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["Robert Walton" <waltonrp AT gmail.com>]

> With 5 hens, I am getting two or three eggs a day, 50%
> production less than 2 weeks from the shortest day of the year..I'll
> take that.
>

Your hens are doing good. Glad you found the culprit. I got 7 eggs
today, put a light on the hens a couple of weeks ago. I was down to
just a couple a day. I've got to do a count, but I doubt I'm getting
50% lay with 7 eggs. Some of my hens are in the longest molt I've seen
them in, though. Those won't be laying anytime soon.

I butchered all the red hens last summer. They were RIR and over two
years old. I needed to lower numbers and decided just to keep the
younger hens. The old RIR hens layed better in winter. I've got a few
Marans, White Rocks, Buff Orpingtons and a few daughters coming in.
I'm finally down to one rooster, a Marans.

I was thinking about switching to Delawares in the spring to see how
the young roos dress out. If they grow nicely, I'll keep a couple of
roos and some hens. I just butchered some of the MaransX roosters and
they dressed out nicely at about 4 months.

Rob - Va