Dear Nenah: Thank you for your chicken facts.
I am a beginner just starting out and following Joel Salatin's "Egg mobile" and "Feather net" system. This involves a portable chicken house with egg nests on skids that gets moved every day or so. This is surrounded by an electrified poultry fence to keep the predators out. This is a sort of free range model in that the chickens can forage for bugs and greens. The chicken poop also fertilizes the grass. Joel Salatin collects about 100 dozen eggs per day with his "free range" system involving about 1400 birds. I am planning for about 100 birds to start with. According to the book I am reading a chicken is born with over 4000 eggs and normally will lay only 10% of that number. The average is 250 for the first year and decreases thereafter. A healthy chicken will lay for 10-12 years. The rule of thumb is that after 2 years it costs more to feed them than you will get back in egg sales. Any helpful comments are appreciated. Jim Meissner www.MeissnerResearch.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nenah Sylver" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 8:22 PM Subject: Re: CS>just us chickens... > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Rigby" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 7:27 PM > Subject: CS>just us chickens... > > > > Speaking of chickens an' things: > > > > I have a philosophical problem though - while I won't kill and eat any sort > > of animal, I recently learned that REAL chickens in the wild might only lay > > 10 eggs per year ...... I do steal the eggs though and eat them. > > Under non-forced conditions, I wonder how many eggs a "real" chicken would > lay? > > I don't know about chickens in the "wild," but living in the country I do know > something about chickens in general: > > 1) In chickens bred and sold to be egg layers, the natural instinct to lay on > the eggs to hatch them has been curtailed through selective breeding.This makes > it easier to collect their eggs. > > 2) An egg-laying chicken gets tired much sooner than a non-egg laying chicken > (surprise!), and has about one half the lifespan (assuming she is allowed to > live to a ripe old age and is not butchered first). > > 3) Chickens that are allowed to run around and peck naturally eat insects and > other animal protein. > > 4) The eggs of free-range chickens that eat insects etc. are delectable. The > yolks are bright golden orange, and sit very high and large on the whites. > > 5) Eggs that come directly from a chicken are rather dirty. Commercial eggs are > washed before being put into cartons, but the washing removes the protective > layer of whatever-it-is that's on the eggs (besides the shit, dirt and straw), > and afterward the eggs are never as good. If you buy eggs from a chicken farmer, > get them unwashed. > > 6) Chickens that are talked to, respected, and sent good vibes give you the best > eggs (no surprise there). I know this because a friend of mine regards her > chickens as her personal pets and these are the best country, unwashed egss I've > ever had. > > End of chicken lecture. > > Nenah > > > > -- > The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. > > Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org > > To post, address your message to: [email protected] > Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html > > Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] > OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html > > List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> >
