Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Beekissed]

I got the pullets from a lady nearby. I didnt ask her of they were hatchery stock or not. I know she has roosters and a lot of chickens so I just assumed that they were from eggs she had

There's a lot of confusion, I think, about the term "hatchery stock". When some people refer to hatchery stock they are thinking of the production cross birds like Golden Comets, Red Stars, Production Blacks, Production Reds, White Leghorns, RIR, etc. These are chickens that have been bred by the hatcheries for early and high volume laying but burn out quickly and aren't real hardy. The hatchery version of the leghorns and RIRs are not the best representation of the breed, as they too have been manipulated for production reasons, and these would be better obtained from breeders with old lines if one wanted the true characteristics of these wonderful layers.

The heritage, dual-purpose hatchery sourced breeds like the Plymouth Rocks, Orpingtons, Black Aussies, Speckled Sussex, Dominiques, etc. are a little closer to their original characteristics, thought still a far cry in regards to conformation, hardiness, production, etc. They still mature later than do the breeds manipulated for production, as indicated in the above paragraph.

They are NOT grandma's old chickens, in any way, but sometimes you get lucky and get hatchery birds of the heritage strains that still perform a little like their ancestors. I've been lucky in that regard but still got to see what the hatcheries did to my grandma's old reliable, Dominiques...nothing like the original birds and I'd never get another from a hatchery source.

Hatchery stock are good enough for most backyard flocks but you may have to cull, breed the best, cull some more, etc. before you will develop a flock with the characteristics you need for a utilitarian, sustainable flock of egg birds. I don't even mess with the production birds anymore as they aren't hardy and you can really see this start to show in their second year.

If you stick with the breeds that haven't suffered from over tampering when ordering from the hatchery, you can get some birds that will lay well and last awhile...but they mature a little slower than the production breeds, which is a good thing.

 

[fowlman01]

Walt was right! It WAS a feed store guy!

It's always a feed store guy. They kill more birds than a raccoon.

Walt

 

[galefrances]

Any old time is good if the birds are roosting on the roosts. Gives the girls time to discover them, mess around in them, see how they fit their butts, etc. Sometimes a hen just likes to get on the nest to contemplate the mysteries of the universe and not necessarily to lay an egg.

Thank you Bee, I'll get those opened up today. " contemplate the mysteries of the universe"

 

[galanie]

Walt was right!  It WAS a feed store guy! 

 

It's always a feed store guy. They kill more birds than a raccoon.

Walt

That would be even funnier if it weren't so true.

 

[Beekissed]

Where I live the feed store guy asks ME questions about chickens and livestock. Guess it never occurred to me that it was because it was standard for feed guys not to know about such thing...I always figured they new what farmers know.

 

[thedragonlady]

Where I live the feed store guy asks ME questions about chickens and livestock. Guess it never occurred to me that it was because it was standard for feed guys not to know about such thing...I always figured they new what farmers know.

Same here Bee!

Some of the feed guys actually lurk on this site. They are the ones who want to learn. I was amazed to have two people at TSC ask me if I was thedragonlady, as they knew I raised Buff Os, and they'd seen the photos of my birds. "What are you feeding?" I said, "You ought to know, I buy enough feed from you guys every 2 weeks." "You feed all that to the chickens?" Yup.

 

[normanack]

It's always a feed store guy. They kill more birds than a raccoon.

Walt

If it weren't mean to good feed store guys, there could be a whole thread of "things the feed store guy told me." Even I have a few, and I haven't been to the feed store that many times yet.

That said, they've also kept my birds alive simply by caring enough about chickens to sell me the feed, and of course there are the good and great ones, too.

 

[normanack]

Speaking of feed stores, mine was out of almost all chicken feed today, and my chickens just inhaled the last of theirs.

So I bought 50 pounds of scratch as a last resort till they get stuff in or I find another store. Bee, I'm assuming it would be better if I fermented it?

 

[unkadan]

remember the guy in your high school yearbook voted "Most likely to Sackseed"?,,,,,explains a lot of that misinformation

 

[bruceh]

bee you are truly right about hatchery stock birds. they burn out. compared to good breed stock. they barley represent the breed. i use hatchery stock for egg laying quantities. however that last only so long. i have just recently moved to good bred stock. i will have wellsummers and marans. for me i can sell the fancy eggs for more money. after next season i will most likely have to replace the spent hens. i am sure the black sex links will burn out at the end of year 2. i am keeping an eye on who is doing the best in health, egg laying, and over all vigor. then i may breed the hatchery r i.r.rooster to them.
that rooster is turning out very nice. big , alert and even disposition . i am sure this will take a couple generations to figure out.. we will see. i have along way to go these guys are all first year pullets.