Time to thin the flock?

Mikee1948

Songster
8 Years
May 19, 2011
158
0
112
I'm down to three hens and yesterday, not one egg. At best, I'm getting an every other day egg performance, and it's rare to get three eggs. Two of the hens (RIR, sex link) are 2 plus years old, and one (Australorp) is 1 1/2 years old
 
Most of mine are molting now. I currently have 14 hens of various ages and 7 pullets that are just starting to lay. So out of 21 birds I am getting 3 or 4 eggs a day.
Yours are of an age that they should be molting soon too. They're not broken, they just don't lay eggs when they molt. After they get their feathers and rejuvenate their reproductive tracts the eggs will begin to flow again.
You probably won't have many days of 3 eggs from 3 birds except perhaps in spring.
They all lay like gangbusters the first 18 months or so and then slow over the years but can continue to lay for 10 years (except the sex link which will probably kick out most of her eggs sooner).
If one wants almost an egg a day from hens they should probably start with new birds about every 18 months and send the older ones to the pot.
 

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