Rotating hens that are all the same age.

[Baker1181]

Advice for how I’m going to rotate my hens, I have 7 hens all of them were last may chicks. 5 of them started laying in the fall, I have two that have yet to lay and still have no physical changes suggesting they will start soon. I need ideas of how I should rotate these girls out due to all being the same age. I’d like to keep my number at 7. I know there is probably a ton of threads but most people situations are a bit different and I haven’t seen any similar. Any help would be appreciated on how to manage rotation. All my previous flocks were all different ages so it worked out. Thanks so much.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

By rotating do you mean culling some and replace them with younger ones?

If so, your birds are only 9 months old. I wouldn't be swapping out for another year at least.

What breed/s are they? I imagine you are feeding layer feed if your other 5 are currently laying. Is that so?

 

[Baker1181]

By rotating do you mean culling some and replace them with younger ones?

If so, your birds are only 9 months old. I wouldn't be swapping out for another year at least.

What breed/s are they? I imagine you are feeding layer feed if your other 5 are currently laying. Is that so?

Yes, culling them. I have no issue with culling and eating my own hens.

I wasn’t implying anytime soon, they got lots of egg laying life left in them.

I was asking for advice for upcoming future stuff to deal with 7 hens that are the same age on rotating out with new young ones.

Everyone is eating layer. They are the same age as the ones not laying, I’m not worried about it. They cluck around like the others. I attempted other food with fail.

I have a buff, black French maran, black cooper maran, silver Sussex, silver laced Wyandotte, cream leg bar mix and a barred rock.

 

[K0k0shka]

Just like they start laying at different ages, they'll also likely slow down at different ages as well, so you can go by that and not by exact age of the bird. When you get to a point where you aren't getting as many eggs as you want, do a butt check and see who's still laying regularly and who's starting to wind down, and replace them in batches instead of all at once.

 

[NatJ]

I have 7 hens all of them were last may chicks. 5 of them started laying in the fall, I have two that have yet to lay and still have no physical changes suggesting they will start soon.

Make a note of which ones are laying vs. not laying, and keep an eye out for them in the future.

You may find that the same two are slackers every winter, which might be a reason to replace them soon. Or they may turn out to be your best summer layers, if some of the others go broody and they don't, which would be a good reason to continue keeping them.

I need ideas of how I should rotate these girls out due to all being the same age. I’d like to keep my number at 7.

It is easiest to add new chickens in groups of two or more, rather than one at at time.

So if you want to stay at 7, keep an eye out for which ones you might want to cull (example: laying but not very well, tendency to be a bully or a victim in the flock, anything that would cause a specific hen to have special care needs.)

When one or two hens die from any cause, or need culling, count up all the maybes that you've been watching, and that tells how many new chickens to get at that time. If you are getting adults, buy the right number, cull the ones that were on the watch list, and introduce the new ones. If you are getting chicks, buy the right number, but don't cull the watch-list yet. If you lose a chick while they are young, you can let one of the watched ones stay around to keep the right number. Do the culling when you are ready to introduce the new chicks (whatever age you do that at.)

If you get chicks, you can also get a few extra chicks, then cull some of them (they are edible at any age, so eating them at quail-size or pigeon-size is fine.) Raising a few extra chicks lets you select the best of them to keep, and compensates for any that die in shipping or when you are raising them. Or if another adult hen dies while the chicks are young, you already have a replacement ready.

I know there is probably a ton of threads but most people situations are a bit different and I haven’t seen any similar. Any help would be appreciated on how to manage rotation. All my previous flocks were all different ages so it worked out. Thanks so much.

Once you have reason to replace some of the hens, you will have a flock with varied ages again, so you will be back to the situation you've had before.

 

[Baker1181]

Natj oh how I appreciate people like you more than anyone weather that be on online forums or in the real world. It is refreshing to see there are other people who just answer the questions asked or given advice asked and don’t add in a bunch of other unsolicited answers. Simple straightforward and to the point.

Many of us have had hens in the past, numerous flocks and advice or questions still pop up or even as simple as getting brainstorming ideas while I think about what to do in a situation I have not had yet during all my years of chickens.

 

[NatJ]

Natj oh how I appreciate people like you more than anyone weather that be on online forums or in the real world. It is refreshing to see there are other people who just answer the questions asked or given advice asked and don’t add in a bunch of other unsolicited answers. Simple straightforward and to the point.

Many of us have had hens in the past, numerous flocks and advice or questions still pop up or even as simple as getting brainstorming ideas while I think about what to do in a situation I have not had yet during all my years of chickens.

One of my weak points: I'm not good at giving short answers that are to the point.
But on the other hand, if you want a bunch of ideas to help with brainstorming, yes I certainly can do that

If it was helpful in this case, then I'm glad