Today is the first official day of Spring, even though it’s felt springlike for several weeks (well, except for the recent cold snap). The days are growing longer, meaning there will be more time for the animals to forage. It also means that the chickens and ducks are laying up a storm!
Winter is difficult for farmers in many ways. One of the challenges for those who raise poultry and waterfowl for eggs is the lack of daylight, which can cause egg production to drop dramatically. There are ways to stimulate egg production (like using lights to extend “daylight” hours), but we lean toward letting the animals do what they naturally do, even if that means fewer eggs during the winter.
As you can imagine, it is a joyous occasion when you get that first duck egg after months of no eggs, and it’s also fantastic when chicken egg production doubles or even triples. Our newest layers have also begun laying consistently, so we’re getting lots of pullet eggs, too. In short, it’s an egg extravaganza around here. We even had to buy a much larger egg collection basket to hold all the eggs we’re getting! Continue reading “Hello Vernal Equinox: Longer Days Mean More Eggs”
We’ve noticed that the Muscovy ducks that hatched in spring of last year have been checking out the nest boxes in the chicken coop and sampling the oyster shell from the hanging feeder. It made us hopeful that, despite the fact that many Muscovy ducks will stop laying over the winter, ours would begin laying soon.