The weather had a big impact this year. The snow, wind, freezing rain and freezing temps had the hens out of sorts in a major way. The last really frigid day was January 18 (ten days ago). The lone Orloff with the Welsummers started laying eggs right away, but the rest had held out. So we were only getting one egg per day for the past eight days from our "little" coop group.
On Thursday, L and I cleaned up around the pens, took the old worn out bungees and plastic tarps off and re-covered the pens with fresh plastic and added a few new bungees for better tie downs. Checked the lighting and timers, looked over the hens for any freezing types of injuries, and made certain that the bedding inside the coops was fresh and clean. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we got one egg per day from the little coop. Today we received two eggs from the little coop (Welsummers) and one egg finally, from the big coop (Orloffs). So, thankfully, the layers are getting back on track.
I'm just really thankful that we froze spare eggs last summer for the moulting season. The remaining frozen eggs covered us for this down time.
Getting the turkey coop cleaned and ready for the Spring chicks. We're going to order ten from the farm store; four Welsummers and six Cornish Cross for meat.
