General Question,how many % wise of your Flocks sarvive??

i have "lost" any yet, i've had 22, culled 5 roos, and sold 9 roos, 8 still going strong. i think where you live has alot to do with it, weather, predators , pets, etc

 

We have yet to loose a chick or chicken. We've had ours since March 08 and got a couple more in August 08. My father-in-law has lost 3 of 8 chickens. Every couple months his dog eats another one.

 

I just had to cull one of my new chicks as 'unthrifty' I'm supprised I don't have any more my hatchers waffer went out luckly only one not both, but i could not keep a steady temp.

 

Since I have had chickens (Almost a year now) I have only lost 4 chicks about 5 weeks old. The reason for this loss was I was removing them from their momma hen so she would start laying again and they was to go to a new home the next day. I placed them into a pet taxi and set them on my frount pourch this was mid spring. Not hot not cold....A snake had crawled inside the pet taxi and attacked the chicks killing them. The other 2 I lost where in an unsucure cage I had been working on. 2 dogs broke in under the cage and Killed 2 out of 3 and injuying the other. The other survived but I rehomed later.

 

Lost two chicks to a black snake and have only lost one grown chicken who was egg bound and had to be culled. This egg bound hen was a new layer that started out with enormous, double-yolk eggs on a daily basis. I believe this contributed to her egg bound status.

That's from an average flock of 30-35 hens for the past 5 years or so.

I free range 100% of the time, except this spring when the flock was confined to a very large run during garden season. No predation except the black snake. I have two LGDs to guard the flock. I don't feed any medicated feeds nor do I vaccinate or give antibiotics(never had to do so, but wouldn't do it if I had an illness either).

I cull older hens and any extra roos. I've also culled for being a nuisance bird, or for nonlaying.

I don't close up my coop at night. I use ACV in their water on occasion and try to feed a variety of grains along with laying mash that does not contain animal proteins.

I currently have 27 mature hens and 3 mature roosters. My flock is a mixed flock of dual purpose, cold- hardy, brown egg layers. I am currently getting 15-19 eggs daily with no heat and only a small light trained on my waterer to keep it thawed. On warm nights I turn it off completely.

 

I lost one adult chicken last year in the cold. I found her down in the barn whrn I got home from work. My (dumb) DH had seen her earlier, but just left her. I brought her into the house and she seemed to be doing better, so I thought she was just cold and we kept her in over night. But I found her dead in the morning. She was my favorite and I was pretty devastated.
This past summer we bought chicks and lost none, though I did have to nurse a sickly one with some antibiotics the vet gave me.
Now that I have so many, I am having a reality check and thinking about culling. I did sell quite a few off when they were younger and they may have been dinner for someone. But I am attached to the ones I kept, and I find myself in a conundrum. I have pondered the thought, but I don't think I could eat them myself.

 

Ive been in chickens for 10 years and lose one or two a year from various issues. Some just die, Snakes, Hawks, 1 egg bound in 10 years,racoons, possums and 42 to dogs. Dogs would be the worst enemy over all...Well I guess we have killed and ate more ourselves than anything if you want to get down to it.