We also have chickens! Egg layers that is! The black and white stripped ones are Barred Rock hens, the white ones are Leghorns and the Red brown ones are Rhode Island Red. Chickens were a new project for us this year also. We were originall...
y given several 3year old chickens through Freecycle an internet group which posts free items wanted or to give away. We were also given several from my brother, Gary, these were Silkies and lay smaller eggs than the above mentioned chickens. This week we brought home 13 additional chickens from our friend Marcie and her husband Bob
The laying chickens will begin to lay around 1 year old and will lay eggs, (not continually!), until they are about 3 years old. We also found that there is a big difference between egg chickens and meat chickens. The meat chickens have more .. meat! .. and are ready to butcher after only months time and before a year. Laying chickens after 3 years of age are tougher and not as much meat as a meat chicken. You can still use roosters and laying hens for soup as you boil the meat and it will not be as tough as if you would be using it for say .. fried chicken. Chickens do not lay an egg each day. Eggs come from the chicken with a protective coating on the shell to keep it from needing refrigerated. When you wash the egg, this coating is washed off and you will need to keep the eggs in a refrigerator. An unwashed egg can be left on the counter for weeks without 'going bad'. If washing the egg in hot water it will open the pores of the egg shell and allow bacteria into the egg. Cold water will close the pores and hold in the bacteria. Also the use of soap, as in dish soap, may get into the egg while the pores are open, thus using lukewarm water and just a bit of soap on the egg is best.
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