Life Span/ Egg Laying/ "Free Range"/amount of feed

[kglazier]

I have been pondering my feed to egg conversion ratio...

I have 15 hes about 1&1/2 yr. old.
I also have a roster, 10 pullets 3-months old and 20 2-week old chicks.

I am getting on average 4.5 dozen eggs a week. (I have found a market that pays me $3.50 a dozen.
I also give eggs to my parents and of course eat my share.)

My hens range on a 4000 sqft lawn.
I have been told I should feed my girls .2 pounds a day of layer feed. I cut that it half and feed is still wasted.
I also give oyster shell freely.

I know my hens are getting most of the nutrition from the lawn. I can't make them eat feed.
The egg shells are hard and the yolks are very dense and dark yellow compared to grocery eggs.

Several folks (at feed stores mostly) have told me my chickens should eat 3 pound a week, each, to ensure max egg production.
If I am not paying for much feed why do I need max production? I think I am better off with fewer eggs and 2/3 less feed cost.
So now I stared wondering, will not pushing a chicken for max production at the start of its life extend the # of years it lays?
If I just let the hens live off the land and only provide the small amount of feed they want will they lay for more years?
Is the number of eggs a hen produces limited by its age or does it have a fixed number of eggs it will produce over its life and then stop?

 

[centrarchid]

Area (4000 ft^2) is only about 1/10 of an acre which is insufficient to support flock you have for any length of time. Benefits is provides will decline rapidly and ground will be denuded. More ground, fewer birds or more supplementation will be needed.

Either your area calculation is off by a factor of 20 or the birds are ranging beyond your lawn for eats.

This time of year my free-range birds also cut way back on consumption of complete feed but will hammer whole corn when available. If birds foraging larger area than you indicated then insects and other critters are providing a lot of protein the feed otherwise would provide.

 

[kglazier]

they were ranging further, i put electric netting up because of feral cats. i can expand the range. how much space per bird?

 

[centrarchid]

Area required per bird varies greatly accordingly to bird nutritional requirements (size, age, production status), productivity of ground, plant community, season and weather. Thus it is a very difficult to question to answer especially when you consider the role of your feed.


Show a picture of the area to be foraged.

 

[kglazier]

6000 sqft including the edge of the woods. Around the back I am starting clover and will scatter some winter grass this fall over most of the yard. The metal building is sold and being moved. will sow clove and rye there.