Greetings from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

[MaMoyo]

hello

My name is MaMoyo and I have a backyard full of indigenous chickens including Boschveld which is a mix of South African, Namibian and Ndebele chickens. I am a newbie so to speak. Advise on how to manage my egg production for the Boschveld would be great as they differ with the indigenous who still have their mother instinct. I have 85 hens of this breed but don't seem to be getting 85 eggs a day?

I also have an incubator and hatch my own chicks. I live in a very dry area of Africa and with too little rainfall we have very hot temperatures of over 30 degrees.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC - great to have another African onboard with us!

I'm unfamiliar with the breed you mention, but I'm assuming, from what you mention, that they do not go broody (which is great). How many eggs per week is the breed expected to lay?

Assuming you are feeding them on a proprietary diet - layers food, for example and their coop / run has plenty of ventilation then the lack of egg-laying may be caused by environmental factors - in your case, likely the heat.

Here's a link that you may find useful - https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/788391/keeping-chickens-cool-in-summer-heat

There may be some folks on the SA thread that are familiar with the breed. If you type "south african thread" in the search box, you should find it.

Best wishes
CT

 

[N F C]

Hello MaMoyo, thanks for joining us. It would be interesting to see a picture of your birds, I've never heard of the Boschvelds.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Great to have you aboard and enjoy all your poultry adventures!

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under MaMoyo

Welcome!

I too would love to see some pictures of your Boschveld’s.

I hope you enjoy BYC. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun. Unlike non chicken loving friends, family and colleagues, BYC’ers never tire of stories or pictures that feature our feathered and non feathered friends

 

[RodNTN]

Hi and

I am glad you joined us MaMoyo!

 

[Percheron chick]

Welcome.

You will never get the same production out of your hens as you would a specialized egg layer like a sex link or leghorn. Your hens were developed to survive and produce on very little, be resistant to disease, reach market weight early and be decent layers 4-5 eggs a week. I would expect 65-70 eggs on a good day. Heat and lack of water will increase their stress and reduce those numbers. Things you can do to help them would be unlimited water, shade, predator proof shade when foraging, rotating foraging areas to reduce impact and parasite loads. What feeds or grains do you have available? Often giving a little feed will help with production.

 

[QueenMisha]

Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

You've had some good advice above. Lovely to have another international member.

 

[Flock Master64]

Hello MaMoyo! I'm Jacob from Michigan U.S.A. Welcome to Backyard Chickens. I'm glad you joined us!

 

[WesleyBeal]

Welcome MaMoyo! I can't offer you help - I'm new at this myself.

Just wanted to welcome you and say I miss Zimbabwe. I spent 6-months there in 2005. Lived in Harare, but did make a couple trips down to Bulawayo when I was there. Very dry is right, but it sounds like your chickens were bred for it.

Best of luck!