On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:03:41 -0500, Omelet wrote:

<talking about chickens/eggs>
>
> I'd start with a few depending on the age of your girls. They tend to
> start really dying off at 5 to 7 years and it takes 6 months for the new
> kids to start laying. :-)

Yeah, I know this. And pullet eggs are cute as well as tasty. The hens we
have left are around 4 y/o now, so unless anything untoward happens they
should last a year or two more...

> So long as you can only purchase a few chicks? If I mail ordered, I'd
> split orders with others as there were minimums to keep the chicks warm
> enough in the shipping crates

If one wants layers there's really only one breeder farm that supplies
"good layers" in our province. And this breeder sells them in batches of
25 - minimum.

Thing is, having another 20-odd hens will produce even more eggs than I
know what to do with, (heck the 14 layers we had at one point was bad
enough) but still not enough to supply a farmers' market or some such. And
I don't have anybody else to "share" an order with because all the
"chicken people" we know order much more than that at a time themselves.

Anyway, we'll make a decision one way or the other come spring; if the
"old ladies" go back to laying 4-5 eggs a day between them then we'll
probably wait another 6 months, or even a year.

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy