? on rotating out laying hens

[pintail_drake2004]

Hey folks,

My wife and I have 21 hens going into their 2nd year (received Feb 16, 2017). I was curious when yall rotate out your layers? I know that they will be most productive their first year or 2, but when do they drastically drop off? My wife and I added 9 layers to our flock this summer, and I marked them for easy identification. I was thinking of this fall, butchering our 2yo hens and hatching out another batch of layers to replace them. How do you keep up production? I really don't want to keep chickens as "pets" if they are not producing on the farm.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Lots of different ways to do this of course. There are always different ways. I'll call mine a two year rotation. You could do a three year if you wished, just us 1/3 instead of 1/2 and adjust removing older layers accordingly.

Let's say you have decided 20 hens is your perfect flock just to get a number to work with. Every spring add 1/2 +1 pullets. Or maybe +2 if you fined that works better. Stuff happens and you don't always keep them all around. So add 11 or 12 pullets. Most will start laying in the fall, hopefully and provide you with some winter eggs. When it turns fall overwinter what you have left of the previous springs pullets. When they start molting and quit laying, remove the previous year's hens that have already been through a n adult molt.

So during the winter you will have about 10 pullets hopefully laying and about 10 hens that are molting. The next spring you will have the replacement chicks and about 20 hens laying. In late summer early fall when those pullets start laying you will have about 30 chickens flooding yo with eggs until you get back to your overwinter numbers.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I only have experience with Red sex-links as far as laying productivity.
I got 5 as day old chicks. They are 33 months old. All were laying by 19 weeks. I lost one at 23 months, due to egg bound. One retired from laying at 24 months, still have her to keep other two company. Culled one at 25 months, was bleeding from vent.
So out of 3 left, only one is laying. One other has nearly finished molting, hasn't laid in 6 or 7 weeks, and doesn't look to lay anytime soon. Comb and wattles are pale. A Pic of my only laying Golden Comet. .
So with sex-links Golden Comets. Health problems and a drop in production started to happen at 23 months of age.
Because of this experience, I don't think I will get sex-links again. I decided to get a breed this time.
I now have Barred Rocks 20 weeks old and have 1 of 7 that just started to lay.
From what I've read a breed of chicken like Barred Rocks can lay well (but not like a sex-links) up to 3 years old before dropping off production drastically. I won't know personally for about 3 years.

Another thing is the season chicks were hatched. My sex-links were hatched early spring.
Late summer or fall hatched sex-links chicks may fair differently.

My Barred Rocks are mid-summer hatch, so I will see how they fair. . GC

 

[aart]

I rotate my stock kind of based on winter space.
Neither I nor the birds like a crowded coop in winter.
I hatch chicks every year in late winter.
Cull (selling or gifting or slaughtering) all males by 12-16 weeks.
Older hens(~18-30mo) are culled before hard winter hits.
I do use lights for winter laying, not always effective,
it's not like flipping a switch-haha!
In 5 years I still don't have a 'pat' system,
gotta be flexible as the situation dictates and as I continue to learn.