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

[galanie]

ummm......gee. my chickens and ducks love Flock Raiser by Purina. The hens wouldn't eat the Layena and flat out stopped laying rather than eat it, but the ducks are not so picky. Of course, all my birds are free ranging on ~ 1 acre of pasture, mostly medium red clover, so they get all the insects they wish to catch, and all the dead flies they beat the other birds to. Now, if I can get them to eat Calf Manna during times of stress, I will have a low-labor feeding program all figured out.

Layena is what mine wouldn't eat either. I really think whatever you're giving them, if they thrive, keep on doing it.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

Dear OTs,
Can you please refresh my memory? What time of year should I re-assess the older layers in my flock to determine whether they are laying or just fattening up for my next pot of chicken and dumplings? As I recall, at about 2 years of age the hens will stop laying, molt, then resume laying at a decreased rate. By what month/time of year should they have resumed laying?

My farm is in northeast Missouri, with little to no forage in the pasture from late December to late March. My chickens enjoy true free range conditions under the protection of 3 poultry-friendly LGDs. I have no electricity in the barn as yet, so we break ice and carry water to the animals a good part of the winter, and I am highly motivated to stringently cull the flocks before ice-breaking season returns.

My second query is for anyone reading this thread-have you tried LED lights in your barn and did it work for your set-up?

Thank you for your assistance,
Angela

 

[Fred's Hens]

Everyone does things differently. All I can do is share what we do. Extrapolate whatever you find useful.

First year pullets are all kept through their first winter. (if there is something horribly wrong, sure, we'd remove at any time) First year pullets are your strongest winter layers and they require little, if any, light supplement. We are so stinkin' far north that our daylight is absurd from November through February. Folks who live around the Mason-Dixon line and south have little to be concerned about with a first year pullet.

New chicks are hatched each spring to become the new pullets. In fall, a 1.5 year old bird has to merit being allowed a moult and being wintered over. We find, with good stock, 60% make the grade for a second laying season.

The next spring, again, only the very best older hens get sent to the breeding pens. One hen in 20-30 makes that grade.

By the following fall, some of our hens are now 2 1/2 years old and winter is coming. Now the criteria for keeping a hen into her third year is very critical. As an efficient layer, commercial stock is running out of gas. One hen out of the original 100 might be special enough to hold over for one more breeding season. Since there are two classes of younger pullets now populating the flock, there's no need to carry older birds through a third winter. All of the above refers to typical hatchery quality birds and/or commercial layers. (ISA Browns, etc)

Since we are just starting with a flock of true bred, heritage birds, we will have a different approach, I am sure. We expect to find things to slow down. They've been extremely slow to grow, slow to mature and we are hopeful that they will also be much slower to taper off in their second and third and fourth years. But again, since only a few birds will have what it takes to be selected for mating, we have to see how this goes in the future. Hope this helps.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
This Spring a new Atwoods Farm and ranch store opened here. We switched to Nutrena feeds since that is what they carry. We are very pleased with the Nutreana over the results we seen with Purina. They also carry the Game Cock feed that has the mixture of sunflower seeds and various grains. Many exhibition breeders feed a similar feed for a show conditioner.

Dear OTs,
Can you please refresh my memory? What time of year should I re-assess the older layers in my flock to determine whether they are laying or just fattening up for my next pot of chicken and dumplings? As I recall, at about 2 years of age the hens will stop laying, molt, then resume laying at a decreased rate. By what month/time of year should they have resumed laying?

My farm is in northeast Missouri, with little to no forage in the pasture from late December to late March. My chickens enjoy true free range conditions under the protection of 3 poultry-friendly LGDs. I have no electricity in the barn as yet, so we break ice and carry water to the animals a good part of the winter, and I am highly motivated to stringently cull the flocks before ice-breaking season returns.

My second query is for anyone reading this thread-have you tried LED lights in your barn and did it work for your set-up?

Thank you for your assistance,
Angela

Its an ongoing process in culling hens. When ever I have opportunity to handle a hen I will check for egg production. Month/time varies with the individual flock and bird.

As for foraging in the winter. Several years ago I wrote an article for the APA year book. It is posted on BYC at
Winter Pasture for Poultry . This will get you started on finding what will grow best in your area during the winter. Elbon Rye and harry Vetch will grow about anywhere. Winter wheat is another. Many feed stores will sell a 50# bag of Winter Pasture Mix seed. That should do fine for poultry.


We have not seen any difference with the results of using a standard bulb, the new florescent or LED. The LED will last longer. If using for heat in a brooder, stick with the old fashion type bulbs.

 

[EMantooth]

When you feed egg shells back to the chickens, how do you prepare them? Someone mentioned baking them? Do you just crumble them or do you crush them up really finely?
Thanks!

 

[thedragonlady]

P.S. thedragonlady: Would love to see your picture. I have never been owned by a Mastiff, but I know lots of them. They are wonderful dogs. One of them I know has chickens, too, & one particular hen of his picks food from the flews of his mouth...brave chicken, tolerant dog.

You would have loved Beethoven who I imported from England as a pup. A huge, 34"tall, 225 lb. Mastiff who wore a 34" collar as well. I took BOB at Westminster with him In New York in 1972 from the classes over the Chs. He was a gentle soul, but would guard the family with his life. He also "mothered" all the little creatures on the farm.If I can dig up that photo, I'll post it.

 

[Lazarus718]

As for foraging in the winter. Several years ago I wrote an article for the APA year book. It is posted on BYC at
Winter Pasture for Poultry . This will get you started on finding what will grow best in your area during the winter. Elbon Rye and harry Vetch will grow about anywhere. Winter wheat is another. Many feed stores will sell a 50# bag of Winter Pasture Mix seed. That should do fine for poultry.


We have not seen any difference with the results of using a standard bulb, the new florescent or LED. The LED will last longer. If using for heat in a brooder, stick with the old fashion type bulbs.

Thanks for the info on the winter pasture, just what I was looking for! As far as LED's, CFL's, and standard bulbs go...if you're looking to just provide the 14 hours of light I would go with a daylight CFL. They are the ones that cast the bright white light. LED's are too expensive to purchase even though they have a very long bulb life. The CFL gives you good savings on the power usage and most people these days already have some laying around in the house. The standard bulb would be a waste of money if you were just using it to provide extra hours of light for egg laying purposes. It would be interesting if someone on here has done an experiment with what light spectrums seem to have the best influence on egg production. I would guess that either a 5000K or 7500K bulb would be preferable.

 

[stonykill]

When you feed egg shells back to the chickens, how do you prepare them? Someone mentioned baking them? Do you just crumble them or do you crush them up really finely?
Thanks!

I have an oven with a piolot light. I just leave them in a pan in the oven and the pilot light slow bakes them nicely. Then I crush them with my hands and offer them to them. Hatched broody shells I just crush right up and feed back to them. If they don't eat them themselves

 

[Beekissed]

I usually cull once a year in peak laying season...March/April. Any chicken that is still laying every day or every other day gets a free pass for me, regardless of age. My current flock has 15 hens that are in their 6th and a few in their 7th year of lay. The rest of the hens are 2+ years and going strong as well. They are currently residing at a friend's farm and the reports are they are yielding "buckets" of eggs. They are overrun with the bounty and are giving them away to all and sundry.

I plan for and design my husbandry methods towards a goal of keeping the same chickens in my flock for as long as possible...for me, 2 years is hardly long enough to really know a flock and to be able to depend on certain characteristics showing through. I have never kept pet chickens or favorites, though I have let one or two older hens slide one extra season when they aren't at peak laying just out of nostalgia.

The older the hen, the more likelihood of reproductive issues like internal laying, egg bound-ness, abnormal egg and/or shell formation so even if she is still laying productively, one has to look at the quality of the egg/shell for indications that she may start to have trouble soon. It's not worth it~for her sake~to wait and "see how she does"....it's best just to cull before you HAVE to cull.

One of the characteristics I breed for specifically is a hen that not only lays well daily but also lays for longer than 2 years....the longer the better. I avoid production type breeds like production reds or blacks....not only do they not provide longevity of lay but they are just not hardy, do not have the quality skin/feathering that I look for and they don't lay throughout the winter like my more heritage breed birds.

All of mine are hatchery bred birds but of older, heritage breeds....some of these have lost their integrity through hatchery genetics, such as Dominiques, RIR and Leghorns, but they still provide a passably reliable BA, WR, NH....at least, from my experience. They certainly aren't the birds my granny had but they are all that is available without selling your firstborn to get the purchase price.

 

[MoonAngel12]

When you feed egg shells back to the chickens, how do you prepare them? Someone mentioned baking them? Do you just crumble them or do you crush them up really finely?
Thanks!

I have a designated egg shell pan that sits in the oven (it is NASTY after 3 years of use and no amt of scrubbing will ever get it clean). Sometimes they get baked in the preheat cycle, sometimes I remember to take them out (burnt egg shells stink!!) and throw them back in as it cools down. I used to take the time to crush them by hand, now I just dump them on the ground and crush them with my shoe. Some pieces feel like glass if they poke you just right, and they tend to fly everywhere if you use a cup or something else to crush them. A lot less mess and pain to just step on them... it only took me 2 1/2 years to figure it out

.

ETA: I don't know if baking is really necessary, just something someone told me when I first got started so it's what I have always done. They also said just to make sure the pieces were small enough so that they weren't recognizable as egg shells.