Granny's gone and done it again

[Granny Hatchet]

I have some sheet food grade stainless steel that I think I can make a 3-4 chicken stand to grill chickens at a time on a cylinder holding apple juice or what ever beverage we decide to use. I like Mojo Chicken done on the grill.

what is mojo chicken?

 

[Granny Hatchet]

We have 20 chicks coming on Wednesday. Nothing like Larry's scale, but 8 Cornish and 12 layers. Six for blue eggs, six brown. In 8 weeks we should have 16 in the freezer, counting 8 old stew birds. We'll see who's laying this spring.

how old are the ones you will dispatch?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

how old are the ones you will dispatch?

Most are at least three years old. Some may be four years old or very close to it.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Most are at least three years old. Some may be four years old or very close to it.

how often does a 3 yr old hen lay? About...

 

[Nomadicus]

We have 20 chicks coming on Wednesday. Nothing like Larry's scale, but 8 Cornish and 12 layers. Six for blue eggs, six brown. In 8 weeks we should have 16 in the freezer, counting 8 old stew birds. We'll see who's laying this spring.

My money is on the brown egg layers. I bought 44 RIR pullets and 6 roos a year ago in Sept. The pullets started laying in 17 weeks and only laid very few small eggs. Lots of extra large to jumbo and larger very young. Cold weather never slowed them down. They are still laying better than any of the others. I've sold some of them off and lost some to a predator and 3 died of natural causes and out of 24 hens I'm getting 18-20 eggs a day. I hatched some of their eggs and have 15 pullets laying now from them and they never laid a pullet egg. Medium eggs to start and now extra large. usually 12 a day and I got 14 one day.

 

[Nomadicus]

how often does a 3 yr old hen lay? About...

Depends on the breed.........

 

[Nomadicus]

Granny most factory farms with high production layers send them off to work at a soup kitchen when they start their first molt. For them it is cheaper to start a new batch of hens laying and always have a steady flow of eggs for the consumer. That's what I've read in farm arthicle.

 

[Nomadicus]

Barred rocks are one of the longest lived laying hens. Still by the end of their 4th year most all of the eggs they were born with have been laid. Now they are good pets.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

how often does a 3 yr old hen lay? About...

I have no idea. I have no way of tracking who's laying and who isn't. I have 20 hens and right now am getting 3 to 5 eggs a day. Some are still molting. And ... the days are short.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Probably not often. The write-up for the Prairie Bluebells I ordered says they will lay 240 to 280 eggs a year. It also says they should lay about 500 eggs in their lifetime. Obviously if you do the math, they will have laid all 500 eggs by the end of their second year.