How Do You Rotate Your Flock?

[LBejaran]

Hello everyone! I apologize for this long-winded post, but I kinda need some advice. My family has had chickens for several years now, but this is the first year that I personally have been very active in the raising of them. Since I took over (because I graduated from college and wasn't doing much in terms of work), we've had three hens successfully hatch 17 chicks, only 1 has disappeared into the creepy field beyond our land. Our other hatchery chicks (miscellaneous) were 9 but one also disappeared into the field. So, that's 25 chicks, all happy and healthy.

We already have about 20 chickens and 2 ducks. Of those chickens, 5 are roosters; the RIR is the alpha. The Naked Neck is his buddy; the EE is a lazy bum; the polish....doesn't do much of anything either; and our cute little bantam brahma frizzle is going to be used to breed our cute little silkie for chicks to sell.

Now, we have 2 more chickens brooding right now. One American Game mutt, She-Who-Has-Yet-To-Be-Named, is sitting on six duck eggs and our bantamn brahma mama (Mama) is sitting on a big Australorp egg. (If you're wondering why we have so many broody hens, I don't know. I just can't bring myself to put a stop to it. They already give us so much, it just feels so pretty okay inside to let them do what they want.)

Let's return to the topic, though.

I already know that I'm going to process at least two roosters in the coming weeks. That lazy EE and the Naked Neck don't really do anything (and my sister hates the naked neck babies, probably because she doesn't like their dad). The polish will probably be sold to my Dad's friend who likes weird looking chickens. When the RIR gets older and is replaced by some younger roosters (probably a smaller roo as well since this one is kinda heavy for my hens), we'll butcher him, too. I'm new to butchering, but it's something I have to do.

Now, this is the important part! How should I rotate the hens? Any new roosters will be put aside and used as meat birds. So, I'm assuming there will be about 13 roosters to process. But that means I'll have 13 new hens that will be strutting around with our older hens. That's kinda still a lot of chickens. So, how should I rotate? Do I process the older hens and let the younger ones have their day? Or should I keep the really good laying hens, old and young, and wait until they don't produce enough to pay their way?

For a fact, I know certain hens won't be processed. Brahma Mama is my Dad's favorite, and she's tiny, so she'll stay; the same will be for the Silkie and Frizzle Rooster. They just look too special to process, and I don't think my dad could handle blue silkie skin, haha!

So I guess I just need a little advice about this. I'm not sure how to go about this, but I have a bit of time.

 

[Mrs. K]

A good goal is to have a multiaged flock, with the idea that 1/3 will be new pullets, this years chicks, these will start laying in the fall and will lay through the dark days of winter, allbeit, smaller eggs. Now obviously you will start with a lot more of these as chicks, but when you make your final cut in the fall this is where you should aim for.

The second 1/3, give or take, should be hens that turned a year old this spring,(when most chicks hatch) they should be steady layers, and any one in this age bracket that is not steady should be out. Their eggs are larger, but they will molt, and have a period of reduced laying. A lot of people will sell extra of these layers in the fall, to people who want a couple to lay eggs, but don't need high egg production.

The Last 1/3, and this can be the smallest 1/3 is your 2 years old, going on 1/3. If she has been kept in your pen this long, she probably has traits that you like, and her eggs should be hatched out for replacements.

I have read of an interesting idea, one year you hatch out or buy brown egg layers, and the next year, you hatch out white egg layers, that way you can tell who is laying what..... kind of

Mrs K

 

[LBejaran]

That makes sense. The 1/1/1 ratio would work, especially since most of our chickens are currently only about a year old. Our first batch of hatched chicks will be 20 weeks in late September, so by then I expect to know which are males and which are females. As for alternating between brown and white egg layers, I wish I could. Unfortunately, I'd prefer to have our chickens replenish the flock over purchasing more. The drive is kinda long to the nearest feed store and these hens do a pretty good job of raising their own babies. Plus, they are all mixed breeds and they often steal each other's eggs, haha! What I'm hoping is that my EE chicks end up being mostly girls so I'll know for sure whether or not they are laying. And I am trying to separate different portions of our coop (it's been built into segments that just need chicken wire to separate them) so I know which chicks are which and I'll be able to tell which hens lay which eggs. As for now, I just have this big mix-and-match flock.

I think I'll try to incorporate some of these ideas. It's pretty hard keeping track of the hens that produce and those that don't, but this might help a bit!

 

[Mrs. K]

Exactly, I have been trying to get to this ratio for years...... it is a goal, a guide, not in concrete. Just when you think you are getting there, something like a predator gets a hold of them, or what you thought was a hen, is a roo, or what you thought would be alive through the winter, dies due to old age.

But you asked for some ideas, and this is a pretty good guide, but don't expect to be spot on. Right now I am at 2, 3 and 15 chicks - but fall, I am hoping for a dozen and a roo. We will see.

Mrs K