Surely someone can do the math!

[joebryant]

Quote:
I thought that was a fairly traditional way of doing it....?

Produce some springtime chicks for eating in summer and fall, but produce next spring's layers in the later summer or early fall (depending on how late you can do it in your climate and not have to worry about half-feathered chickens in frosty weather), and carry only them and a few selected breeders over the winter? Isn't that sort of what you're talking about?

There are some disadvantages (compensated by some other advantages) but I don't think this is particularly unusual, is it? I mean for people who have practical chickens, not necessarily show chickens (the latter needing to be hatched early for fall shows).

JMHO,

Pat

Yes, that's what I'm trying to talk about, but I'm not sure about what I want to say. Will you please expound on your reply, applying it to your personal area and climate.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I have bbs Orpingtonsk, and, yes, they're bred for egg production... but not for large-scale, commercial production.

 

[chookchick]

Well my second year hens are my best layers! They were the first to start up again after their molts, and much more consistent than my first year hens have been. I can't imagine having to go through brooding and waiting for months for eggs again! Have you looked at all the different factors that could be affecting laying? Such as internal pests, feed, molts, not the best egg-laying strain, etc...?

 

[CARS]

I'm not sure if this actually fits in with this discussion but this winter I was feeding my 3 year old hens (25 assorted) and getting nothing out of them. They went to the soup kitchen on Saturday. What happened? 2 years ago, I took a year off from introducing new chicks. I have 25, 8 month old's that have been laying all winter long.

My plan is to add another 25 chicks in April. Continue to do that every spring and when the oldest flock stops laying, they go to the soup jar.

I'm done with free loaders. It's not a perfect plan by any means but I don't hatch my own so it's going to have to work

 

[Penturner]

Well with eliminating every other thought I have on the idea. the 'Math is actually pretty easy.
1. when do you want hens to start laying?
2. at what age do you estimate your particular chickens start laying?
start at the date from Number 1 above and count backwards the number of weeks from #2. this is the date you need your newly hatched chicks.
In you OP I saw a gap of about 4 months from the time you killed all the hens and when you needed newly hatched chicks.

this then brings up the problem of how to close this 4 month gap without simply getting rid of all your chickens and starting over every January. there is a bit of a trade off idea. that is to target hatching X number of chicks each month from say September to January.this way all hens are of age to be laying by March although some are as much as 3 moths older then others. this allows you to get the next years layers with fewer hens and fewer roosters. it also eliminates the issue of having your entire flock at the same age and vulnerable to the same problems. It is also more likely to dilute off and on production issues that chickens seem to like having. If you couple such a program with actually tracking the production of individual hens you can increase the production of your entire flock by breeding only the best layers each year. not always a sure way to get better layers but it sure beats the maybe I will get lucky method. In all i see a lot of pluses to this sort of system but not completely without negatives. jsut be aware of the negatives and adjust accordingly. at worst you have to order a bunch of new chicks.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:

Yes, that's what I'm trying to talk about, but I'm not sure about what I want to say. Will you please expound on your reply, applying it to your personal area and climate.

I'm not sure I can expand on it much, it is more a general impression of an old-timey way of doing things rather than anything I have specifically watched or taken notes on or done myself.

But AFAIK the main concept is that if you are going to be carrying some chickens over the winter who aren't laying much, they may as well be chickens with a future rather than chickens who are not going to lay real great and then going to be stewed in 6 months later anyhow. So, you might carry over a select few older breeders and perhaps some still-laying hens that you will eat during the winter, but aside from that, you cull all the others and do a late summer or early fall hatch timed so that the pullets should start laying in midwinter (whether you plan for this to happen in Dec or Jan or Feb probably depends on your latitude, for instance where I am it would not be realistic to expect pullets to start up til sometime in January unless light was added).

Then those pullets are kept til early next winter, at which point you may save a few as breeders or to carry into the winter b/c they are still laying ok but the majority go the chicken-n-dumplings route to save on feed.

I really don't know though, this is one of those things where I sort of have the impression it's a not-uncommon way for people to have done things (in the type of management where you replace all your layers at a young age), but I don't actually know anything really ABOUT it, you know?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[joebryant]

Quote:

Yes, that's what I'm trying to talk about, but I'm not sure about what I want to say. Will you please expound on your reply, applying it to your personal area and climate.

I'm not sure I can expand on it much, it is more a general impression of an old-timey way of doing things rather than anything I have specifically watched or taken notes on or done myself.

But AFAIK the main concept is that if you are going to be carrying some chickens over the winter who aren't laying much, they may as well be chickens with a future rather than chickens who are not going to lay real great and then going to be stewed in 6 months later anyhow. So, you might carry over a select few older breeders and perhaps some still-laying hens that you will eat during the winter, but aside from that, you cull all the others and do a late summer or early fall hatch timed so that the pullets should start laying in midwinter (whether you plan for this to happen in Dec or Jan or Feb probably depends on your latitude, for instance where I am it would not be realistic to expect pullets to start up til sometime in January unless light was added).

Then those pullets are kept til early next winter, at which point you may save a few as breeders or to carry into the winter b/c they are still laying ok but the majority go the chicken-n-dumplings route to save on feed.

I really don't know though, this is one of those things where I sort of have the impression it's a not-uncommon way for people to have done things (in the type of management where you replace all your layers at a young age), but I don't actually know anything really ABOUT it, you know?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

Thanks, Pat, that's pretty much what I was thinking of, and once I get my coops organized with my line of bbs Orpingtons, I'm going to cut back to eight hens and one rooster. Then start following the procedure(s) that you just described. Makes a lot more sense than feeding deadbeats for six months or more. Another benefit is that you also have the extra young roosters to eat during the winter, not just the older hens. I like that plan.