We have 22 two y/o layers who have also produced 3 roos & 2 pullets this past spring. Therefore, we're feeding over 2 doz but b/c of some molting and days getting shorter we're only getting 3-5 eggs per day. How many (or all?) do I send to the stew pot to keep my feed bill reasonable and yet have a few layers to start off with next spring? Farmers around us say all should go to freezer camp and to start with whole new batch of chicks in Feb. But that means I'll have NO eggs next spring and only a few next summer. So how do I manage a flock for : a) egg production (they free range mostly and I'm against using lamp to simulate sunshine) b) not break my little bank feeding everyone over the winter months. All advice kindly appreciated.
Need to determine how many eggs you can use and what your average lay is per week when they are laying good. Say you can go through two dozen eggs a week. A good hen will lay 4 eggs a week. A great hen will lay 5 to 6. So lets just say you have fair hens that lay 3 eggs a week. If you use two dozen eggs then you would need 8 hens to keep you in eggs until any babies were old enough to start laying. Then if you keep a roo to keep the girls happy, that means you would have a flock of 9. Cutting your flock down to 1/3 of what it is now. Figure in that winter lack of light and temps will cut down on production significantly. I would try to figure out who is laying the most regular and who is your most prized birds and start by keeping them. We went from 152 down to 92 for the winter and it cut out a 50# sack of feed a week.
