How do you know which hen to remove?

[veggiecanner]

How do you know which hen to replace when breeding in a group situation?
I am thinkng there must be times when a hen stops laying or has bad genetics.
And there are probably other reasons I haven't though of.
I am using colored zip ties on their legs to indicate age. But there is no way I would want to use up valuable space allowing a dud to just age out before replacement. Or is age the only way?

 

[Ridgerunner]

That’s an interesting question and not a real easy one to answer. We all have our own unique situations, not just number of hens but how much time we have available to be able to observe.

This link is pretty good with various methods you can try.

Pigmentation to Evaluate Laying
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Factsheets/Evaluating_egg_laying_hens.pdf

Part of it depends on your goals too. I hatch my replacement hens so I want to only keep the ones that are laying good eggs so I can improve those genetics. And I remove any hens that I don’t want to reproduce. For example, I’ve had a few hens with brittle feathers which can be genetic. Because the feathers are brittle, they break real easily when the rooster mates with them. They wind up barebacked, not because of the rooster’s technique or over-mating, but purely because the feathers are so brittle. I don’t want that in my flock so I eliminate those hens.

I want broody hens. If a hen goes broody, she stays around longer and I try to hatch her eggs and keep replacements from her to encourage broodiness in my flock.

I currently have a hen that lays a large blue egg practically every day. It’s a beautiful egg and she is laying practically every day. But I’ve incubated six of her eggs and only one hatched. They’re fertile but four didn’t even start to develop. I can identify her eggs by sight so I’ll keep her around until the end of this season and not incubate any more of hers, but then she goes into the freezer. I want fertility in my flock.

I also remove hens from my flock if they are a behavioral problem. What you look for really depends on your goals. Hope this helps some.