Molting, Lose egg production every year for months?

[aart]

Ah, Yes....this is another of those Romance meets Reality moments....when you realize they don't produce eggs all year round.

Even if you get chicks every year, there can be a lull as the older birds start molting before all the pullets are laying.
Even if all the pullets are laying those eggs are pretty small.
It's hard to balance out your flock population and production with your customer base.

It's taken me a few years to come to a solution that works for me.
I only have 4 regular customers....and a few others for when production booms and I have 'excess' eggs.
Right now most my hens are molting and most the pullets are laying.
I am selling 'pullets' dozens....how ever many eggs it takes to make a 24-27oz (L-XL) carton...it can take up to 18 eggs.
My customers are on rotation 'rationing', everyone takes turns getting eggs, when I have a full carton, I call the next person on the list.
It works well for me, my customers understand, are supportive, and are interested to learn how 'real' food happens.
They either buy eggs at the store if they need them, or adjust their consumption to match the supply available here.

Winter lighting can help....and higher protein feed can help get them thru molting faster.

 

[robbiebobbie]

Very helpful information donrae. Thanks. I got my first chicks in June of 2014. Bought more chicks in May of 2016. Never had a molt, i guess, because my hens always layed eggs everyday until September of this year. Now I am getting only one or two every other day. I never new this about molting. And I never had this problem until now. So thanks again for your detailed info.

 

[Monguire]

I heartily concur with donrae's advice regarding adding a couple pullets every Spring. That seems to be the best approach for me. However, I just want to emphasize that as responsible chicken keepers, we MUST have an exit-plan in place to keep numbers manageable.

Every Spring we hatch some pullets...but with those pullets we also get cockerels. My current Roo is the postcard for excellent roosters everywhere, so I'm not looking to replace him anytime soon. That means the new-hatch cockerels are destined for the freezer, crock-pot or craigslist. I suggest preparing early for that eventuality. Especially if your flock are closer to pets than livestock. It is a sad duty but a necessary one...and even fulfilling in the case of processing. The awe and appreciation I feel when doing the sad task of processing my chooks is moving. This creature, which had as good a life as I could provide with wholesome food, water, lifestyle and care is giving its life to sustain me and my family. That's pretty profound stuff. At least for me.

Anyway, Chicken Math is real and can cause big problems for us Backyarders. Plan early and plan accordingly.

Just my $.02.

 

[robbiebobbie]

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree monguire. We have processed several chickens already. Planning on processing more soon. About Cockerels: Do you always keep a cockerel around? Since 2014 we have problems with the roosters taking the feathers off of our hens and then they look awful. Do all roosters do that to the hens or have we just gotten rough roosters?

 

[junebuggena]

Not all roosters will damage hens. Some boys just have favorite hens that get bred a lot more than the others. Other boys really are just too rough. Cockerels tend to be more rough, and have a higher drive. Mature roosters tend to not be quite as randy. Some boys need more hens than others.

 

[Monguire]

Do you always keep a cockerel around? Since 2014 we have problems with the roosters taking the feathers off of our hens and then they look awful. Do all roosters do that to the hens or have we just gotten rough roosters?

Yes, I always have a Roo. The right Rooster adds a wonderful dimension to Chickeneering. It's not without its drawbacks for sure...mussed feathers, bald hens, tyrannical protectiveness of his girls (is that REALLY a bad thing as long as it doesn't turn human-aggressive?), etc. The girls were happy before him and they're happy with him. The flock is happy and I'm happy to have another set or eyes/ears keeping an eye on the ladies.

A recent incident ensured that I'll always keep a good Roo around. A couple weeks ago, we had an evening storm that hit us quickly. It darkened the sky quickly enough that the automatic pop-door closed before everyone could make it into the run from the pasture. My Roo has always been great about herding everyone into the coop well before dark and we became complacent and slacked-off on our evening head-counts on our Orwellian camera system covering the coop and run. This was NOT the night to fail in our responsibilities.

Six hens were safe inside the run but four hens and the Roo were locked out of the run pacing/clucking frantically to get in. Had we been monitoring the cams, we would have heard/seen them and let them in...no harm, no foul. Sadly, the fox saw/heard them first. It was just past the point where the cams switched over to night vision so there was too little light for the chooks to see. The fox had no such disadvantage. We were able to rewind and watch the fox darting in and out of the fixed fields of view of our cams, grabbing a hen here, shaking it violently there, ripping out its feathers while it screamed/struggled before going limp from shock.

What does the Roo do? EVERY time there was a scream from one of his girls, he would run blindly towards it. More often than not he was madly banging into the hardware cloth or trees that were between him and his girl, but he tried. Eventually he did succeed in getting to one. It happened off-camera but we heard the blood-curdling screams of the Roo as the fox obviously got him too. The woeful, haunting screams went on for close to 30 seconds before the Roo also went silent. His screams alerted my 16 year old daughter up in her bedroom and without hesitation, she charged outside with a flashlight and scared the fox off.

This isn't the kind of story where I can brag that my big brave Roo took on the mean ol fox and whupped it's arse. It is the story about the Roo that did everything in his power to get to the side of the hen(s) in his charge to face whatever was antagonizing them. When he did get there, he got mauled and left for dead after screaming loudly enough to bring my daughter to his aid. My daughter saved three of the four hens that night. The fox didn't get the chance to carry off the young black sex-link from this year's hatch (RIP Squirtles) but sadly she had been dead quite some time and the fox likely just forgot about her. The Roo also somehow survived but it was touch and go for about a week. He was torn up pretty good and seemingly lost his will to live. He's almost back to normal now after a couple weeks. His crow is still a bit scratchy from the fox's stranglehold on him and his bald-spots are just now getting pin-feathers.

For a good Roo, some rough-looking, over-mated hens seems like a small price to pay for what he can add to the flock.

 

[robbiebobbie]

Sorry to hear about that awful incident with the fox. We had an incident with a racoon that ate it's way into our garage and ate our pullets. It was heartbreaking. So I know your pain. Thanks everyone for all of this good advise. After having chickens for two years now, I am learning so much new information that I must know in order to raise chickens successfully. I love raising chickens and I appreciate everyone's help!!!!