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Joeyg119

Joeyg119

Hatching
6 Years
Jul 20, 2013
6
0
7
Hello everyone, I think I'm sick. I find myself spending countless hours with my chickens and need another distraction. My wife and I have had chickens for about 3.5 months now and both of us are addicted. We went from 11 hens to 32 birds and we think we have 11 roosters . We are planning on selling 6 of the roosters and replacing them with younger pullets. We also have a few older hens that I believe are not producing any more. I'm not quite sure on how to tell if they are or are not. If my suspicions are correct and we have eleven roosters that leaves us with 21 hens and on a good day we are getting 13 eggs so we would like to replace the old ones and roosters with younger ones. All and any advice on my issues is welcome. Thank you
 
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You have way too many roosters - if you have them because you want fertile eggs for hatching, the usual ratio is 1 rooster to 8-10 hens- so 11 roosters is way out of line. When you have too many roosters they overbreed the hens severely and may even end up killing some.
 
thanks that's what I figured, I'm planning on separating the extra roo's and either selling them or.... does anyone know the best way to see if your hens are still producing eggs since I work during the day and rarely see which hens are actually laying?
 
Welcome to BYC. Hens with enlarged, red healthy looking combs are generally laying. Hens with pale or shrunken combs may not be laying. Jus below and to each side of the hens vent the pubic bones are located. A 3 finger distance between these bones indicates that a hen is for sure laying, 2 fingers and she may be laying, 1 finger she is not laying - this is an 'old timey' method taught to me by my mother a LONG time ago. '1 finger' hens became Sunday dinner.
 
sourland said:
Welcome to BYC. Hens with enlarged, red healthy looking combs are generally laying. Hens with pale or shrunken combs may not be laying. Jus below and to each side of the hens vent the pubic bones are located. A 3 finger distance between these bones indicates that a hen is for sure laying, 2 fingers and she may be laying, 1 finger she is not laying - this is an 'old timey' method taught to me by my mother a LONG time ago. '1 finger' hens became Sunday dinner.
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That is great advice. I love that "old time" wisdom. I will remember that. Joeyg119 , welcome to BYC.
 
thank you all I LOVE THIS SITE! Lol and I did check one .... last nite lol, and she is indeed a one finger hen, at the same time I actually caught and marked two hens that were laying with wire rings around their legs. I am thinking on just cooping my extra roo's and feeding them for a few weeks until they hit maybe 6 - 7 lbs, what do you think about that. Is there any specific hormone free food that may help beef em up?
 

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