Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
It depends on what type of sex links you got. Which hatchery did you get them from? How do you manage them?

Some hatcheries sell the commercial laying breeds as sex links. These are as specialized in laying as the Cornish X is for meat. I don't have any direct experience with those, but Fred does. Hopefully he'll see this and chime in. My understanding is that the commercial laying breeds sold as sex links by some of the hatcheries can burn out after a year or so of real good production. If yours are kind of small compared to other dual purpose breeds and have the body shape of a Leghorn, you probably have the commercial type.

Some hatcheries cross specific breeds to produce sex links. Maybe a Rhode Island Red rooster over a Rhode Island White hen, a New Hampshire rooster over a Silver Laced Wyandotte hen, or a RIR rooster over a Barred Rock hen. Lots of different possible combinations. These will produce just like a RIR, RIW, New Hampshire, BR, or Silver Laced Wyandotte hatchery hen. These chickens have not been selectively bred by people with advanced degrees in Poultry Science genetics to produce a new breed to maximize egg production in commercial conditions.

Different hatcheries are run by different people with different methods. Some hatcheries do not breed for longevity so you can get differernt results from different hatcheries, even if they produce the crossed between true breeds and not the commercial breeds.

Some of us pile on the extra protein and provide lights during the winter to squeeze all the possible production out of the hens as we can. Hens of any type or breed are more likely to burn out if we squeeze every possible egg out of them as we can as early as we can and make the eggs as big as we possibly can with the extra protein.

The quality of the stock you have to begin with makes a difference, but so do your management practices.

 

[darkmatter]

Rural Bug Patrol

I initially used my chickens as free range as part of the insect control. They were not as efficient and predator reduction of the flock made that nonviable. So I made a bigger run for the chickens and incorporated Guineas into the flock. They work much better, they will fly out of the run in the morning and spent all day removing ticks and other insects. When I first got here, I had a serious tick problem, every walk-a-bout resulted in multiple ticks crawling on you. The first summer with Guineas, there was only one tick found.
Some Guineas would roost in the trees-------the Owls picked them off, the ones that learned to roost with the chickens survived. Here in the Midwest, the morning dew will kill new hatched Keets that the Guineas raised in the fields. So I have to find the nests and slip the eggs under broody's or incubate. The Keets that the chickens raise incorporated into the flock better and when near grown will join the roving bug patrol Guineas. It took a while for the keets that I started with to learn what predators to avoid, the flock got thinned out pretty regular. Once I had some survivors of a few years, they taught the younguns what to eat and what to avoid.

 

[OldGuy43]

Thanks for your response.

Quote:
Have no idea. Got them from Callahan's General Store. We just knew we wanted to try our hand at chickens and they were about half the price of every other breed.

Quote:
To be blunt, we don't do much "managing". We give them fresh water, scratch and laying mash and let them be chickens. If they seem healthy and happy and lay eggs were happy.

Quote:
Thank you for all that information, but I'm not a "scientific" chicken rancher. I just wanted a few eggs.

Quote:
I don't do any of that. I do find it surprising that, in the last couple of weeks sunlight has been kinda scarce and of course shorter days not to mention that it's gotten colder (down below freezing a few nights) egg production has actually went up.

Quote:
Well, I guess I'll just have to wait 'n see, and hope they last awhile,

but if they don't at least I didn't lose any $20 hens to predators while I was sorting out my fencing/protection issues.

I'm only getting slightly less than an egg a day from my tiny flock, but that's more than enough for us.

If I post some pictures of my flock would someone be willing to hazard a guess as to what I've got?

 

[Gypsi]

Quote:
I can agree with this, and not just about chickens. I'm in the less than 2 year chicken category, but I'm 52, and the certainties of things I knew just seem to dribble away like sand in the wind.


And this morning, one of my new pullets made a sound remarkably like "cockadoodledoo". I know less and more than I did an hour ago

What do you get when you cross an Americauna Rooster to a Production Red hen? (or a Barred Rock hen?) These chicks may all have been roosters...

Gypsi

 

[BantamoftheOpera]

I am unable to free range all day, but my birds get to go out once a day when I am home. I was wondering if any of the OT's keep their birds in runs and if they allow their roosters to eat layer feed?

 

[Terri O]

Thanks for the clarification on the sex links Bee. Even being a relative OT myself I am learning a lot of things on this thread...Terri O

 

[Tres Amigas]

Quote:
Bee: This is what I'm interested to find out. We bought 3 red sex link chicks to start this adventure because we knew we only wanted 3 hens and didn't want to play the "congratulations - it's a boy" game, and we were happy when last winter all three gave us a beautiful big egg almost every day without fail. Now going into their second year two are going through what I think could be termed a "hard" molt and egg production is down to an egg a day - sometimes none a day. Having followed the OT posters for some time, I suspect that "peak" laying season may turn out not to be like last year for these girls. We shall see in the spring. We do nothing by way of light or heat and are content to let them "rest" as nature intended. However, if it turns out that they are indeed "played out" in the spring they will be invited for dinner and will be replaced by WRs, NHs and/or BAs. Having said that, these girls were an excellent choice for us first timer noobs.

Kudos to you for starting this thread, Bee. Excellent one-stop shopping to find thoughts from people I usually have to look for in different threads. The advice and experience shared here has done so much to alleviate much of the fretting and fussing one goes through in a new learning process that one wants to do right. I don't feel guilty for not peeking up my hens' skirts 3x a day looking for mites or making sure they make their therapy appointments on time.

BTW: I may not know much about chickens, but I do know exactly what a "glug" is, which is why I rarely write down recipes. You want to know how I make that? Come over and we'll make it together and I'll show you.

 

[jvls1942]

I will attempt to post one more time as diplomatically as I know how.. as with my last post, I did not intend to be a troll.. I just say it like I think it,, I thought this thread was set up like that for us old guys with no refinement..

my thought for the day.. chickens were not set up by nature to lay an egg a day for months on end.. so why is adding light to extend their laying time so against nature ? that's it, I am not going to push my luck..

 

[the1honeycomb]

Well I culled my first Roo, Myself!

Everything went well it took what felt like an hour for the bird to stop wiggling!
Is this normal? I skinned him, and what appeared to be a huge bird on the outside was a tiny bird on the inside .

not sure I want to do it again glad to know that I can if I have to!!
fresh chicken for dinner!!! Does the meat get dried out if baked skinless? I covered it and put soup mix in with it to keep it moist
Well thanks for letting me share

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

What I have read on line & on BYC, hens are born with all the eggs they will ever have in their body, just like us Women. But like us women, we are not going to use all the eggs we have to produce children or for hens, eggs/chicks.

I would guess for the people who are putting light in their coop, they want their high egg production to continue throughout the winter, which to my beginning chicken understanding is that, the hens will use up their egg production faster, fizzle out and be replaced with newer, younger chickens in about 2 years, and the older ones culled or sold. Any OT please chime in.

I like the OT approach, let nature takes it course, let the hens rest during the winter, give them a chance to get ready for spring. Hens are not a egg factory, yes they are producing a product, but to me it is almost like a puppy mill. Trying to squeeze out as many puppies as you can from the momma, before she is too worn out to produce anymore.

For me, I enjoy the variety of hens I have, am learning as I go. Would like to get hens who lay the darker brown eggs and also try for an olive egger. Our roo Owl, has started chasing one of the Light Brahmas, so I shall have to play the waiting game, and see when I might get a egg from her.