less eggs. Instead we have large eggs coming from loyal old hens that we raised from baby chicks. Some of our hens were born in 2002, and are still laying!
We have 27 healthy and hungry growing chicks (and one mis-sexed rooster) who will be joining the flock soon, along with additional heirloom hens coming in the spring. We should have eggs again by February or early March. We will be posting an update on our baby chicks soon and are working out our winter veggie growing system.
...and Bishop residents, please don't forget to VOTE on Measure C!
Vote!
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| EGG CUSTOMERS, WE'LL SEE YOU IN 2011! |
No eggs in our coop either, chickens moulting and shutting down for the short days of winter.
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