I wonder how chickens used to lay eggs fine without a healthy diet..?

[All4Eggz]

I think they could have laid that well on that kind of diet. The Ukraine is very fertile, with a pretty favorable climate, and a lot of farming culture. In grandmothers time (maybe still for people there), tables scrapes could have been mostly wholesome foods. Plus a half acre for 15 hens could have produced a lot of forage for them.

Effects of some of the nutrient deficiencies are pretty subtle. Whose to know if an occasional hen was lost to stress when a dog chased her when she may not have if she wasn't selenium deficient? Or possible the yard happened to have the right kind of weeds (some concentrate selenium more than others).

I don't know if selenium is deficient in Ukrainian soils but the concept works for many nutients.

Great explanation! I think you are right.
Ukrainian land is a thriving place for many plant species, and it is very suitable for farm animals. My grandmother did not have any other animals, other than a kitten who was found on the side of the road, and not long after, disappeared.Or maybe the practice was to replace the entire flock every year - younger hens lay better and/or some imbalances take a long time to show up.

Or maybe the practice was to replace the entire flock every year - younger hens lay better and/or some imbalances take a long time to show up.

Yes, the hens were replaced every 1-2 years.

 

[All4Eggz]

How do you remember the egg count in the UA if you were born in the US?

I was born in the U.S, but spent much of my childhood in U.A. Sometimes months at a time. We would visit my grandparents. We would visit at least a couple of times a year.

I think there are a lot of mis-remembrances of grandparents flocks egg production, what all they were fed, and what the overall annual productions were.

My mother and father also remember the egg count. They had to help sell the eggs, so they kept good track of the egg production.

 

[aart]

They would usually live for around 2 years, then they would be butchered

There's the key, counting 'fresh' layers eggs......along with the verdant forage available.

 

[Acre4Me]

And don’t forget…they were using native breeds, some that were possibly used to breed better stock, better production. So they benefitted from that kind of selection: the birds that did well in that environment reproduced more.

 

[All4Eggz]

And don’t forget…they were using native breeds, some that were possibly used to breed better stock, better production. So they benefitted from that kind of selection: the birds that did well in that environment reproduced more.

If I remember correctly, she had chickens that looked identical to Isa browns.

 

[Silexian]

My grandparents raised chickens in a more traditional manner. Their flock consisted of all different aged chickens. They hatched eggs from their flock all through the spring and summer. They kept their chickens in a run, only turning them out to forage in the afternoon. They fed scratch grains. The chickens and hogs got table scraps and all the leftovers from the canning of vegetables and processing fruit. The chickens also picked up small scraps when they processed their livestock. I don’t think they always got a dozen eggs a day. With their hens being at different laying cycles. Most days they at least got a few eggs.

 

[All4Eggz]

Most days they at least got a few eggs.

How many chickens did they have?

 

[Silexian]

How many chickens did they have?

They had about 40 or so chickens total. With about 20 or so being hens. Like most chicken keepers, they had an over abundance of eggs during the spring and early summer. Then production would taper off as some hens went broody, others dealt with heat stress, molting, etc. By having a mix of older and younger hens. Some of them were laying through out most of the year. So they at least got a few eggs a day. They butchered and canned all of their extra roosters.

 

[K0k0shka]

I grew up in Eastern Europe where we had chickens, too, and they only ate table scraps, corn and wheat (no free ranging, their coop and run had a concrete slab as the base). The layers were replaced completely every year or two, to keep production high. I had rosy memories of the chickens and their eggs until I found a childhood diary of mine a few years ago. My sister and I had various animal chores, including collecting eggs, and kept a record of the egg count in our diaries (they were more like journals of the day's events, actually). I was shocked at the low numbers! There's no record of the number of chickens, but my visual memory is of a fairly full run. Maybe the pullets and cockerels made it look full, and only a handful were active layers. We'll never know. When I was going through old stuff and found the journal, I also found an old poultry guide from the 70s, with whatever the most current poultry-keeping information was at the time. It listed leghorns as exceptionally productive at something like 150 eggs per year! I doubt our backyard mutts were any competition to the production breeds of the time. I don't know that time frame OP is referring to, but a few decades ago, chickens just didn't lay as profusely as they do today - anywhere in the world. Times have changed. Memory is a slippery thing.

People have lived off of chickens for thousands of years, feeding them whatever was available at the time (usually forage, scraps or grain), and they've all done fine. The difference is in the amount of eggs and the chickens' lifespans and health that we expect today, that's completely different.

 

[All4Eggz]

They had about 40 or so chickens total. With about 20 or so being hens. Like most chicken keepers, they had an over abundance of eggs during the spring and early summer. Then production would taper off as some hens went broody, others dealt with heat stress, molting, etc. By having a mix of older and younger hens. Some of them were laying through out most of the year. So they at least got a few eggs a day. They butchered and canned all of their extra roosters.

20 out of 40 we hens?!

That meant that each hen had a rooster.... I can't imagine how bald the hens were