- May 18, 2008
- 21
- 1
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My excellent little flock of Cuckoo Marans is going thru rather a hard patch. Here's the deal:
We lost several hens to various predators over about a six-month period, and one to illness or poisoning. I was down to 5 hens from my original 12 by spring. Then, we had three rounds of brooding and hatching and now I have the five year-old hens, a 20-week old hen who is just starting to lay (tho the shells aren't right yet), two five week old hens and a three week old hen (I think) as well as three five week old roos and of course, Old Nick the Daddyman.
The adult hens were stellar layers all thru the winter (partly I think because the henhouse adjoins the greenhouse and is heated and sunny during the days all winter) and spring, but now I am getting only one or two eggs a day:
-One has gone broody (wrong time of year and I am trying to break her of it)
-Two are mothering chicks. I figure they will come back into egg production when they are ready-that's what happened with the other batch in April--in another couple weeks.
-Of the other two, they are laying, but the one hen seems to be bearing the brunt of Nick's attention and her back is bare of feathers. I worry about this due to coming cold weather. I think trying to grow feathers is affecting her laying because she has laid every day like clockwork since early on and now is skipping days.
So, what to do ...
I am going to keep locking up the broody one away from the nests until I break her of it.
And I am thinking of putting the poor barebacked one in the tractor with the three little roos, which I am going to be raising for meat once the mother hen gets sick of them (I'm guessing in about a week). I thought that the hen is so much bigger than the roos she would be ok in with them, and she can take a rest from sex and from laying while she just eats broiler food for a couple weeks. I think it takes about three weeks for feathers to grow in. Is that about right?
Meanwhile, I've been segregating the old and new layers for a while each day with only layer mash to eat, plus extra oyster shell.
I should have nine hens going into the winter, which would be great. The youngest one won't be laying until about Thanksgiving, but if I manage the flock right, I should have another good winter of a half-dozen or more eggs daily.
any other ideas on how to manage these girls and get them back into trouble-free production?
We lost several hens to various predators over about a six-month period, and one to illness or poisoning. I was down to 5 hens from my original 12 by spring. Then, we had three rounds of brooding and hatching and now I have the five year-old hens, a 20-week old hen who is just starting to lay (tho the shells aren't right yet), two five week old hens and a three week old hen (I think) as well as three five week old roos and of course, Old Nick the Daddyman.
The adult hens were stellar layers all thru the winter (partly I think because the henhouse adjoins the greenhouse and is heated and sunny during the days all winter) and spring, but now I am getting only one or two eggs a day:
-One has gone broody (wrong time of year and I am trying to break her of it)
-Two are mothering chicks. I figure they will come back into egg production when they are ready-that's what happened with the other batch in April--in another couple weeks.
-Of the other two, they are laying, but the one hen seems to be bearing the brunt of Nick's attention and her back is bare of feathers. I worry about this due to coming cold weather. I think trying to grow feathers is affecting her laying because she has laid every day like clockwork since early on and now is skipping days.
So, what to do ...
I am going to keep locking up the broody one away from the nests until I break her of it.
And I am thinking of putting the poor barebacked one in the tractor with the three little roos, which I am going to be raising for meat once the mother hen gets sick of them (I'm guessing in about a week). I thought that the hen is so much bigger than the roos she would be ok in with them, and she can take a rest from sex and from laying while she just eats broiler food for a couple weeks. I think it takes about three weeks for feathers to grow in. Is that about right?
Meanwhile, I've been segregating the old and new layers for a while each day with only layer mash to eat, plus extra oyster shell.
I should have nine hens going into the winter, which would be great. The youngest one won't be laying until about Thanksgiving, but if I manage the flock right, I should have another good winter of a half-dozen or more eggs daily.
any other ideas on how to manage these girls and get them back into trouble-free production?
