Egg Laying Like Crazy! What's Our Secret?

[@annaoneill4769]

Our chickens do go into molt going into winter months, BUT I put them on a grower starter feed with 20% protien with free access to oyster shell to get them thru quicker. I've also learned that an increase of protien has lessened the stress that winter months cause. Stress causes the pause in egg production. With less stress, my chickens have maintained a steady supply. With 17 layers, we average 10 eggs a day. No artifical light or heat supplement. We get cold dark winters here in the South. Obviously not as long as up North, but enough that when I started out, like everyone else the hens did stop laying. I increased protien thru winter and egg production has maintained from summer numbers. About 3 days ago, I collected 12 eggs. 12 eggs out of 17 layers is pretty awesome. I have black sex link, buff orpingtons, 1 cinnamon queen 2 easter eggers to give you an idea of what breeds I have

[@PrivateCaller-x1d]

Exact baby parrot food. Must use hot water to Activate, we mix into oatmeal, flax chia, pea protein, 🫛 add scratch hot water. Add crushed egg shell. Can make it into a bread, crush it. We make kombucha tea 5x week they get tea of Chinese medicine herb radix isatalis and bai hua she she cao as tea only liquid . Greens make eggs, we give bale alfalfa hanging it so no poop on it or we grind horses organic alfalfa pellets soak or grind. Making larva flies easy in tropics! Full spectrum lights critical need wake up 5 a.m off 1 hr before sunset. 12 hr off. Must reset circadian rhythm. =eggs

[@GregMorgan-pm1vv]

Watching from East Tennessee great video

[@KCFarms]

Appreciate you following along

[@afyanamoyo]

Thank you for sharing many good advices. My understanding is in an enclosed coop should have 2-4 sq feet per chicken (plus space to run on a regular). We open up the door for ours to free range parts of the barn & outside most every day, even very cold winter. Wishing your family & farm blessings of good.

[@pamt8430]

We have three 5 yr old Barred Rocks laying daily. Wish they weren't because the eggs are freezing..lol. No lights/heat. Pretty good for the ole' gals.

[@MikeBushman-s4e]

Have you ever seen that old Looney Toons cartoon that had a rooster that looks like Frank Sinatra and whenever he crooned all the hens layer a pile of eggs?

[@chelle8819]

That's my favorite Porky Pig episode!

[@dizzysdoings]

I need that rooster! 😂

[@tesshomestead8019]

WELL YAA your are laying eggs they are on their 1st winter . They won’t molt yet either till next winter . Thank you for sharing .

[@alinatotok]

Yore’s chickens looks soooo healthy 😊

[@KCFarms]

Thank you they are doing great !

[@DiannaTripp]

Love my light hats wouldn't be without them. It's dark when I let them out before work and usually dark by the time I get home to feed

[@KCFarms]

We love them too

[@myhomeandgardenchanneldwel7777]

is my first time on your channel and I have just subscribed. Thank you so much for sharing. Keep up the good work. All the best on this journey. Happy 2025.

[@KCFarms]

Thanks for following along!!

[@myhomeandgardenchanneldwel7777]

@@KCFarms You are most welcome. Thank you too for supporting😊😊

[@connief1919]

You can also give them cayenne, pepper, it helps keep them warm internally❤

[@christineortmann359]

We’re going to be- 11 tonight in Northern Illinois. Our girls are staying indoors for 3 days until it warms above freezing. I use lights in the girls runs. It adds a little heat and it helps with egg production.

[@kmlecloux6767]

I just subscribed! I loved the very first show for me!

[@KCFarms]

Awesome thanks for following along!!

[@LittleValleyAcresFarm]

new subscriber here. Our chickens love table scraps also. I add cooked beans to their food also in the table scraps.

[@KCFarms]

Awesome thanks for following along

[@marilynhoops3498]

Good morning, John. It's going to be a little warmer here today. But this morning was a lot of wrecks. Ice on road way. Then we go back down in the temperature again. I WANT SPRING. LOL. Have a good day.

[@KCFarms]

I am ready for spring too!

[@ericsmith3722]

Have you ever experimented putting straw/bedding in the bottom of the chickshaw for warmth?

[@KCFarms]

That is a possibility the only trouble in the chickshaws is that the manure would build up really fast and would be difficult to clean

[@VinceChicken]

Your chickens are beautiful and healthy.

[@KCFarms]

Thank you

[@judyosment9785]

I learned this from horse stall maintenance. We use saw dust pellets in winter chicken coop. You have to wet the wood pellets to get them to turn to sawdust. I put a thick cover in winter she-shed. It keeps it clean and easy maintenance if you have a pooper scooper for dogs.

[@Sara_Rockafella]

Lights are another way to up eggs. That's how the battrey farmers do it. A solar motion sensor spotlight does the trick. Their constant movement keeps it going then all you have to do is turn it off.

[@1ofhis518]

Adding straight corn as a daily snack helps bidy heat and has increased our eggs two fold

[@hannesofie6071]

You can feed chicken hay also...... Along with the regular food, it keeps them occupied! ❤❤

[@laurenkalberer7789]

Wow, your coop is so nice! Ive been wanting do some upgrades on mine but am not sure about moisture and mold issues. Did you put sheetrock right onto the wall studs? Do you do a moisture barrier at all? I have decent ventilation, but it gets very wet in the winters here and i wonder what would happen to sheetrock 😬

[@KCFarms]

It’s kind of a long story but someone tried turning the barn into a living space and it didn’t work out well so that is why there is dry wall

[@carvalhofarmgoa4050]

Good work 😊😊

[@lisareaume3857]

CHOPPED WHEAT STRAW IS SO MUCH BETTER and GIVES THEM STUFF TO SCRATCH and PECK AT!

[@tdvanwinkle]

Good video. Clean water is the key to quality livestock

[@KCFarms]

Thank you. And thanks for following along!

[@edwardkornuszko4083]

Thank you. God bless you

[@Sibraychicken]

I like it my share Chicken Farm, New Friends From Indonesia, thanks for share Brads... 😊❤😊

[@KCFarms]

Thanks for following along

[@spoolsandbobbins]

We do almost exactly the same ❤ God bless from cold Canada 🥶

[@TrialAndError8713]

Mine don't like snow. And I've got a few pullets who've never been outside, but when I pushed them out the chicken door, they couldn't figure out how to get back in.

[@VickyYoung-qg7fd]

Thankyou for sharing

[@TK-76054]

Greetings from Ramstein AFB, Germany. I love chickens! I retire in 2.5 years and am looking at property in TN. KY, maybe, but their property taxes are confusing.

[@KCFarms]

Thank you for your service

[@birdsforming]

Very nice❤❤❤

[@dwaynerobinson7629]

Not far from you but the rds make it a two hr drive lol Used to frequent the big flea market over there till the state messed everything up. Took the wildest ride of my life on a horse my uncle was looking at buying. Took out a guys mirror with my knee cause she was hot wired and barely broke. Walked the market and the knee was good by the time we left. (As for the mirror, it just moved, it didn't break or anything. That was back in the day when lots of guys were putting mirrors on their trucks like the semi trucks had.) I'd pass on that one unk. Beautiful country. We're in E Tn between those two big cities. The missus loves seeing them baby pigs. Lol

[@IhabHalim-y2t]

You get snow in TN? I didn't know that,!!

[@KCFarms]

Unfortunately

[@rufinobenitez4388]

Hi. How much feed do you use for your 60 hens for the whole month?

[@KCFarms]

That’s a good question we did a video awhile back about how much it cost to raise chicken until you get your first egg and then I stop keeping track. My best guess would be 4-5 50lb bags for the month

[@rufinobenitez4388]

@Thanks for answering my question I appreciate it. Blessings🙏

[@Wakeywhodat]

When you put the fencing on the back of the cart, I said oh no 😂 Not your first rodeo, you slung an arm over it. Another commenter mentioned that it’s difficult to lay out that fence but, your procedure seemed to work just fine.. Have your hens flown outside of the fencing?

[@KCFarms]

Sometimes they go under if there is a gap. They can fly over but they know where the food and housing is so they stay close

[@marciabosteder9781]

I set up my plant grpw light, it's a broad spectrum. In the coop, during the day since it's so dark where I live. I buy the scratch and pack herb.Mix in a bag and they love it.I think that helps me get eggs. Someone mentioned on the KZbin channels a (little) Cayenne Pepper now and then in the cold winters.

[@TerryCole-s2f]

Do you electrify your fencing? What brand of fencing do you use?

[@KCFarms]

We use premier one fencing. We electrify it for the pigs but not the chickens

[@marciabosteder9781]

Do you add anything in their water? Vitamins or apple cider, vinegar or oregano?I've heard of all of these things.Do you find it necessary?

[@KCFarms]

We haven’t we just make sure their water is clean

[@carvalhofarmgoa4050]

Good ❤

[@shakeelakhter9100]

Which chicken breed is it? And how many chicken do you have? Kindly advise.

[@KCFarms]

Brown sex-link we have 60

[@jillhiles143]

Since these are not your normal meat birds that you raise what do you do with them when you get rid of them:? Do you still process them as meat birds or what?

[@KCFarms]

Once we get a new flock raised and ready to lay we have people that come to the farm and buy the older flock for stew hens

[@jillhiles143]

@@KCFarms Awesome! Thank you for the information!

[@TrialAndError8713]

​@jillhiles143 you can grind the meat and either pack it up for the freezer like hamburger, or you can pressure can it. If you pressure can ground chicken meat, a wide mouth pint is about a pound. If you can it, you could also cut the meat into chunks. This can be cold packed (raw) and processed for a longer time, or cooked and hot packed for a little bit shorter time. The bones, connective tissues and skin can be cooked for broth or soup stock, which can also be pressure canned. On the outside chance that you have a freeze dryer, you can cook the meat in the pressure cooker and freeze dry it, then vacuum seal it in mylar or in canning jars with an O2 absorber.

[@marciabosteder9781]

Are these rhode island reds, or are they a mix

[@lindajustice2000]

What is the variety of your red hens?

[@KCFarms]

Brown sex link

[@connief1919]

What do you do when you have 10 hands and 5 roosters that you ordered from a company? How do you keep the roosters happy

[@KCFarms]

If it were we I would get rid of some of the roosters

[@kittin9018]

Put the roosters in the freezer once they're big enough for a dinner...or offer the company them back if they are rare breeds...it how we do it in the uk...mostly with rare breeds that may want mating cockerels to keep the breed going.

[@tonyfrederick4038]

What breed are your hens? RSL, ISA?

[@KCFarms]

Brown sex Link

[@heidigendron3638]

You said this group was started this past spring. Which means it is their 1st winter... Yearlings almost always lay through their 1st winter, regardless of temps or daylight hours, because they don't molt. They just finished their adult plumage before starting to lay. From experience, I can guarantee you will NOT get as many next winter. You will get some, with the extra light and protein. But don't expect each hen to lay more than 3 eggs per week. "Factory" production breeds are the only exception, but they don't make good forages.

[@charlenecochenet3700]

Good Morning

[@KCFarms]

Good morning!!

[@jamesdufner7302]

What type of fencing is that? I have premier one and it's a nightmare to take down and put up

[@KCFarms]

It is premier one

[@apexiumim2741]

@@KCFarms Can you share a link for that fencing? Or where to get it. Thanks

[@KCFarms]

@apexiumim2741 premier one.com

[@apexiumim2741]

@ I’m getting an insurance company lol

[@KCFarms]

@apexiumim2741 www.premier1supplies.com/

[@patriciajeffs5560]

How can you tell old chickens

[@KCFarms]

Best way for me is just keeping track of when I ordered the chickens. If people mix flocks I have seen them order one breed one year and a different breed the second year so they know which chickens are the older ones. If you have the same breed you could get leg bands for the older ones before you introduce the new birds to the flock

[@beardjuice]

Put the food outside... they'll go outside, less poop to clean.

[@timeline9739]

Pls what chicken breed is this

[@KCFarms]

Brown sex link

[@timeline9739]

Alright thanks. Just bought one of these. Not sure of the age. But hoping to cross it with our brahma rooster.

[@Sara_Rockafella]

Iv just started fermenting my chooks grain. I feed barley, peas,maize and sadly wheat. I always soaked it to double the quantity. But now I have followed some advise AND SOAKED FOR 48 HOURS. The amount of poo hase diminished by HEAPS. This IS because they ARE utilising all food they uptake. And even this morning being late there was 3 turds outside my door instead of 23. I'm blown away at how they have turned around and eggs are pumping out. I onkybfeed minimal processed food. Layer pellets. But iv seen 1st hand the water consumption is EXTREME on processed food. And the excrement matches thay. I feed a meat and bone meal with the processed feed as well. I am am animal nutritionist so I kniw the dangers of feeding processed foods. I specialise in natural diets. My chokks are always free range in a house section of their own. I'm honestly blown away at what a extra 24 hours of grain soaking has done.

[@Sara_Rockafella]

Oh and ferment food and vegetable scraps as well. Well. Same process for 48 hours.

[@traceehoughton]

NOT HAD AN EDD IN 2 MONTHS CANT AFFORD THEM

[@chelliosrgs1762]

you have to wait till summer time then u get tons of eggs

[@mikkelstargaard4422]

We had the same problem, changed their feed to starter grower and upped their morning feed, the rest of the day they fend for themself on free range. After one bag we went back to regular food, but about 25% more than normal.

[@traceehoughton]

@mikkelstargaard4422 lol I mean to eat 🤣

[@PrivateCaller-x1d]

Poor perch placemet..poop on hens eating!.need greens! Pallets on snow !! Ginger, cayanne pepper 🌶 in food.

[@chrispaulus4491]

My chickens will come to me when I call them with “Chook, Chook, Chook“. Chook Australian for chicken. A couple of my hens have learned how to pull down the hen gear roosting bar. I saw one of them get it done last night when I was closing up their mobile coop. I imagine they need light to succeed, so I’m guessing they normally do that in the morning before I get to them. 🫤 I’m going to back both mobile coops to barn stalls again tonight because it is getting frigid this coming week.