Around Ground Hog’s Day the days get long enough to trigger my hens laying mechanism. This year I had new ones who layed all winter long. When March began my old biddies didn’t start laying. Weeks went by without an egg, so I thought they must have hit chicken menopause. They are almost 5 years old after all. Actually I have no idea when chickens stop laying.
A few days ago, however, I saw a green egg that looked slightly darker than Edie’s eggs. I wasn’t sure until a white egg appeared. Those belong to Andie my silver laced polish hen. Seems like my old gals have decided to begin laying at the solstice now.
Could use some wisdom – I live in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn and have eight Silkies – four of which are rapidly evolving into roosters! Not willing to make soup. Any ideas of a happy home for roosters? I can be reached at 347.276.2050. Many Thanks Sasha
Hi Sasha,
We’re neighbors!.
There is a NYC chicken meetup group. I know, it sounds funny, but they are great at answering questions like this. In fact there was just a thread on this topic, which I’ll email you. In addition to what they suggest, I think the Queens farm museum takes roosters. Especially silkies. And there are people on the meetup group who live outside of the city who might take silkies as well. You can also post in backyardchickens.com. I would actually try and avoid the farm sanctuaries as they are like animal shelters and are overrun with roosters. That depletes their resources as they have to build separate enclosures for each rooster.