My hens will be in the stew pot next fall. Production this winter is abysmal. Really - 1 egg in all of January from 8 laying hens is ridiculous. I expect the added daylight to bring production up to 3-6 eggs a day by summer. I'm getting chicks this spring that should be producing by fall and through the winter.
This is a poorly performing flock - my flock was producing about 2 dozen eggs a week back in 2010 - granted there were 4 more hens in the flock, but 1 egg in January 2015 vs 90 in January 2011?
2011 - 13 hens, 9 aged 1 year, 2 aged 3 years, 2 aged 9 years
2015 - 8 hens, 2 aged 3 years, 6 aged 2+ years
Look like culling birds after second season is the way to go. There are other factors of course, the breed mix is different (the 9 year old silver laced Wyandottes were still producing big brown eggs!)
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
January 24
One of the Barred Rock hens wasn't in the coop overnight. She died, no evidence of predation though.
No egg production in January.
No egg production in January.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
Jan 4
Bought 50# lay pellets 3# flax seed, 50# scratch $34.84
Total of 3 brown eggs for all of December.
Nights have been cold the past week - below freezing a couple of times. Diurnal cycle was at its low about 2 weeks ago - production should start coming back by end of January.
I'm planning on getting some additional layers this spring, plus some meat birds - delivery around May 4. Get 3 americauna (green), 3 Buff Oprington (brown), 2 red start sex links (dark brown), 2 leghorns (white) and 7 meat birds.
Summer Flock:
Americauna: 1 old, 3 chicks
Barred Rock:3 2 old
Rhode Island Red: 3 old
Buff Orpington: 3 chicks
Red Star: 2 chicks
Ancona: 1 old
Leghorn: 2 chicks
Cull 2 old Americauna for stew in next 4 months. cull 1 Rhode island red, 1 barred rock for stew late in year (after new brown production starts).
End of year 2015 flock:
4 green (1 old, 3 pullets)
8 brown (3 old, 5 pullets)
3 white (1 old, 2 pullets)
Should be getting 6 - 10 eggs a day from pullets starting in October. The old birds will be going into molt around then. Older birds for stew starting in November - all 5 hens culled in 2016. Replace with 4 brown layers, meat birds, possibly 2 Ancona and 2 Americauna in spring 2016.
Total of 3 brown eggs for all of December.
Nights have been cold the past week - below freezing a couple of times. Diurnal cycle was at its low about 2 weeks ago - production should start coming back by end of January.
I'm planning on getting some additional layers this spring, plus some meat birds - delivery around May 4. Get 3 americauna (green), 3 Buff Oprington (brown), 2 red start sex links (dark brown), 2 leghorns (white) and 7 meat birds.
Summer Flock:
Americauna: 1 old, 3 chicks
Barred Rock:
Rhode Island Red: 3 old
Buff Orpington: 3 chicks
Red Star: 2 chicks
Ancona: 1 old
Leghorn: 2 chicks
Cull 2 old Americauna for stew in next 4 months. cull 1 Rhode island red, 1 barred rock for stew late in year (after new brown production starts).
End of year 2015 flock:
4 green (1 old, 3 pullets)
8 brown (3 old, 5 pullets)
3 white (1 old, 2 pullets)
Should be getting 6 - 10 eggs a day from pullets starting in October. The old birds will be going into molt around then. Older birds for stew starting in November - all 5 hens culled in 2016. Replace with 4 brown layers, meat birds, possibly 2 Ancona and 2 Americauna in spring 2016.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)