At what age does egg production drop?

[lichick28]

MY OLD FRIZZLE GIRL "GRACE" STILL GIVES US AN EGG ONCE IN A WHILE AND SHE IS GOING ON 5 YRS OLD. I HAVE 10 BIRDS AND I MAKE A MENTAL NOTE OF WHO LAID & WHO DIDNT. ITS JUST A HABIT I GOT INTO WHEN I STARTED OUT

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

Quote:
I will have to concur. I have Barred Rocks (4 yo) Australorps (2-3 yo), Marans (1-2 yo), and Americaunas (3-4 yo). I have (according to my records) 41 hens of laying age - I am getting VERY few eggs, like 6-10 per day. Partly it is winter, but their production was cutting down even when the weather was better. I wasn't watching as closely as I should have, and started some replacements in late August, and more in October, but right now i can't supply my customers with enough eggs. Judging by egg color, some of the Marans are laying, and the Australorps, every now and then i get a Barred Rock egg, and very very few green eggs.

I do have alot of pets - mostly silkies, some Cochins, some frizzles. Some of them are 4-5 years old. I don't care how well they lay, but for my 'working flock' I will probably not keep them past 2 or 3 from now on.



I was terrible at judging ones that had recently stopped laying. And it is hard now, b/c I think all of them are laying - maybe only once a week, but it makes it more iffy trying to detect them.

Can I have them, please, please, pretty please?!!! I'll take 'em and get them laying!!! Almost evey single hen I have except 6 pullets that we bought not too long ago and are just now laying, were given or sold to us because they weren't laying anymore, and "just too old" to produce as many eggs anymore. Man, I wouldn't trade my girls who regularly produce an egg a day when everybody else said they were done taking care of hens that don't lay!!! I'll take them!!!!!

They'll produce for me, I just know it!!!!

 

[Croaker]

What do you do with old hens that have a name?

 

[lichick28]

My frizzle Grace (5yrs old)still gets around nicely but she cant get up the nest or the roost. she stands there and I put her in a nest at night with another girl to stay warm with her. She will stay with us until the end

 

[dancingbear]

I have some hens older than 4 years that still lay. I'm not sure how often they lay, but I get some huge eggs. I will be doing some isolating soon to find out.

I have a small run with an old doghouse in it, with a perch pole in it. When I want to know who's laying what, or need to isolate certain birds for whatever reason, they go in the doghouse pen. I also use it if I want eggs from a particular hen. Once the egg is laid I let her out to free-range with the others. If I want more eggs from the same hen, I move her back to the doghouse again after dark. I haven't had any hens not lay because I moved them to different pen, at least not for more than a day or two. They were probably not daily layers anyway.

 

[la dee da]

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I don't think I could do all of that! You must be one of the most dedicated people in the world, I am truly amazed

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You're so funny!

It's really not very hard at all. Just making little notations on a chart. They lay on a very regular schedule, so you can look back on the chart and see what to expect for any given day, for any given hen. It's cool because they don't take you by surprise that way. I have a pullet whose production has been slowly falling off, and falling off, and I already know that she's getting ready to stop laying and start her molt. She's down to laying one egg, and taking one day off. Soon she won't be laying at all. And I'll know exactly what's going on. I'm expecting it.

And you do get to where you can tell the eggs apart pretty reliably. Especially if you have lots of different breeds which lay different-looking eggs. Like I do. I have 5 different breeds, plus a couple of barnyard mixes. It's harder to tell the eggs apart for birds of the same breed. That's why I try and keep track of where their favorite nest boxes are. Like with my white egg layers, the Blue Andalusians, only one lays an easily distinguishable egg. Because it's significantly larger than the others. The other 3 look identical. Two of them like to lay in the same nest, so at that point, I have to consult the chart and see who should have laid an egg for that day at that time of the day. Unless I catch them in the act.

It will probably get harder this year, as I hatched out 5 little Dominique pullets from my 2 Dominique hens. They haven't started laying yet, but I imagine their eggs will look pretty similar! I can't even tell 3 of them apart as it is. I call them all "Stella". It simplifies things...

I only want to have 2 breeds of chickens (of course you probably started out that way as well, hehe), but I still hope to have a lot of chickens so I suppose it would be diffacault for me to tell the difference

. Oh well.

(by the way, I love your avatar

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[la dee da]

Everyone's information has been extremely helpful, I love this forum

! I'm thinking I'll keep them 'till three years, four if they lay better, but I'll have to wait until I actually have them to tell. Then I'll make some really nice chicken soup, mmmmmmm

. Thanks everyone for your ever-so-needed-help

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"What do you do with old hens that have a name?"
That's easy-they won't be named! I will probably keep the ones that I REALLY love as pets...but I will have to be very very picky or I would wind up keeping them all!

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

Quote:
And to think I started out that way, not wanting to name my girls (and boys) because I was afraid I would get too attached-that lasted-hmmm, about a day!!!

Good luck there, la dee da!! I'm sure your chickens will be wiggling their way into your heart just as quickly-they have a way of doing that!!!!

 

[la dee da]

Quote:
And to think I started out that way, not wanting to name my girls (and boys) because I was afraid I would get too attached-that lasted-hmmm, about a day!!!

Good luck there, la dee da!! I'm sure your chickens will be wiggling their way into your heart just as quickly-they have a way of doing that!!!!

NOW you're scaring me

. I don't think I will have a hard time not naming them because I've never been good at seeing suttle differences and I hope that my first batch will be 25 chicks. I've also never been good at names - my sister had to keep reminding me of what I named my hamster

! I'm sure they will wiggle into my heart though, but my love for chicken (meat) will probably win me over in the end

. I haven't ruled out keeping "pet only" chickens just in case

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I like smilies...

 

[Chicken Boo]

la de da:

I am a vegetarian but my DH is not. I have noticed that since we have had the chickens (all 9 have names) he does not eat any more chicken, even when free. We eat a lot of Morningstar Farms "chic" patties and other fake chicken products, though.