Adding to our Tiny Flock

[ZenSyd]

Mike and I are retired and living in the Driftless area of Wisconsin. It’s winter here and the days are short but soon to be longer. Two of our 6 girls laid an egg today in a bucket of soil under the house porch. They do have nest boxes in their coop that they usually use to lay their eggs. I certainly was not expecting any eggs in January!
My question is...how long can we expect the hens to be productive? How do we add to the tiny flock we have? The girls were gifted to us last spring. They came from a yoga friend who got too many chicks in the fall of 2018. She was happy to pass some on to lighten her load so we got them just as they were beginning to lay. Before we brought them home we put together a small coop and they free range every day.
We trained the dogs to Leave It so the girls are respected. The best part is that the eggs have been fantastic! We feed them a plethora of chicken feeds and human leftovers. They have not been laying until today when my husband found 2 eggs right after a couple of the girls strutted about singing their Proud Mary song.
Long story longer...how long can we expect them to continue to lay eggs and how to we maintain a small flock of egg layers? Do we add chicks or hens periodically? Do we reduce hens to the stew pot when they are old and long in tooth or can they live to a wise old age and guard the tiny farm?

 

[azygous]

You remind me of my beginnings in keeping chickens. I began with two older hens after a friend died and her husband had to find homes for her animals. Those hens were three or four years old and were laying regularly until each met untimely ends a couple years later.

Meanwhile, I got three five-week old chicks off Craig's List to add to the two hens after I'd had them for six months. I didn't realize it at the time, but this is a perfect strategy for maintaining a constant flow of eggs. So over the thirteen years of keeping chickens, I've added baby chicks, three one year, six at other times, at around two year intervals. Chickens get old and sick and die, and predators claim others. I try to maintain a flock of around twenty or so because I sell my eggs to my neighbors.

One thing you need to decide is how large a flock you would like to maintain. Then you need to make sure you have the coop and run space to adequately house them. The rule of thumb is four square feet of coop space per chicken and ten square feet of run space per chicken, but add more because more space is always better.

Egg production depends on breed. Some breeds like Wyandottes will lay like fiends in their prime, and they will continue to lay into old age, old age being over six years. My Wyandottes lay through their eighth year. I have a ten-year old who keeps trying, but she can no longer build a shell.

Other breeds like Cochins are so-so layers, and they retire early. So you want to research breeds to get what you desire out of your flock. Adding baby chicks is, in my opinion, the most fun way to add to a flock, although I've adopted lone chicken survivors into my flock from time to time because I have a soft heart and they needed a good home.

I think this thread is going to end up providing you a lot of good ideas and information from a lot of folks. Glad you decided to come here. It's a good bunch of folks we have here.

 

[Spudsnsalsa]

Following as I adopted 7 battery hens in October and figure they must already be nearing 2yo or the commercial farm wouldn't have been culling them. Right now they are laying machines as even in our very short winter days here in Ireland I get 4-6 eggs a day. I am guessing they are a Production Red variety of some sort.

 

[gtaus]

How long a hen lays eggs depends on their breed, and how they are cared for. I have some hens that I can expect to lay eggs for 2-3 years, and others that have been reported to lay eggs for 5-6 years. Productivity goes down with age, but if you know what breeds of chickens you have, you can either post them here and/or look up that information on Google.

As to laying eggs under the porch, I would think that is a concern. I don't let my chickens free range due to predator issues, but at any rate, I would do everything I could to ensure that my hens are laying eggs in their nest boxes. Maybe you could confine your hens to a restricted area with nest boxes and (re)train them to lay eggs in only those nest boxes. I use fake wooden eggs in my nest boxes to let the girls know where they should lay their eggs. It has worked for me and I have only found 1 egg outside in the run late this summer when the girls were first starting to lay. But I have my girls confined to their coop and a fenced in chicken run so the safest place for them to lay eggs is in their nest box. If not, the egg is out in the open and I would be able to see it on the ground. No hiding places anywhere for them.

 

[ZenSyd]

You remind me of my beginnings in keeping chickens. I began with two older hens after a friend died and her husband had to find homes for her animals. Those hens were three or four years old and were laying regularly until each met untimely ends a couple years later.

Meanwhile, I got three five-week old chicks off Craig's List to add to the two hens after I'd had them for six months. I didn't realize it at the time, but this is a perfect strategy for maintaining a constant flow of eggs. So over the thirteen years of keeping chickens, I've added baby chicks, three one year, six at other times, at around two year intervals. Chickens get old and sick and die, and predators claim others. I try to maintain a flock of around twenty or so because I sell my eggs to my neighbors.

One thing you need to decide is how large a flock you would like to maintain. Then you need to make sure you have the coop and run space to adequately house them. The rule of thumb is four square feet of coop space per chicken and ten square feet of run space per chicken, but add more because more space is always better.

Egg production depends on breed. Some breeds like Wyandottes will lay like fiends in their prime, and they will continue to lay into old age, old age being over six years. My Wyandottes lay through their eighth year. I have a ten-year old who keeps trying, but she can no longer build a shell.

Other breeds like Cochins are so-so layers, and they retire early. So you want to research breeds to get what you desire out of your flock. Adding baby chicks is, in my opinion, the most fun way to add to a flock, although I've adopted lone chicken survivors into my flock from time to time because I have a soft heart and they needed a good home.

I think this thread is going to end up providing you a lot of good ideas and information from a lot of folks. Glad you decided to come here. It's a good bunch of folks we have here.

Thank you so much. I enjoy learning about raising our chickens. Reading BYC posts and articles has taught me a great deal. The girls provide us with both delicious eggs and entertainment. I appreciate the replies and suggestions.

 

[LizzzyJo]

If you’re already building infrastructure, remember to build a place so that any new babies or adopted birds can do ‘look don’t touch’ for a while during the integration. My coop was not built to do this and it is painstakingly difficult every time. I wish I had built it to facilitate this originally.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Mike and I are retired and living in the Driftless area of Wisconsin. It’s winter here and the days are short but soon to be longer. Two of our 6 girls laid an egg today in a bucket of soil under the house porch. They do have nest boxes in their coop that they usually use to lay their eggs. I certainly was not expecting any eggs in January!
My question is...how long can we expect the hens to be productive? How do we add to the tiny flock we have? The girls were gifted to us last spring. They came from a yoga friend who got too many chicks in the fall of 2018. She was happy to pass some on to lighten her load so we got them just as they were beginning to lay. Before we brought them home we put together a small coop and they free range every day.
We trained the dogs to Leave It so the girls are respected. The best part is that the eggs have been fantastic! We feed them a plethora of chicken feeds and human leftovers. They have not been laying until today when my husband found 2 eggs right after a couple of the girls strutted about singing their Proud Mary song.
Long story longer...how long can we expect them to continue to lay eggs and how to we maintain a small flock of egg layers? Do we add chicks or hens periodically? Do we reduce hens to the stew pot when they are old and long in tooth or can they live to a wise old age and guard the tiny farm?

I think one of the most amazing things that I have watched is my broody hen raising two baby chicks that I gave her. She was such a great mother and really took great care of her young. If you ever end up with a broody, I would recommend adding to your flock that way. The two that were raised by my broody are not very tame, but since you free range, it’s good to have chickens that are super wary and fast.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Long story longer...how long can we expect them to continue to lay eggs and how to we maintain a small flock of egg layers? Do we add chicks or hens periodically? Do we reduce hens to the stew pot when they are old and long in tooth or can they live to a wise old age and guard the tiny farm?

Really varies by chicken (breed is part of it, but even then each individual differs) but I'd say the drop off in laying comes around 2 years. My older hens (3.5 years) have definitely slowed down already and if we didn't have younger hens (1.5 years) to contribute I would've last seen a fresh egg back around August!

Depending on how many eggs you want, I'd recommend adding chicks yearly or every two years to help maintain production. For me, chicks every 2 or 3 years looks to be about right, as we don't eat lots of eggs, but want to keep up some minimal level of production for most of the year.

Whether you keep your old/retired layers around is up to you - are you willing to house and feed non productive birds? Do you have adequate space for them? My priority was pets over eggs, so I don't need the older ones to lay, but not everyone can afford to feed those extra birds.

 

[Mrs. K]

I vote for keeping a flock, with birds coming in and out of the flock. Other people cannot do that. Younger birds, and egg laying breeds keep production high. I like a variety of birds, but adding a few new each year, and removing a few old, will keep your flock active and laying.

 

[Folly's place]

I add chicks every year, either hatched here from my birds, or hatchery chicks, usually straight run, so there are replacement cockerels to choose from, and extras to either sell or eat.
Because I free range whenever possible, I do have losses to predation; usually a very few, but last year, many. Then older birds will die. My oldest hens lived to be ten, but many will develop health issues by three or four years of age.
Some breeds are more long lived, and lay eggs longer than others, and it's also individual, and family lines do differ.
Chickens are beautiful, and fun, and the eggs and meat you raise yourself can't be beat!
I started with six or so bantams from a neighbor, many years ago, and now try to have 35 to 40 total by winter, more in summer.
Look at Henderson's breed chart, and catalogs (Cackle and MurrayMcMurray, for example) and pick breeds that look interesting, lay different colored eggs, and do well in cold weather. Enjoy!
Mary