Eggs Back in stock

With the new lying flock arriving back in March I knew it wouldnt be long before they were full steam ahead with egg laying. My flock of 100 layers are now laying up to 78 eggs a day. That means that for the first time in a while eggs are back in stock in the online shop. You'll find them available for subscription in multiples of 6 for either weekly, fortnightly or monthly orders.

Future Proofing Egg Supply...

Long time customers will know securing a long term supply of eggs has been tricky over the past couple of years. I've had a few challenges to contend with including avian flu, predator attacks and just misfortunate timings. One of my current projects for this year is future proofing the flock.

When I speak to customers at farmers markets it always comes as quite a shock to most that eggs are a seasonal product. Hens dont lay everyday all year round, every year they have a down period where they 'molt' and egg production slows down or stops. A molt is where a hen looses it's older, damaged or loose feathers and grows new ones over a period of a few weeks. Some hens molt hard and look quite scruffy in the process whereas others you can hardly tell. During this period hens need extra energy and protein to build new feathers so a natural pause in egg production allows the body to switch to feather growth . Working out how to keep a constant supply is not overly straight forward, especially because I want to keep my laying hens for at least two laying cycles.

Heres the basic timeline:

Flock 1	Mar 26 Pullets: 22 weeks 1st Laying cycle	Mar 27 - May 27 Molt 1 (72- 84 weeks)	June 27 - June 28 2nd Laying cycle
Flock 2	Oct 26 Pullets 22 weeks 1st Laying cycle	Oct 27 - Dec 27 Molt 1 (72- 84 weeks)	Jan 28 - Jan 29 2nd Laying cycle

While this might look straight forward it is a rough idea, hens will ultimately molt and lay when they do and weather and temperature do what they want to do so it's very possible egg production also slows down in and between when it's winter.

To continue any consistent egg supply this means keeping hens at two different stages of the laying cycle. In the past this has been a challenge for a few reasons. Lack of money to invest in second flock, needing to build a second coop to house a second flock, not being able to move birds due to avian flu and lack of winter housing to name a few. This year however I'm determined to get egg production fully up and running year round.

The first part of the plan is to create some winter housing. Winter housing will not only secure the flocks if and when were in an avian flu lockdown area but it will mean the hens have a safe, sheltered, bright winter house to live in when the pasture becomes too wet for them to be on the move. (They could stay on the pasture but they would need to keep moving and I can't afford a tractor to move them year round) It will need to be able to house both flocks from around October to March should it need to.

The second part of the plan is to have a go at breeding some chicks. I've never bred or hatched chicks before so it's a bit of learning experince. My laying flocks are 100 hens large so even if I only manage to hatch 20 hens this year it will go some way to protecting future egg supply if for whatever reason I can't get hold of pullets later on in the year.

I havent decided what to do with the laying flocks once they have completed two laying cycles. In the past my ex layers have gone to new homes around Huddersfield but I've also come across people selling them as pot birds for soups, stocks and stews. What do you think?