Hens Have Stopped Laying Eggs!!!

[drstitson]

"you might as well buy your eggs"

they'll certainly be cheaper that way!

 

[porterswoods]

Lighting levels should be at minimum of 10 Lux according to the lion code, which is pretty low, I found this on Wikipedia. I also know of a producer who failed on this standard, he could not see the end of the shed!

As for the price of eggs, I charge £2 per dozen for XL free range from the farm gate.

 

[Brosville]

If you're going to keep chooks for eggs on a commercial basis you have to make the sums add up - that often means additional lighting, only keeping them for a single season, buying in expensive high protein feed etc.
Many moons ago I was experimenting with a rather "old-fashioned" way of doing it - using Rhode Island Red/Light Sussex crosses to give dual purpose birds (cockerels for meat, hens for laying), and was looking at using a "home brewed" feed mix - this was the way it was done in the 50's, after which the two types of birds developed on two different courses, so that nowadays "layers" are pretty useless for meat, and vice versa.
As I said, nowadays a few bantams give me all I need in the way of eggs for very little in the way of inputs -even having kept chickens commercially I've always had a soft spot for them, they're nice to have around!

 

[porterswoods]

Our current feed ration is not high protein, it is only 15.5%. The layers meal I have for sale in the farm shop is 17%.

 

[Brosville]

does the dreaded "DPM" (dried poultry manure) still appear as an ingredient in some layers mash? Back in the 80's it was pretty common..

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

"you might as well buy your eggs"

they'll certainly be cheaper that way!

Yes, but I'm sure you could use that same argument with regards honey.

 

[theeggman]

Not too far in the past we visited another commercial producer and found that the lights in the house were so low you needed a torch to be able to see that there were birds in there. Apparently they still got 'good' results.
Not our way of doing it, no good for the birds and you can't inspect the chicken properly if you can't see everyone clearly and watch it's behaviour.

When we gave up we vowed to have NO chickens on site, 14yrs without a day off, but we couldn't find a decent fresh egg without doing a 20 mile round trip to another producer so we now have 4 'end of lay' in the paddock who have been producing at 98% until last week. We've now got a glut of eggs!!

Tim

 

[porterswoods]

No animal products are allowed these days in layers mash. It is about 40% wheat with the rest made up odf limestone, soya meal, wheatfeed, vitamins and minerals and yolk colourants.

 

[Robbie & Jans Bees]

All of our hens have gone off the lay we have 12 chickens and 8 banties seems even they need a rest in the wintre?

Robbie

 

[oliver90owner]

No animal products are allowed these days in layers mash. (my underlining).

Reading that I read that although it is not allowed in layers mash, there is the possibility it is used elsewhere (other than as an agricultural fertiliser)? Is it?

RAB

 

[porterswoods]

There is no animal proteins allowed in any livestock feed, it is against EU regs, apart from eggs which are used widely in milk replacer and other livestock feeds.

All poultry rations are free from avian derived ingredients also, mainly because the various codes do not allow it. The EU want to lift the ban on animal proteins in diets for non ruminant animals, but defra have said that they will not lift it in any case.

 

[The Cumbrian]

There is no animal proteins allowed in any livestock feed, it is against EU regs,

So does that mean they no longer use fish meal?

 

[porterswoods]

So does that mean they no longer use fish meal?

I have never seen fish meal in livestock feeds, it was also banned for a short time after the BSE crisis. However that has now been relaxed, as far as i am aware it can only be fed to unweaned ruminants in milk replacer, pig meal and poultry feeds.

Most Supermarkets won't entertain the idea of it being included livestock rations, as a result it isn't widely used.

I should have said that Processed Mammalian Proteins are currently banned in livestock feeds across the EU, that would be clearer.