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

[Beekissed]

Sorry....I know that was a low dig and I'm sure that all the participants of this thread are excluded from that remark. I'm just sure of it!

 

[ldutch123]

Oh heck the boys can take it. I'm sure they have been hearing us hens gripe for years... .

 

[Beekissed]

At least we still have the hair on the back of our heads, huh?

 

[bruceh]

i pull hair. i am also a older trained rooster. now for the serious stuff. i am curious about feeding old freezer raw meat to my chickens. never done it before. however i a piece of meat i threw in the pen. it is a big one. can i just leave it there and let the chickens polish it off or get rid of it.

 

[Minchi]

Sorry, Minchi!

I bet that monky got pecked to death by your chicks but I'm sure they did enjoy it.

Actually they all slept on him and then after a few weeks when they were done with him they beaned (crapped) him in between the eyes. I had a theory that my littlest one was hatched a week early by the hatchery and was having many issue because of it. One sleeping while standing, and not eating enough. It was suggested as a comfort item along with giving her mash. (water and feed) The monkey was very soft and for the first few weeks all of them would sleep with it but my little one started doing much better within a week. Most larger organizations would have just let her die or would have culled her but since these are my first and they are more pets that provide tasty treats I chose weaker chicks knowing I could care for them more. I also want to have more in the future and with a small flock I can dedicate more time and try more ideas to figure out what not only works for the chickens but what also works for me. The OT forum keeps me grounded.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Just a heads up, I would be careful with raw meat and/or maggots fed to chickens in this hot weather. Botulism thrives under such conditions.

And I may be an oldtimer but I haven't owned chickens for a long time.

 

[Minchi]

I'm no OT but I have a 6 month old EE roo and boy he is NOT good at the mating thing. He is ripping feathers out of their necks and man he is getting beat up by my year old girls. I'm not sure when he is gonna learn what to do but I hope it's soon. Good grief. These poor girls look awful.
Also I would like to report this same rooster decided he as going to mount the hens face??? Is this just a stupid rooster or something

Sounds like most young boys to me.

 

[Remo]

This may have been already asked, if so I am sorry for asking again. How often do you OT sell out your old layers and replace them with chicks? Do most keep them until they die or do they sell all their layers every year or every 2 yrs and replace them with their offspring?

 

[Fred's Hens]

This may have been already asked, if so I am sorry for asking again. How often do you OT sell out your old layers and replace them with chicks? Do most keep them until they die or do they sell all their layers every year or every 2 yrs and replace them with their offspring?

A.T. Hagin writes on another thread:

In a hen's pullet year (her first lay cycle) you will get 100% of whatever she is capable of laying in a year assuming proper feed and management. She should start to lay at about five to six months and will lay typically for a year which will take you up to the eighteen month mark.

At that point she needs to molt and refresh her egg laying internals. Once she's grown out her new set of feathers she should begin laying again. All other conditions being equal (disease, injuries, feed, management) she should then lay roughly 80% of the eggs she laid in her pullet year in her second lay cycle, but those eggs will be somewhat larger. So if she were laying large eggs in her first year you should get extra-large in her second.

At the end of another twelve month cycle she will then molt again then restart laying, but about 20% fewer than the previous year or roughly about 60% of what she laid in her pullet year.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

If you're keeping the birds as livestock that have to show economic practicality (as in pay for themselves) then chances are by the end of their second lay cycle they will no longer lay enough eggs to cover the cost of their feed so it will be time for them to ship out.

If you're keeping your birds as pets as in they don't have to lay enough eggs to pay for what it costs to keep them then you may keep them as long as you please.

Historically the poultry keeping model worked like this:

All through the year a poultryman would give his birds the visual once over to remove any obviously sick and otherwise non-productive birds. When the birds reached the end of their first lay cycle and were ready to molt the entire flock would be given a closer inspection. The non-thrifty birds would be culled and the remainder kept for a second year. Typically about half the flock would be culled and new birds brought in so you'd end up with about two-thirds first year layers and one-third second year. At the end of their second year the older birds would be culled unless the farmer was doing his own breeding. Then the best of the older birds would be retained for that purpose.

This is where the "get rid of them at the end of eighteen months" advice comes from. Whether it applies to you only you can decide. Some folks don't care, others must weigh the cost of feeding non-productive birds.
Edited by A.T. Hagan -

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Well, I don't know about botulism and where I'd find the organism but i know I diid't bury that feral cat deep enough and the chickens ate him just fine., maybe it was the acv they washed home down with. besides, isn't that an anaerobic organism?