Convince my husband the hens are not past their expiry date!

[Beekissed]

All animals~and humans, for that matter~deserve a little rest in the winter months. The trees are dormant, plants are dormant, bugs dormant.....why is it that folks expect the chickens to go on shooting out those eggs like gumball machines when the rest of nature gets a few months off? Tell him you need those mature hens on hand when you save one of those roosters to mate with them, then they can replace themselves~cheaply~so you won't be in this fix next winter. From now on let the old hens raise up some new ones each year and you need never be in a pinch for eggs again if you time it right.

Tell him that he is, quite literally, throwing the baby out with the bath water if he kills your hens right when they are on the verge of making replacements for you guys. Then start fermenting the feed so you can cut that feed bill by about half...that should make him happier.

 

[blucoondawg]

I disagree with lights not working at this point, if you start gradually introducing light it will likely make a difference if you're hens are physically through the moult. The higher protein is good to it takes a lot of protein to make me feathers, the faster they get some with that and think the days are long the faster they'll lay again.

On a side note regarding the increased protein I fed some meat maker during molt and noticed a great decrease in feed consumption, I am going to switch to a meat maker feed full time, people say don't feed layers high protein but I think mine self regulate, they eat almost twice the layer as the meat maker.

 

[Teila]

Aaaw Drewnkat sounds like you are having a rough patch at the moment and I send my sympathies and a virtual hug

My tip? Sneak out, buy free range, unstamped eggs, hide them and occasionally slip them into the nest box when he is not looking

 

[Drewnkat]

Thanks all.

We had fabulous success with incubating this spring, seriously, 95% hatch rate is beyond my wildest dreams good. Apparently our girls like to lay boy-eggs, thus the extra roosters out back eating like piggies, they get free-range time but they still like to eat. We got fewer girls, but nine new laying hens giving us green and brown eggs isn't too shabby.

If hubby just waits, I can easily make back the cost of feed by selling straight run RIR chicks (I sold $50 worth of chicks the first weekend after they hatched this spring). I can only do this if I have healthy mature hens laying eggs big enough to incubate.

I like the different feed tip, I will give it a try, can't hurt anything!


I asked him if he was going to get rid of the goats because they aren't making milk. He said "No, they're pregnant, they're not milking yet."
I pointed out that next winter they will have to be bred and dried off from milking. Apparently that is completely different than hens not laying eggs because it's winter. Sigh.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hens don't take a break molting because they want to. Tattered feathers do not retain warmth, so they need to be replaced for winter and spring chick rearing. Feathers are almost completely protein, they simply do not have enough reserves to replace feathers AND lay eggs. Molting can drastically affect their body weight. Once their feathers grow back in, they need to get their body weight back up to a safe level before they can start laying eggs again. You can help them through this process by increasing protein, either in their feed or with high protein treats. (mealworms, meat scraps, BOSS, etc)

Hens are animals, not egg machines. Each bird matures at their own rate, and winter is a period of rest for their bodies. You can light your coop to get more production if you wish. I prefer to not light mine and give them the rest that they need naturally - even if the lack of eggs is frustrating at times. Lighting will give you more eggs, but will not stop molting completely. Your birds will still need to molt, they just may do it at different times.

The good news is December 21st is right around the corner, and the days will be getting longer again. Production will start increasing with the daylight hours increasing. I have 3 hens that have already started back up from their molts. They are laying an egg every 2-3 days. This will start increasing as the days start getting longer.

Feeding adult birds is much less expensive than feeding chicks for 6 months before they begin laying. I've hatched chicks in the winter, and it's not the best time to be raising babies. I prefer spring/summer for hatching, I can get them off heat sooner, which keeps my electricity bill lower.

 

[lazy gardener]

Go get your husband. Bring him here, and sit him down. Tell him this message is for him and he needs to read it carefully:


Here it is:


SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE!

I have upped my protein content this year, switched from layer to an all flock and I have three chickens already resuming laying, never has happened to me before. So maybe switch rations, I did it slowly, mixing the two together than fazing out the layer.

My husband advise would be to point out the ways he wastes money, he's a man, he wastes money on something. Chicken feed isn't that expensive as far as animal feeds go, your goats are gonna cost more. Stand up for your chickens, mine make me happy, that's all the reasons my husband needs.

All animals~and humans, for that matter~deserve a little rest in the winter months. The trees are dormant, plants are dormant, bugs dormant.....why is it that folks expect the chickens to go on shooting out those eggs like gumball machines when the rest of nature gets a few months off? Tell him you need those mature hens on hand when you save one of those roosters to mate with them, then they can replace themselves~cheaply~so you won't be in this fix next winter. From now on let the old hens raise up some new ones each year and you need never be in a pinch for eggs again if you time it right.

Tell him that he is, quite literally, throwing the baby out with the bath water if he kills your hens right when they are on the verge of making replacements for you guys. Then start fermenting the feed so you can cut that feed bill by about half...that should make him happier.

Thanks all.

We had fabulous success with incubating this spring, seriously, 95% hatch rate is beyond my wildest dreams good. Apparently our girls like to lay boy-eggs, thus the extra roosters out back eating like piggies, they get free-range time but they still like to eat. We got fewer girls, but nine new laying hens giving us green and brown eggs isn't too shabby.

If hubby just waits, I can easily make back the cost of feed by selling straight run RIR chicks (I sold $50 worth of chicks the first weekend after they hatched this spring). I can only do this if I have healthy mature hens laying eggs big enough to incubate.

I like the different feed tip, I will give it a try, can't hurt anything!


I asked him if he was going to get rid of the goats because they aren't making milk. He said "No, they're pregnant, they're not milking yet."
I pointed out that next winter they will have to be bred and dried off from milking. Apparently that is completely different than hens not laying eggs because it's winter. Sigh.

All, excellent points raised by the posters here! A lot of wisdom behind those words! You guys rock! I'd just like to add my 2 cents worth, which is a lot of repetition. Those birds will produce LOTS of BIG eggs in their next laying season. They will school your replacement chicks in proper chicken manners. You are most likely to have a broody hen in this batch of older hens. Do you have a rooster running with your girls? Save your best one. But be sure that he's proven himself to be a gentleman. Don't just choose him for his good looks or singing voice. I can't agree with Bee enough about the FF. It will literally cut your feed bill WAY down. I also suggest that when you buy your next bag of layer pellets, make it a bag of the higher protein Multi-Flock. And you can ferment any feed. Just be sure to offer them egg shell (b/c it's free) and oyster shell b/c it's easier to absorb the calcium from if you have them on anything other than layer. I also found that mash is cheaper than pellets, but IMO you will NOT want to offer mash dry. Great as ferment though! How old are the roos in your grow out pens? Culling them now will immediately cut your feed bill.

Now, as far as those "boy eggs" I'd like to invite you to an other experiment: I did this with my last 3 hatches and increased my pullet hatch from 40% to 60%.

Check out this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/958517/nutrition-and-gender-and-inducing-broodiness

and this one also: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/969282/sexing-eggs

You'll have nothing to loose by playing around with it, and when you do, please be sure to post your stats, and include a comparison with your previous roo heavy hatch.

 

[Drewnkat]

WE HAVE EGGS!

This morning I checked the adult hens coop, and there were TWO extra-large brown eggs. These babies are larger than anything from last year, and I'm guessing this year their eggs will all be super-sized.

Things I did:
Put up a small string of LED lights with a solar panel inside the coop.
Bought 22% protein layer feed at the feed store.
Sprinkled a little livestock vitamin/electrolyte powder on some treats for them.

What I believe actually "worked:"

TIME and their natural processes working as they started laying again after molting.
But hey, feeding them higher protein feed cannot possibly hurt a thing. Vitamins won't harm anything. And next spring, I plan to save up the "round" shaped eggs and incubate again. If I get a higher percentage of hens, great. If not, the roosters we raised this year were delicious.

Oh yeah, we processed all the surplus roosters this weekend. It was a lot of messy hard work, but things are much calmer/quieter out back now. The girls are adjusting fine, and the one rooster we saved to be the security guard out there is proving we made a good choice. He "calls" the hens over to get treats, and he always keeps one eye out for threats. He lets my daughter pick him up and cuddle him, and he's never been observed bullying any of the girls, only trying to keep order.

I'm trying to resist the temptation to be all "Oh yeah IN YOUR FACE!" but I did text him a pic of the eggs. He's a good guy, he's been really busy at work and I think it was about the chickens, but not completely about the chickens...

 

[Happy Chooks]

Nice! Yes, their eggs can get dramatically larger after their first adult molt. Congrats!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Great to hear, mine are slowly starting up again, so I share in your excitement.

 

[azygous]

Glad you were vindicated!