How many new chickens do you get every year?

[JuliaSunshine]

I'm wondering how people manage their flock keeping the good ratio between young and older hens.
Chicken feed is expensive here in Canada (28CAD, for 20kg) and I have limited coop space. So I want to replace older chickens with new ones efficiently while maintaining the same flock size.
I'm thinking of retiring 2 year old hens before their 2nd molting (either by selling or giving away).
I have 10 hens and one rooster who were born this year. They are dual purpose heritage breed, Light Sussex. They supposedly lay in the winter, but I noticed they're laying less already.
I'm wondering how many new pullets I should get next spring and how many of the current hens I should sell before the next fall to maintain the same flock size.
How about the following year?
What is a good ratio between new pullets and 1 year old and 2 year olds to maximize egg production and save money on feed? All equal or more 1 year olds than pullets? Is it worth keeping 2 year old hens?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I get at least a hundred every year (next year is far less though for certain reasons), but usually only keep half if that

 

[NatJ]

I'm thinking of retiring 2 year old hens before their 2nd molting (either by selling or giving away).
I have 10 hens and one rooster who were born this year. They are dual purpose heritage breed, Light Sussex. They supposedly lay in the winter, but I noticed they're laying less already.
I'm wondering how many new pullets I should get next spring and how many of the current hens I should sell before the next fall to maintain the same flock size.
How about the following year?
What is a good ratio between new pullets and 1 year old and 2 year olds to maximize egg production and save money on feed? All equal or more 1 year olds than pullets? Is it worth keeping 2 year old hens?

There are many different ways to manage them.

Some people replace the hens after one year of laying (when they are about 18 months old). Some people replace half the flock each year, so any given female gets to lay for 2 years. Or 1/3 of the flock each year, so each one stays for 3 years. Or some people keep a few favorites until they die of old age, and replace the rest on one schedule or another.

For any of those, you just need to figure out how many new pullets you need and buy or hatch that many (plus a few extras, if you want to be sure of having enough. But then you have to butcher or sell or rehome the extras.)

For the male, you could keep the same one for several years, or you could raise a new one each year, or you could raise several new ones and choose the best one to keep.

Personally, I don't mind butchering chickens & eating them, whether they be cockerels or pullets or old hens. So I find it easier to raise plenty of extras, keep the best, and eat the others. That lets me be picky about which ones I keep.

Some other people raise extra pullets and then sell them or give them away.

Some people try to get exactly the right number of chicks, and not butcher or rehome any.

None of those are wrong, they are just right for different people. I don't know for sure what will be right for you.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I rotate out my breeders every year I do have 5 older hens but those stay forever, everyone else hens get sold males get processed.

 

[aart]

My winter space limit is about 18.
So I used to get 6 new pullets, and slaughter the 6 oldest hens for meat, every year.
I would mostly hatch from my flock, slaughtering all the cockerels and selling any extra pullets.

 

[WIchickMama]

whatever any broody might hatch-I then have a FFA student that will take the boys to process and then I keep any girls that I want and give away to a couple friends with larger flocks those that I don't. I typically keep all the new little girls and then weed out any older hens that either don't fit into the flock dream that I have or aren't laying. I do send them to farms where they can live out the rest of their life happy as I don't have tons of extra space for more than 15-20, so I have to keep my numbers between that.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I get a minimum of 3-5 pullets yearly from my local feed store. I think my scale and process might be similar to what you're considering. I give away or drop at my local butcher, the older hens. But I allow 1 or 2 to live out their lives here. I have only one 7year old, the only one older than 3, because she's great at letting newbies integrate and still lays here and there. She looks pretty out ranging our acreage. But when they're as old as her and they die or if I have an unexpected younger one die, then I will get 4 the next year, etc. I've always had a flock number somewhere between 10 and 15 and even with that number there a few winter weeks where I'm lucky to get 3 eggs/day. I've also been able to do trades to keep my number where I want it.

 

[NatJ]

I wonder if there's a way to find out which method gets the most eggs and uses the least feed.

For commercial laying hens, they are often (but not always) replaced after a single year of laying. I am sure that is chosen by what is most profitable for the company that owns them. But they would be figuring the cost of food, housing, labor to care for them, and various other factors that you might not count in your own backyard flock. And having the hens out of production long enough to molt might make a big problem for them (with customers expecting a steady supply of eggs), while having some of your hens take time off to molt might not be a big deal for you.

Or maybe whatever you choose it doesn't make much difference? Maybe I'm trying to be too precise....

I don't think it will make enough difference to notice, at the scale you're planning.

Although if you raise 3x as many new pullets as you want each year, that obviously triples the food cost for raising pullets; you might get that value back by selling the extra pullets or you might not, depending on your area and how good you are at finding buyers.

I tried to look up how much feed it costs to raise a pullet to laying age, vs. the amount eaten by a hen while she is molting, but I'm not having any luck tracking down an authoritative answer

Do heritage breed usually lay okay until their 2nd molting?

My understanding is that heritage breeds or production hybrids will both lay fairly well for that long (exception: the ones who have reproductive issues and either die or quit laying, which is said to be more common with the high production hybrids.)

 

[Iluveggers]

I have 10 right now. Getting 5 next year. The max I’ve told myself is 16. Won’t get more until 2 from that group pass…then I would have room for 3. I only want to try integrating new chicks in groups of 3 or more. They will all be allowed to live out their lives even after they stop laying. I will continue to add groups of 3+ when the number of hens drops to 13 or lower at any point during the winter or spring.

If I didn’t set a limit for myself, I would probably want to add 6 every year. I can’t have roosters in my neighborhood so I have to set limits.

Luckily I get some of my chicken fix by hatching for other family members and some nearby friends. Have 2 hatches planned, one to test out the fertility of a family members eggs (added a few cockerels this year so we will see if they do their jobs), and some quail for another family member (she will take all that hatch, DS is going to give hatching a try with my assistance).

Chicken math is real…I would probably have 100 birds if we had lots more land!

 

[NatJ]

I hear you! My issue is that we won't eat them. Between the two vegetarians and the kids naming them nobody wants to eat Fluffy, or Popcorn or...

I am at a place where I need to just cull and dispose of them, and I am putting it off. Maybe one at a time will be easier...

One possibility: butcher all the old ones at once, part them out, and then freeze them. Later, pull out the package of "old chicken breasts" or "old chicken hindquarters" and cook them appropriately. At this point, you would know that Fluffy's legs are in the package, but you don't know which ones they are, it's not a whole meal of just Fluffy. It probably also helps if you make something that involves taking the meat off the bones and chopping it into a soup or casserole or something. (Of course you'll have to cook it long and slowly, or else chop it really small, if you don't want it to be tough.)

Or do you have a dog that might like to eat raw chicken?

If no-one will eat them anyway, I agree that disposing of them might be the best option you have left.