Fattening hens to eat...

[CowgirlPenny]

OK, switching off meat birds for a moment, let's talk about eating layers. I mentioned the other day that my hens do not lay from Sep-late February. They just completely quit last year and started up again in the spring. They quit almost a week ago. No eggs from any of our 15. I assume this is going to go like last fall. They are almost two. My husband wants to fatten them a little more until the end of the month then process almost all of them and start with new layers in the spring.

IF I agree to let him, what is the best/quickest way to put a little more meat on them without of course giving them a heart attack or anything. More feed? A certain grain? Corn?

 

[J-Sanders]

Don't think you will put on any appreciable weight between now and the end of the month. But if you want you can feed them high carb til then and see. I don't know what breeds you are running but if they are shutting down from Sep to Mar it will enable them to lay for more years than a leghorn or production Red.

Jim

 

[Bossroo]

At this juncture in time , these hens are just about as big as they will get with a good amount of intestinal fat. Feeding them any extra for an additional amount of time will only add much more intestinal fat. Keeping these hens in hopes of a continued simmilar egg production of last year will only amount in decreased egg production as they age as they still consume the same amount of feed. Also, with advaning age, one will start to experiencce losses. Save your money and process them now, purchase some quality egg layer breed chicks and you will have lots of eggs by spring.

 

[Fred's Hens]

At this juncture in time , these hens are just about as big as they will get with a good amount of intestinal fat. Feeding them any extra for an additional amount of time will only add much more intestinal fat. Keeping these hens in hopes of a continued simmilar egg production of last year will only amount in decreased egg production as they age as they still consume the same amount of feed. Also, with advaning age, one will start to experiencce losses. Save your money and process them now, purchase some quality egg layer breed chicks and you will have lots of eggs by spring.

That.

 

[naillikwj82]

I concur with BossRoo. Process now, Purchase chicks now so that in the spring the new birds will be coming into thier egg cycle. Now is still early enough that the chicks will feather out in time for colder weather.

 

[donrae]

Good advice. You might realistically add an ounce or two to each bird, is two pounds of meat worth the cost of feeding 15 birds another few weeks?