Ex battery hens and the cold

[greentortoise]

Hello everyone. I recently acquired a chicken coop and plan on having 2 to 4 hens. Due to a month long holiday in Australia I fear that I may not be able to organize getting the girls homed till November by which time I fear that the weather may be a bit cold for them (boyfriend and house mate to look after them whilst I am away). Any suggestions on how to acclimatize them to the outdoors gradually?

[Tigerhair]

Give em nice cozy nest boxes with plenty of straw to make warm beds for themselves. Out of the wind and rain of course! They often nest together for warmth and should be fine.

You could knit them little jackets, I suppose!?

[greentortoise]

He he. Anyone got a pattern :)

[Tigerhair]

I'll make em little hats and scarves! Let us know how you/they get on

[Thomzo]

And don't forget little wellies to keep their feet dry.

Zoe

[chadspad]

Without wanting to start a whole new thread just for 1 question Ive hijaked this one! Does the cold weather stop chickens from laying? We have dropped from 4 eggs a day to the occasional 1 - its just not good enuf lol.

[Martin]

thats probably not the cold, but lack of daylength! Commercial flocks have supplementary lighting to keep it long

[chadspad]

Ahhhhhh - so its quite normal then? Oh well, have to be patient for more daylight again! Thanks Martin

[red]

yeh quite normal - to stop getting eggs in winter altogher. thats one reason people keep ducks.. and why people preserve eggs - pickled, frozen etc

in fac tyou have t wonder at the eggs you buy.. as they must have artificial light set up - how freerange they are...

[chadspad]

My Mums ducks have stopped laying too. Bad news having to start buying eggs again! How does one freeze eggs?

[Annpan]

You can only freeze them if they are whipped... ie for cakes etc. and I think you need to seperate the yolk and whites and freeze them seperately.

I think I would prefer to make stuff out of them and freeze the made dishes instead.

[Martin]

Good unwashed eggs SHOULD be fine for eating after several months - use proper egg trays, and store in a cool environment (NOT the fridge!)
For many years, a local egg packager would buy eggs in glut, and bung them in old apple cold stores until the prices went up - then out they'd come, and be bunged in boxes marked "packed on"

[red]

you can beat eggs and freeze ready for quiches and cakes as Ann said - or you can make cakes etc and freeze them!

or you can separate the yolks and whites and freeze them - we recently thawed some whites out that had been frozen for several months (needed the freezer space!) and made merangues.. which worked fine. label how many are in the box btw!

if it makes you feel better - my hens havn't *started* laying yet.... so i dont expect any eggs until spring now.... boo...

[Millymollymandy]

Yep my ducks have gone from 3 eggs a day to 2, and now to 1. The only hen still laying hasn't for the last 3 days.

Always goes from way too many eggs to not enough!

I froze eggs the first year then threw them away when I defrosted them because they were so disgusting looking, all curdled and revolting. Then I learnt from this forum (I think) that that apparently is normal! Still not going to do it again though as I don't relish eating them looking like that.

[yugogypsy]

We insulated our chicken coop, R12 in the walls and R20 in the ceiling, we've got windows in the coop we can open for ventilation.

Hope that helps.

Lois