Rooster's behavior affecting egg laying??

[Happy Novogens]

Lately I've noticed our Roo acting differently towards his 7 hens... Well actually just during special feeding times. Rather than doing his normal clucking to call his girls to the food, he's instead warning them away and guarding the food.

He does this when I offer their morning fermented feed and again in the late afternoon when they are let out and given wheat sprouts.

I first noticed this earlier in September (after we returned from an extended trip).
In each instance, he'll keep chasing them off until he finally starts eating and then the girls gradually come closer and eventually can eat too.

I thought he was just turning into a brat, but now that our triple digit heat has subsided, the egg laying has not increased as usual. I'm averaging only 1 or 2 eggs per day among the 7 hens when I used to get 5+ per day.

It's got me wondering whether his bothersome behavior is stressing them to the point that they aren't laying well.

Would appreciate any insight. Is it time to retire this roo and get another?

 

[sourland]

How old are the hens, and have they recently gone through a molt?

 

[Happy Novogens]

How old are the hens, and have they recently gone through a molt?

Half of them are 2 1/2 years old. One is 2 yrs (along with the roo). And 2 are 1 1/2 years old -- these are the main 2 that are laying.

There are a lot of feathers in their run, so presumably have been molting but they all look fully feathered (except for one of the older ones).

 

[sourland]

At 2.5 years old, the Novogen and sex link hens have passed their prime productive years. The 1.5 year old hens are still in prime productive years.

 

[Happy Novogens]

Aah. I didn't realize their prime laying would be so short. So you don't think it has anything to do with the rooster's change in behavior?

I guess I'll need to incubate a few eggs to keep supply up (and perhaps retire the older girls ).

 

[HollowOfWisps]

This is why every spring I add new pullets to my flock. Yours are at the age where they often stop for fall/winter and slow down their general productivity. Your 1.5 year olds might start laying again after they finish molting, but I wouldn’t bet on seeing an egg from the older ones until spring.

 

[Rare]

My 4-6 years old chickens laying more than younger chickens

 

[Ridgerunner]

I first noticed this earlier in September (after we returned from an extended trip).
In each instance, he'll keep chasing them off until he finally starts eating and then the girls gradually come closer and eventually can eat too.

Would appreciate any insight. Is it time to retire this roo and get another?

I have no idea why he would behave like this. It sounds like something happened while you were gone but this behavior seems to go against instincts. As long as he is not causing problems otherwise I'd probably not worry about it but I do find it strange. At 2 years old he is a rooster, not a cockerel.

It's got me wondering whether his bothersome behavior is stressing them to the point that they aren't laying well..... There are a lot of feathers in their run, so presumably have been molting but they all look fully feathered (except for one of the older ones).

They stop laying when they molt. Nothing more complicated than that. You are north of the equator so it is the time of the year the days get shorter and they molt. I'm a little surprised your other two haven't stopped. Unless they have already molted and are back to laying.

This is on general and on average. Each chicken is an individual and has its own personality and behaviors. But if you have enough chickens for averages to mean anything (you do not) a typical commercial flock of 5,000 laying hens will lay really well until their first molt at around 1-1/2 years of age. The commercial operations control lights so they manage when they molt. We generally don't do that so we rely on their annual laying cycle which is tied to sunlight and the length of days. After they molt the first time they generally come back laying very well for their second laying cycle. Then they molt again. After that second molt, at about 2-1/2 years of age, they will reduce the number of eggs they lay in the next laying cycle. The flock reduction average is about 20%.

Some of those hens will lay much better, some much worse, but the average drop is around 20%. A 20% reduction means that instead of a hen producing 5 eggs a week her production drops to 4 a week. In a flock of 5,000 laying hens that is a lot of eggs. It is enough that the owner replaces his flock with younger pullets and starts the cycle over again. Their profit margins are thin enough that the owner cannot feed them through a molt and with reduced laying and still make a profit.

I do not know how many eggs your individual hens were producing before they molted. I do not know how many eggs your individual hens will produce after they finish the molt. Some could continue to lay as they did before. Some could drop off a lot. With as few as you have each individual hen will have a huge impact.

This average drop after a molt is why several of us replace older hens with pullets every year to keep egg production up. My average laying flock is 8 hens so every year I eat the oldest hens and keep replacements. For me that usually means 3 new pullets.

The only thing surprising to me that you wrote is that you still have 2 laying. At those ages I'd have expected all of them to stop by November.

 

[sourland]

My 4-6 years old chickens laying more than younger chickens

As is the case with non hybrid high production birds.

 

[Happy Novogens]

I have no idea why he would behave like this. It sounds like something happened while you were gone but this behavior seems to go against instincts. As long as he is not causing problems otherwise I'd probably not worry about it but I do find it strange. At 2 years old he is a rooster, not a cockerel.


They stop laying when they molt. Nothing more complicated than that. You are north of the equator so it is the time of the year the days get shorter and they molt. I'm a little surprised your other two haven't stopped. Unless they have already molted and are back to laying.

This is on general and on average. Each chicken is an individual and has its own personality and behaviors. But if you have enough chickens for averages to mean anything (you do not) a typical commercial flock of 5,000 laying hens will lay really well until their first molt at around 1-1/2 years of age. The commercial operations control lights so they manage when they molt. We generally don't do that so we rely on their annual laying cycle which is tied to sunlight and the length of days. After they molt the first time they generally come back laying very well for their second laying cycle. Then they molt again. After that second molt, at about 2-1/2 years of age, they will reduce the number of eggs they lay in the next laying cycle. The flock reduction average is about 20%.

Some of those hens will lay much better, some much worse, but the average drop is around 20%. A 20% reduction means that instead of a hen producing 5 eggs a week her production drops to 4 a week. In a flock of 5,000 laying hens that is a lot of eggs. It is enough that the owner replaces his flock with younger pullets and starts the cycle over again. Their profit margins are thin enough that the owner cannot feed them through a molt and with reduced laying and still make a profit.

I do not know how many eggs your individual hens were producing before they molted. I do not know how many eggs your individual hens will produce after they finish the molt. Some could continue to lay as they did before. Some could drop off a lot. With as few as you have each individual hen will have a huge impact.

This average drop after a molt is why several of us replace older hens with pullets every year to keep egg production up. My average laying flock is 8 hens so every year I eat the oldest hens and keep replacements. For me that usually means 3 new pullets.

The only thing surprising to me that you wrote is that you still have 2 laying. At those ages I'd have expected all of them to stop by November.

Thanks for that response. I see the logic in eating the older hens each year and replacing with some new pullets.

My youngest 2 are the ISA Browns. They consistently lay an egg each per day (rarely do they not)... at least so far this year. All the others are not earning their keep.

On this thought, I have another question. Late winter/early Spring is ideal for incubating some replacements, but what about the meantime. Would it be detrimental to the flock dynamic to cull the older 3 or 4 already? That would leave the Rooster with just 3 (or 4) hens until the Spring pullets can be integrated. I wonder if that ratio is too small.