posted on Jan, 10 2012 @ 10:31 AM
Grab your gain of salt but here's my two cents.
My chickens (Buff Orphingtons) have not laid any eggs for a month or two. They usually lay eggs all through winter.
We noticed when they quit laying that they started to eat like crazy, not like other years. I have never seen their feathers so thick and they are
still molting.
I hatched some eggs a while ago and the chics are pretty much fully grown now. Because chickens hatch 50% males, 50% females you must do something
with the males. A rooster can handle around 12 hens. (If there are too many roosters to hens, they can stop egg production and/or kill the hens.)
They are free-range (in an electric fence), so I usually let them grow to the time they start to mate, then start to cull the roosters. The roosters
should have started to mate but have not, not sure why. I have already started to cull some, and while processing them I noticed that they have more
fat than I have ever seen. Which they should because of the way they have been eating.
So, if you have ever heard of farmers watching their animals for weather that is coming, I would have to agree with the OP, it's about to get
cold.
edit on 10-1-2012 by BelieveInEnoch because: missed words