Readjust time after environment disturbance?

[Spiritof76]

My 10 Light Brahma hens who are about 8 months old were almost all laying daily. I was getting on avg 8-9 per day. I knew I would get some backlash if I moved things around and I did. I tore their nesting boxes up and rebuilt better ones so that they could have more room to move around at night. I also adopted 9 Blue Partridge Brahmas Hens (currently 5 months old), and as the pecking order was in place, the production slowed slightly. No big deal, production went back to normal a few days after this merger took place. Eventually a week ago or so, I introduced two light Brahma roosters to get things fertilized. The girls were constantly submissive each time I would grab them, so I knew they were ready. They did their duty for a few days and since then the production is down to about 3 per day. I have recently moved the Roosters out to let the ladies relax a bit. Through the process, there was no aggressiveness and over mating going on ( I kept a close eye on things). My questions are how long should I expect before production resumes as it once was and does anyone recommend more than 4-5 days for 2 roosters to mate 10 hens in order to expect a good fertilization rate? I am more concerned with fertilized eggs at this point, than to have eggs for consumption.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bobbi-j]

My 10 Light Brahma hens who are about 8 months old were almost all laying daily. I was getting on avg 8-9 per day. I knew I would get some backlash if I moved things around and I did. I tore their nesting boxes up and rebuilt better ones so that they could have more room to move around at night. I also adopted 9 Blue Partridge Brahmas Hens (currently 5 months old), and as the pecking order was in place, the production slowed slightly. No big deal, production went back to normal a few days after this merger took place. Eventually a week ago or so, I introduced two light Brahma roosters to get things fertilized. The girls were constantly submissive each time I would grab them, so I knew they were ready. They did their duty for a few days and since then the production is down to about 3 per day. I have recently moved the Roosters out to let the ladies relax a bit. Through the process, there was no aggressiveness and over mating going on ( I kept a close eye on things). My questions are how long should I expect before production resumes as it once was and does anyone recommend more than 4-5 days for 2 roosters to mate 10 hens in order to expect a good fertilization rate? I am more concerned with fertilized eggs at this point, than to have eggs for consumption.

Thanks in advance!

I got lost somewhere in the middle, but let me see if I have this straight. You changed their nesting boxes, added more pullets, added roosters then took them away. All in a span of how long? Not sure why the roosters were moved... (If it were my flock and everyone was getting along OK, I'd have left them) Chickens hate change. Every change that's made can throw them off. How long? I don't know - each bird has its own personality. But it can take weeks - sometimes even over a month - to readjust to any change, let alone how much your chickens have gone through.

 

[Spiritof76]

Thanks for the reply! I was figuring it would be a few weeks. Sorry if my thoughts were all over the place. It was late when I wrote. To answer your question for the reason I took the roosters out: It is because at the moment, there seemed to be a bit of over mating. I was keeping an eye on things and these boys were on a hen every few minutes. I assumed, but perhaps I assumed too much? Should I instead allow everyone to free range more often in order to keep stress and over mating down?

 

[bobbi-j]

Free ranging does give the hens more room to get away from the roosters if they want. Were your hens getting bald backed? Unable to eat, drink or dust bathe due to too much attention or chasing from the roosters? If not, I'd just keep them all together unless the boys start fighting. Then you may need to rethink things.

 

[Spiritof76]

So far so good. No feather loss, no stopping of eating or drinking. The roosters dont fight at all. I think all is ok, and the main damage done was the removing their original nesting box setup. I will check back in a few weeks to update. They are all free ranging as we speak!