Winter is among us (yes even here in Florida). Believe it or not, it will eventually become much colder than we would prefer down in the south.
One of the biggest questions that my fellow homesteaders start asking me is
" How many eggs are you harvesting? "
Usually, its followed by: "Oh... We haven't had a single egg all winter!"
Today, I want to share some of my tricks to keeping my egg production up even during the winter!
1. Plenty of protein.
This may be a no brainer, but often you catch yourself not feeding the correct amount of protein to your chickens.
I prefer to use a feed with 18% protein. I find that if I use under 18% they will stop laying eggs, and begin to pluck their feathers out. Here is a link to a great feed! https://amzn.to/2oBgtR6
2. Fresh Water
Another no brainer, but its so easy for them to run out of water here in #northeastflorida. Some summer days reach degrees of over 100 which means the chickens are thirstier than ever. I keep a 5 Gallon Poultry Drinker in the coop and some days it is bone dry by the evening!
Not only do you want your chickens to not be parched, but you also want them to have fresh water to avoid any kind of bacteria growing within the water and potentially contaminating your flock. A link to my favorite waterer: https://amzn.to/2nWCB8L
3. Avoid a Stressful Environment
A big factor in a healthy egg production is providing a peaceful environment for your chickens. This means, Fido isn't allowed into the coop to chase the chickens back and forth! You also want to ensure that you designed your coop and run to properly fit the space requirements for your flock. A good rule of thumb- 3 square feet per chicken within the coop and 8 square feet per chicken within the run. The more the merrier! You want your chickens to be stress free and enjoying their privacy.
4. AVOID MITES
What are mites? Poultry mites are small external parasites commonly found near the chickens vent. Some don't regularly check for these, and that's a big NO NO!
Mites can affect your chickens egg production.
How can you get rid of them? It has been found that when using Diatomaceous Earth mites were significantly reduced from without the product. Where to buy? I purchased my Diatomaceous Earth from amazon. BE SURE TO GET FOOD GRADE! Food grade means that even humans can consume it! If you don't buy food grade, you're taking a chance that could hurt your flock worse than before.
You will want to offer the D.E. in a "dust bath" mixed with sand or other dirt. Chickens naturally like to bath in dirt, and the DE will come in contact with the parasites this way. It hasn't been proven that your chicken needs to consume D.E. but they will likely take a bite or two (which couldn't hurt)! Here is a link to the Diatomaceous Earth I use: https://amzn.to/2oyKm4N
5. Plenty of Fresh Light
Some believe that when they decide to keep chickens they "Only have to build a coop and be done with it". That is so far from the case. Not only do you want to keep your chickens in a humane environment, they also thrive off of sunlight! Allowing your chickens to have a "Run" in the coop is necessary to keep your egg production up and your chickens happy.
I hope that you have learned a new trick that you would like to implement into your coop! If you have any other tricks to keeping your egg production up, I encourage you to leave it in the comments below.
**Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. All products were purchased by Hale Family Homestead. Some links are affiliates which is at no extra cost to you, but helps us keep our website running. We want to assure you that products we link are ones that we absolutely love and we know you will too!
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