Laying Again

Now that the darkest days are over, our hens have started to lay properly again. At one point we were down to only 2 or 3 eggs a day, which came as quite a shock due to my love of huge Tortillas.

During the winter, hens tend to reduce their egg output, older hens stopping altogether, and molt their feathers. Our chickens are all looking a bit worse for wear just now, but should soon all be sporting their Spring/Summer collection.

This year we hope to increase the number of hens by allowing our Light Sussex to go broody and sit on the eggs. Each hen should be able to look after around 5 eggs, so if all goes well we could have another 10-15 birds. I can't wait to see the look on the childrens faces when the first chicks hatch, will probably be wet pants time with squeals of delight.

Unfortunately for the cocks (we are bound to get some), they will be fattened up and put in the freezer at around 16 weeks, we may keep 2 or 3 of them to help Eggward out on the breeding front (Not sure how much lead he has in his pencil).