Works for me, George. I figure if they aren't laying every day or every other day when all birds should be laying at their peak, then they most likely won't be laying well at other times of the year either....and that has proven true for me time and again. There shouldn't be anything during that time to delay an egg unless it's illness or hormone issues, both of which I cull for, so that gets those birds out of the flock as well.
Short sighted? Maybe to you. To me it's a practical solution to a problem of deciding who to cull or tag for culling without investing in a trap nest setup and trapping those poor birds in a box each day for who knows how long so I can get "accurate" counts for a whole year on each bird. I'm just not set up for that, nor will I ever be, so I have to use methods that work. Also, my free rangers will often not lay if confined to a pen and will pace nervously for days until they are returned to the flock, then will resume laying...can't imagine what being confined to a trap nest would to the poor things.
Unless you've actually applied the method and seen that it doesn't work, you have no hands on experience about it at all, but just more theory. Lot's of theory. I have hands on experience with it over years of use and find it shows me which are the best layers each and every time. Since I don't often cull at the time I tag, but much later in the fall, the birds have all spring and summer in which to prove their laying or lack thereof. Each time that happens, I'm not a bit surprised that those tagged birds pretty much are crappy layers the rest of the year as well. If they are still crappy layers in spring, summer and fall, there's really no reason to feed them all winter to get that full year's worth of evaluation. For me it's held true year after year...a crappy layer in March/April will continue to be a crappy layer all the way to fall culling.
Short sighted? Maybe to you. To me it's a practical solution to a problem of deciding who to cull or tag for culling without investing in a trap nest setup and trapping those poor birds in a box each day for who knows how long so I can get "accurate" counts for a whole year on each bird. I'm just not set up for that, nor will I ever be, so I have to use methods that work. Also, my free rangers will often not lay if confined to a pen and will pace nervously for days until they are returned to the flock, then will resume laying...can't imagine what being confined to a trap nest would to the poor things.
Unless you've actually applied the method and seen that it doesn't work, you have no hands on experience about it at all, but just more theory. Lot's of theory. I have hands on experience with it over years of use and find it shows me which are the best layers each and every time. Since I don't often cull at the time I tag, but much later in the fall, the birds have all spring and summer in which to prove their laying or lack thereof. Each time that happens, I'm not a bit surprised that those tagged birds pretty much are crappy layers the rest of the year as well. If they are still crappy layers in spring, summer and fall, there's really no reason to feed them all winter to get that full year's worth of evaluation. For me it's held true year after year...a crappy layer in March/April will continue to be a crappy layer all the way to fall culling.
