Really good thread. I concur wholeheartedly with many of the posts.
If your goal is eggs, and you aren't into feeding pets, and feed is expensive, I second to cull hens after the 2nd molt as they eat way more than they produce by that time. Some heritage type breeds stay more steady through the years, but generally they weren't your best producers and already are eating more than they give.
In my experience, the specialty breeds such as the blue layers and dark brown layers definitely noticeably reduce after that first molt and are somewhat very sad after the second. Your commercial lines lay like machines those first 2 years, but then are played out, often doing rather poorly healthwise as they were not bred for longevity. EE's can vary depending upon their mix, and backyard mix mutts often seem more steady, but still reduce.
Yup, about 4 to 5 years for a rooster's fertility. I plan to have another couple of years with my Barney (barnevelder), but a nice son hatched this season that has a lot of dad's fine traits. I will be keeping Barney junior in line as it often takes a good rooster a year to mature.
And yes, by all means get chicks now. My best broody hatches are in the November/December time period as the chicks are growing during lengthening daylight. With a purely natural daylight schedule, you will often see earlier layers that way, especially if you get commercial layer lines or are hatching backyard mixes...but even my heritage lines mature quicker when they were hatched in December-ish. I've often had December broody hatches laying by late March....about 15 weeks to 18 weeks.
I turn the laying flock over about every 2 to 3 years to keep egg production up. I have staggered ages so that I've got some in grow out, some in first year of lay, and some ready to be phased out.
Only one laying hen has gotten a free pass since she has endeared herself, and my brooding hens get royal treatment in the brooding hutch as long as they will brood, which for Silkies and bantam Cochins is almost life long.
And I've tried all the culling methods:
1. Axe...really messy, and I'm not strong or good at aiming, and hubby won't help. If you don't have a good grip, bird will run around spraying blood everywhere or it becomes something of a horror movie as you hack the poor thing to death.
2. Cone and slit, good for birds to be eaten, bleeds them out. But, if you aren't eating, very messy as blood tends to drip all over the ground (drawing rats in our area)...so be sure to have a good size bucket well aimed under every bird to catch bleed outs. And slitting the throat is actually a surprisingly slow way of letting the bird die. It can take up to 3 minutes. Beheading with the axe is instant death.
3. CO2 dry ice method (1/2 lb dry ice, bottom of bucket, some warm water, place lid, form big cloud, place bird, reclose lid. With first gulp bird is immediately unconscious, death is in less than a minute...usually 30 seconds). Other than the axe, this is probably the fastest method and least traumatic for the bird. I use this for sick birds that have suffered enough...but it is inconvenient to go down and get dry ice as it doesn't keep well (at all).
4. Broom stick method. This is now my go to method. Clean, quick, once you get the hang of it...and be prepared for the first try or two to be a bit sad for the bird as you choke more than snap (be sure to pull up to snap and be on firm ground and have a good grip as bird will flutter with involuntary muscle contraction upon death). I have an old broom stick always on hand for those times I need to cull.
LofMc
or else that would definitely be the best solution.
