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JayColli
Chirping
I'll follow along out of curiosity...interesting concept.
Good that you are keeping them separate for both biological reasons as well as cost accounting.
Should be pretty easy to track feed/supply cost and egg production and sales...as well as observations on behaviors, health, etc.
Agrees infrastructure (housing, equipment) costs should not be included.
Will you employ lighting techniques for winter laying?
ETA: I'd be wary of restricting feed.
I hadn't considered supplemental lighting but it's definitely something to consider since laying dropped off drastically in mid-October last year with my pullets but the weather was still very mild into mid-November so I would likely keep the hens until snow was imminent. I have noticed that my chooks stay active, even with very little light, so that's something for me to consider especially since I have a 45w solar panel and a couple goodl 12v atv batteries handy.
I'll keep an eye on their feed intake as 1/4 lb. per day seems to be the average rate of consumption for battery hens and I'm not sure if they'll get enough extra from the grass and bugs to make up for the increased variation in their environment and added physical activity so we'll see!
I don't have a huge sample, just one bit to share....
I had a sale at the end of September. A man brought half a dozen red sex link hens he wanted to get rid of cause they weren't laying. 18 months old, they were just coming out of molt. One or two still looked pretty scraggly, but the others had grown feathers back and looked nice. I was busy with other customers, so my Honey gave him I think $25 for the lot. They did have some mites, so we treated them for that, otherwise they were fine and healthy. We kept them a month, at the end of the month we were getting 4 eggs a day from the group. Sold them for $60 for the lot to a friend who has been thrilled with them all winter. Not sure exactly how much they've produced over the winter cause the friend free ranges and is more interested in just "having chickens" than getting eggs, but they were doing well for us.
I'd give it a try and see how it goes. You're not out much if it flops.
I don't think the daylight cycle should be too different, if you're getting the birds in May. Should be a smooth transition in that regards. Probably just have to deal with the normal "you moved me and I'm not sure I'm going to reproduce right now" issues of not laying right away. When I move birds, I find it's about 2 weeks til they kick back into production.
Thanks for the input donrae! Always glad to hear from someone who has a bit of personal experience with the productivity of second-cycle brown layers. Four eggs per day with 6 hens is less than 5 eggs per week from each hen so my numbers appear to be a bit optimistic for only 5 hens but we'll see what happens.