It’s January. It’s dark. It’s cold. The nesting boxes are empty.

The 12 Gems laid only 5 eggs this week. This time of year I certainly don’t expect a full basket, but a few more eggs would be nice. I’m not going to use light to encourage laying, but I do have another way to boost production. At least, I hope so! This trick is one that I’ve read about in many of my vintage poultry books and magazines: they all advocate feeding alfalfa in the winter when green forage isn’t readily available.

Alfalfa, also called alfalfa hay, is not the same as hay. Hay is made by cutting and drying grasses. Timothy and grass hay are mostly roughage and not something to feed to hens (although they might like to scratch through it and find a seed or two.) Alfalfa grows in a field and on stems like hay, but the plant is a legume. It’s high in protein, and its fiber is highly digestible. Alfalfa contains calcium, nitrogen and other vitamins and nutrients. According to my sources, alfalfa is supposed to boost the hen’s off-season diet and encourage laying. Although feeding greens, like cabbage, is a good addition to the winter diet, it doesn’t have the protein that hens need. Feeding meal worms and sunflower seeds is not the answer, as they can be too concentrated and do more harm than good. However, alfalfa supplies protein without the danger of overconsumption, and delivers nutrients in a form and amount that is perfectly suited to a hen’s metabolism. (By the way, coarse yellow straw is not a foodstuff, not even for cows. Straw is made up of the stems leftover from the wheat or barley harvest and is suitable only for bedding for large animals.)

I’ve never bought alfalfa, but knew that most grain stores would have it. The first feedstore that I went to had bales of it for sale that weighed 125 pounds each and were the size of small sofas. I didn’t buy one. But, Erikson Grain had a more manageable bag.

The alfalfa looked coarse, but a close inspection showed much dried green leafy matter.

I shook the hay over the ground in the outside run. The hens, who had been clucking loudly at me, all went quiet and immediately set to eating.

Even Agatha (she’s the Speckled Sussex on the far right) stopped being fascinated with my camera and put her head down to eat.

If I had a farm a hundred years ago, I would have had a chaff cutter which would have chopped the coarse stems into edible bits. Perhaps I’ll find that tool at a flea market, but for now they are getting all of it, the easy to eat leaves and the long stalks. The general advice is not to feed tough stems to hens. There’s a chance of crop impaction. If your hens are hungry, or if they’re terribly bored, they might try to eat the stalks. But, my hens have free-choice pellets. They have a compost pile to scratch in. They ignore inedible stems. Because I have goat and the rabbit, they have access to hay, which is much tougher to digest than the alfalfa. I’ve never had a problem. That’s not to say that I don’t discount the issue. I’m careful to not give them whole scallion stalks, which they might try to eat. I don’t feed green cut grass, as I’m sure they’d gobble it down and get blockages. But, my girls are savvy enough to know to eat the leafy greens and ignore the stalks. So, for now, without the chaff-cutting tool to make all of the alfalfa plant useful, there will be some waste and they’ll just eat the leaves. Which might not be so bad, since that’s the most nutritious part.

I think that it will take a week before I know if the alfalfa encourages laying, but if it doesn’t this won’t be for naught. I do think that alfalfa will replenish their mineral and protein stores lost after a year of laying and molting. I expect my hens to primed and ready for spring egg laying by the end of next month.

The goats heard me shaking out the alfalfa. They bleated and they pleaded but I didn’t give them any. Alfalfa, as good as it is for hens, is not good for my wethers, as calcium can cause urinary calculi to form. The goats are fed a second cutting grass hay. It’s leafy and green, and just right for the boys.

I’ll let you know if there’s an uptick in the egg count. In the meanwhile, the hens are delighted about this feed trial. They’ve already deemed it delicious.

I wasn’t going to get more chickens this year. Really. The Gems will be turning two years of age, and twelve mature hens are plenty to provide eggs for my table (even with those darned broody Orpingtons and a Cochin that looks pretty but doesn’t do much else!) However, I’m working with a nursing home to bring the contentment of watching a busy flock of hens to their residents. The coop will be installed by March and I’ll be stocking it with pullets. I want to supply them with seven distinct birds, all in different plumage, so that the residents can identify them from a distance (we’re siting the coop so that the memory loss residents can watch throughout the day from their activity room windows.) I want to provide the nursing home with winter hardy, easy to care for hens, so no top-knotted Polish, or Cochins that suffer from the heat. I want hens that have mellow personalities that get along well with others and are friendly to people. All of the chickens have to be girls. No crowing! I decided that in order to meet my criteria, I’d have to raise chicks myself, and raise more than they need, watch them mature, and pick the right seven for the job. As long as I was raising extra chicks, I figured I’d get some for myself. The minimum chick order is 25. Seven for the nursing home, four for me, and I’ll sell the remaining pullets.

This is my order:

3 Blue Andalusians – I have a thing for blue-grey hens. I think they’re gorgeous. I’ve never had this breed but hear good things about their temperament. I’m hoping to keep one.

5 “Araucanas” – these are not true to breed standard (other hatcheries call them “Easter Eggers”) but they lay eggs that vary in color from bright blue to olive green. It’s been a few years since I’ve had a blue egg in my basket, and I miss the cheerful color. There’s much variation in the plumage of this breed, and I’m hoping that some will be muffed (fluffy feathers around the face.) I’m going to keep two.

3 Black Stars – these are high production hybrids that also have lovely, friendly temperaments and are very easy to care for.

2 Buff Orpingtons – despite how prone they are to broodiness, they’re also mellow, and their yellow feathers are pretty and distinctive.

2 Cuckoo Marans – Marans lay dark brown eggs. It’s a breed that I haven’t any experience with, but several people have insisted that they are nice birds that “play well with others.”

3 Delawares – Opal, my Delaware, is a sturdy and placid big hen. I think the Delaware at the nursing home will become a favorite.

2 Dominiques – this breed has the same black and white striped feathers as the Barred Rocks, but they are less aggressive to other hens.

2 White Leghorns – I’m sure that many residents will remember Leghorns from their youths. Leghorns are active, friendly and curious. I think they’ll interact well with the many people who will be visiting them.

3 Brown Leghorns – Despite the fact that most of the nursing home residents remember Rhode Island Reds, I didn’t order any as they tend to be very pushy with other breeds. Instead, I’ve selected these pretty red hens, which will, hopefully, have the same personality as their more popular white cousins. I’m planning on keeping one.

How quickly it adds up to 25 chicks! There were so many great breeds that I didn’t order. It was hard to leave out the Speckled Hamburgs and the Welsummers. A shiny black Australorp would have been nice….

Now that I’m done with the chick order, I’ve been perusing the seed catalogs. At least when I buy too many seeds I can tuck the extra away in a drawer. But, chicks go quickly from tiny fluff balls that fit in your hand to spiky pterodactyls. This is a Buff Orpington at 4 weeks. It’s a good thing that I can fit a large brooder into my barn!

What breeds are on your chick list?

I keep two flocks, one young and one old. I keep records of how many eggs are laid daily. Look at those numbers and they will tell you much about my chickens.

In January of 2012, there were 12 hens in the little barn. The best layers were the hybrids, and not yet four years old. Others were nearing six and even seven years of age. By the end of the year there were only five hens in that flock. The productive layers had died (as the high producers often do around three years of age.) A few of the old hens also died. The remaining hens are sturdy and healthy, but quite old and rarely lay. I collected a total of 151 eggs from the small barn in 2012. That’s all. In June, laying in the little barn peaked and the hens (there were eight at that time) supplied 29 eggs for my table. For the last four months, the remaining hens molted, and the nesting boxes have been empty. I’d be surprised if these old hens resume laying in the spring.

A different story was seen in the big barn where the Gems live. Hatched in the spring of 2011, they began laying that September, and continued to lay through their first winter. The 2012 year end count for the Gems is 2,103 eggs (175 eggs per bird per year, although some individuals laid far more, and some almost none.) March was their most productive month, with 247 eggs laid. That’s an average of 20 eggs per hen for that month. Those numbers declined come summer, when some hens went broody, and others languished in the heat. Then, beginning in late August, production dropped further. Sundown came earlier each day, which had some effect, but that’s not the full story. December of 2011 the Gems laid 160 eggs. This year it was only 36. That’s because the Gems, now mature hens, went through their first molt. They began losing their feathers in August, and are only now looking fluffy again. Despite looking good, the molt isn’t done yet as they’re still growing new quills and putting their energy into rebuilding their stores of calcium and nutrients for the next laying season. I find an egg or two a day, which will continue until February, when there will be an uptick in egg numbers. By April my egg basket will be full again, but not as overflowing as it was this past year.

There is usually about a 20% drop in production the second year of lay. In a small flock, like mine, with a wide variety of breeds and personalities, there is much fluctuation. There will be broody hens. There will be nervous hens who can’t settle in to lay. Weather affects production. Too hot, or too dark and damp and the hens don’t lay. The Gems might get sick. I’m sure some hens will die. But right now, I’m optimistic. Perhaps it’s because it’s so cold that when I walk out to the barn the snow squeaks underfoot. The sun shines and I have to squint from the sparkles in the snow. When I open the barn door, the Gems greet me with much chatter. There are no eggs, but possibility is in the air.

I’ve placed an order for 25 chicks for delivery the first week of April. I’ve purchased them through a mail order hatchery. In 1880 if you wanted more chickens, you hoped that your broody hens did a good job. By the first decade of the 20th century, you might have had your own kerosene heated incubator and were able to substantially add to your flock, and maybe sell to your neighbors (and buy a puppy with the proceeds.)

By 1917, when the postal service changed its regulations and permitted chicks to be sent through the mail, it opened the way for poultry men and women to start hatchery businesses. It meant that farmers could purchase purebred chickens to improve the productivity of their flocks. It allowed for a farm to have hundreds, if not thousands, of chickens. Eventually, that led to millions of chicks hatched for factory “farms” and closely guarded breeding stock that is not available to the rest of us. But hatcheries still exist for the small farmer and the hobbyist. Some specialize in one or two varieties, and some have developed their own hybrids for sustainable farms. Others breed a veritable rainbow range of chickens for the backyard keeper, like myself. There are also suppliers, like MyPetChicken.com, that act as middlemen for a number of hatcheries.

If you are interested in just one type of chicken, and want high-quality stock to show or breed yourself, then I suggest purchasing from someone who specializes in that breed. If you want just a few chicks, and aren’t too particular about the selection, you can probably pick them up at your local feedstore (which likely got them in from a big hatchery.) But, if, like me, you want a wide range of breeds, and you want them all to arrive from the same hatchery on the same day (more about why in another post) then you’ll probably go to one of the big companies. Murray McMurray happened to have the chickens I wanted, when I wanted them, and so I’ve ordered from them.

Chicks survive surprisingly well when shipped in a small cardboard box through the mail. But, the trip is not without perils. Hopefully, the box has been handled gently. If tipped, the chicks can pile up and suffocate. It’s best to ship the chicks in the spring, when the weather is not too cold and not too hot, as extremes can cause fatalities. When a chick hatches, it still has some of the yolk inside of itself, and gets nourishment from that for up to three days, so you don’t have to worry about food or water until they get home. But, by the time they reach the post office, time is of the essence. It’s important to be available the day of their arrival, so that the little ones don’t have to wait in the mailroom (you have to pick up, the mailman doesn’t bring the box to your door.) I’ll let the folks at the post office know I’m expecting a delivery, and they’ll call me as soon as the chicks arrive. It’s important to have your brooder up and ready. My order will arrive the first week of April, and in the weeks up to then I’ll share with you how to prepare for and care for chicks.

Later this week, I’ll let you know what breeds I ordered, and why. Until then, keep guessing!