Hello from Holton, Ks

[Jason Hill]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting your eggs. What kind of hens do you have?

I have White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, Americanas, Australorps, Buff Orpintons, and Plymouth Rocks.

 

[drumstick diva]

AH HA that's it. You need red sex links to increase production - they usually burn out at two years - so you would need to be replacing often - but, they will deliver!!

 

[Jason Hill]

Hello

and Welcome To BYC! You might like to post in the Managing your flock forum https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/2/managing-your-flock How old are your older laying birds that you aren't happy with and what breeds are they? What are you feeding them, & protein% wise?
Have you gone over your girls to try and figure out if there are a lot of them not laying that many eggs a week or if you have some just not laying and some laying well http://afspoultry.ca.uky.edu/files/pubs/Evaluating_egg_laying_hens.pdf
You might want to put out "hidden" nests with a few fake eggs that you collect from as usual ... with free range birds it is always a battle to keep them from hiding eggs and if you give them places to "hide" eggs it seems to keep them happy and you know where the eggs are, old dog houses, 5 gal buckets, trash cans etc anything that would look inviting to a hen.
Unfortunately moving hens to a new home often stops them laying, for a few weeks or months or even longer if they go into molt.

The hens that I am not happy with their laying are the new ladies to the flock. I was told they were born in spring 2013. They are Black Australorps, Buff Orpingtons and I believe Plymouth Rocks. I have had them over a month now. I expected them to not lay for a few weeks to get used the move, but figured they should be laying about 80% productivity by now. I let my hens free-range and let them feed free choice with a mix of cracked corn and 17% layer crumbles. I tried to figure which hens are not laying by placing finger between pubic bones, but it is very difficult to catch free-range hens! I also do not want to cause any more stress to the flock by catching hens. I have put out some "hidden" nests. If I find a hidden nest and it is easy to collect eggs from, I try to encourage laying by placing pine wood shavings and keeping area hidden. I have 3 "hidden" nests that I regularly collect from, but not sure if there are other hidden nests I don't know about.

 

[Jason Hill]

AH HA that's it. You need red sex links to increase production - they usually burn out at two years - so you would need to be replacing often - but, they will deliver!!

The hens that I have over 2 years of age are my White Leghorns and they are my best layers still. I can easily check production levels by counting number of white eggs. I know my brown egg count is down compared to the number of brown egg layers I have. The ladies that are laying brown eggs are a month new to the flock and my 22 week old hens. I can easily check the brown egg size and determine which hens they are coming from, which would indicate they are coming from my new ladies. I have 22 new ladies; but I am not sure which are not laying. Wondering is a month is long enough to let them get used to the "old" flock?

 

[Michael OShay]

The hens that I have over 2 years of age are my White Leghorns and they are my best layers still. I can easily check production levels by counting number of white eggs. I know my brown egg count is down compared to the number of brown egg layers I have. The ladies that are laying brown eggs are a month new to the flock and my 22 week old hens. I can easily check the brown egg size and determine which hens they are coming from, which would indicate they are coming from my new ladies. I have 22 new ladies; but I am not sure which are not laying. Wondering is a month is long enough to let them get used to the "old" flock?

If your main goal is egg production, White Leghorns were definitely the way to go for white eggs, but for brown eggs, you need to get some Black or Red Sex Links. The White Leghorns and the Sex Links are the layers used by commercial laying houses, with good reason--they are egg laying machines, consistently churning out over 300 eggs per year. Sex Links are hybrids produced by crossing red gene roosters with either barred gene hens (which gives you Black Sex Links) or with silver gene hens (which gives you Red Sex Links), and they are considerably better layers than either parent breed (one of the interesting quirks of hybridization). They are sold by hatcheries under a lot of different labels (Black Stars & Bovans Nera for BSLs; Red Stars, Brown Sex Link, Gold Sex Link, Cinnamon Queen, Bovans Brown, Golden Buff, Golden Comet, Hubbard Golden Comet, Isa Brown, Babcock Brown, Warrens, Hylines, Gold Lines, Lohmans, Lohmans Brown, etc. for RSL), which can be confusing, but there are really only two varieties, Black and Red. I've had both varieties, and personally I prefer the Blacks as mine have been friendlier than my Reds, and have laid slightly better in really cold winter weather like you have in Kansas (I lived for a while in northern Kansas). But no matter which Sex Link variety you have, they are all egg laying machines.

 

[Jason Hill]

If your main goal is egg production, White Leghorns were definitely the way to go for white eggs, but for brown eggs, you need to get some Black or Red Sex Links. The White Leghorns and the Sex Links are the layers used by commercial laying houses, with good reason--they are egg laying machines, consistently churning out over 300 eggs per year. Sex Links are hybrids produced by crossing red gene roosters with either barred gene hens (which gives you Black Sex Links) or with silver gene hens (which gives you Red Sex Links), and they are considerably better layers than either parent breed (one of the interesting quirks of hybridization). They are sold by hatcheries under a lot of different labels (Black Stars & Bovans Nera for BSLs; Red Stars, Brown Sex Link, Gold Sex Link, Cinnamon Queen, Bovans Brown, Golden Buff, Golden Comet, Hubbard Golden Comet, Isa Brown, Babcock Brown, Warrens, Hylines, Gold Lines, Lohmans, Lohmans Brown, etc. for RSL), which can be confusing, but there are really only two varieties, Black and Red. I've had both varieties, and personally I prefer the Blacks as mine have been friendlier than my Reds, and have laid slightly better in really cold winter weather like you have in Kansas (I lived for a while in northern Kansas). But no matter which Sex Link variety you have, they are all egg laying machines.

Thank you for the advice. I do have a few Red Stars and Hylines. Maybe for my next batch of chicks I will get Red or Black Sex Links. I was also wanting an easy way to identify different age of my hens and was thinking having each batch of chicks be a different color, so this should accomplish both goals. Is there a study or something showing egg production of different breeds/cross breeds of laying hens? I only free-range, so they would also need to be hardy hens to with stand Kansas weather.

 

[ronmauldin]

Welcome from the Ocean State!

 

[Jason Hill]

Welcome from the Ocean State!

Thank you! Have been to Rhode Island once. Went to hike (walk) to Jerimoth Hill! Beautiful state for the small part of the state that I saw.

 

[ronmauldin]

Even if you saw it all, it's still small

 

[Michael OShay]

Is there a study or something showing egg production of different breeds/cross breeds of laying hens? I only free-range, so they would also need to be hardy hens to with stand Kansas weather.

I have researched the internet for exactly that, but apparently the laying houses don't publish those kind of things for the public to read (It might be possible to contact them and get some private information). I have located a couple of charts which might give some indication of the information you are looking for. The first chart (from http://www.byexample.net/library/il...ns_production/chicken_production_by_breed.jpg) shows an annual comparison of the lay rates of White Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds. Since the Sex Links outlay their RIR parents, the numbers should be better for the Sex Links, and indeed, that can be substantiated by the second chart (http://www.scielo.br/img/revistas/abmvz/v60n3/33t3.gif) which compares the lay rates of Hyline W98s and Isa Browns (two labels under which Red Sex Links are marketed). I haven't found any specific charts for Black Sex Links, but Murray McMurray, which breeds hundreds of Black and Red Sex Links every year, has stated that the laying rate of Black and Red Sex Links is equivalent (http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/faqwhichbreedlaysbetterredstar.html). Actually as I stated previously, my Blacks have slightly outlayed my Reds in very cold winter weather. As far as cold hardy, both varieties of Sex Links are considerably cold hardier birds than White Leghorns. Hope this helps.