Topic of the Week - Flock Development and Management

[21hens-incharge]

This can be a sensitive subject for some.

The desire when I started keeping chickens was to have a few for eggs just for us. In reality things changed quickly. I only wanted BA, hubby wanted something other then "just ugly black birds". I spent several years trying to get a few more BA. I got chicks and had the surprise cockerel. Long story ends up that at one point I had 42 hens and only 3 were BA.
We lost a few to unknown causes, a couple to egg binding and 3 to illness either genetic or from eating what they should not.
It was getting crazy. We live in a town that does not limit the numbers lucki!y. I however was getting overloaded. I sold several young pullets. Of course that was hard because I like my chickens. A very long winter with not one single egg made me look at the chicken plan. My original chickens were 6 years old. In reality I did not want to watch them struggle with aches and pains of age, the laying was near nonexistant and some of them were just mean as heck.
We needed a new plan.
I had birds processed for the freezer. I grew up with that being normal and necessary. My family was not as ok with it as I was.
It made room for a few new birds and I had a very broody cochin. Finally I got lucky and found a feed store with BA arriving. The tiny cochin did a fantastic job raising them.

To answer the questions ....

The plan is to replace hens when they are about 5 years old if their laying is very low.

Older birds will be processed. Personal and difficult decision.

I prefer to get chicks either by mail or local sources.

I have purchased started birds. I freak out with worry that they may make my others sick so prefer not to go this route. I just cannot get them far enough away from the coop during quarantine.

I do not think I will get hatching eggs. I am after all in town and already pushing the limits with so many hens. No need to end up with roosters. There are 21 right now and a few more coming in early April.

Who knows I may get drawn in by the cute chicks at the feed store too.

 

[MasAhora]

21hens-incharge
sounds a bit like my set up.
(First question could be - Purpose for keeping flock?)
A year ago we bought the property with 15 hens and a roo all 2+ years old... it was nice to get eggs, see them roaming and then it became about eggs, meat and knowing a good life was lived with hens hopefully able to raise their own chicks once before entering my pressure cooker. Now I am planning to grow to 3 flocks with around 60 birds in total on average for eggs and meat, but I have decent free range space of around a hectare fenced.

- How often do you replace birds?
My goal is 12-18mths of eggs, then she can raise her own broody batch then into the pot a couple of months after she weans her chicks. So about 2 + years. Seems a kind well rounded life to me. Excess cockerels or pullets not suitable to go into different flock set ups will go to freezer camp around 6-8 months of age. I have mostly DP and do notice those that are better self feeders from free ranging, it is a financial consideration I have to make.

- What do you do with the older birds?
Appreciate their meat and flavorsome stock. My family isn't so sold on eating older chickens but I have learned how to cook them properly and they help mitigate my costs/budget. I do have a favorite bird or two, they'll linger longer.

- When you replace birds, do you: hatch your own, buy local, order from hatchery, breeder, other?
Prefer broody mama but have bought meaty/DP chicks, so will continue a mix as my needs dictate.
I adore watching my hens raising chicks for the first time, feels like the circle of life and they teach the chicks.

- Do you buy chicks or started pullets?
Buy chicks but plan to stick with mostly broody raised chicks.

ETA:
- Somethings I Learned - The Hard Way
Illness, injury, predator loss can and will occur. It takes time for a newbie to transition from "pet" mode to responsible flock management mode (based on flock purpose) this requires some difficult changes in thinking and behaviour. Thank you BYC and OT threads!!

- Somethings I Learned - The Fun Way
Chickens have personalities they will let me know what is what, a chick learning to crow makes me giggle.

 

[carolinasculpture]

We started in chickens for fun, eggs and life lessons for our young daughter...now a teen.
Replace?
Well, we usually add 2-3 chicks each year...as they age, we usually lose about that many each year, too.
Older birds?
We affectionately call then Free-Loaders. They stay and grow old with us.
New birds?
Originally we would buy them from a local feed store, but then we got Mr. Cletus, a beautiful and extremely well mannered roo. Now we hatch our chicks. Found that if you are hoping for a boy, all your chicks will be girls. We have 6 from him...3 from each of the past 2 years...all are hens! Anyway, we hatch in an incubator as snakes ALWAYS find the babies when they are with a broody. But then we raise them in the living room where they get lots of attention. Makes for a very friendly flock!

 

[aart]

Agrees, good clarifier question, so I added it too.
(First question could be - Purpose for keeping flock?)
I wanted a small flock of chickens for self sustaining eggs and some meat.
Goal was to have egg sales pay for feed and recurring supplies, which has been well realized so far over 3 years.
Cost of facility and equipment was/is not covered by egg sales but falls under 'purposeful hobby' expense.

- How often do you replace birds?
New chicks every year.

- What do you do with the older birds?
Slaughter for food, or sell/barter/give away.
My selling them has not been very successful, either due to my area or my lack of salesmanship prowess.
Kept too many this fall/winter for my coop capacity, several reasons for not slaughtering last fall, won't do that again.

- When you replace birds, do you: hatch your own, buy local, order from hatchery, breeder, other?
Either artificially incubated from my own flock,
(playing with creating Olive Eggers from Welsummer cock over blue laying EE hens)
and/or purchased from hatchery via local mill.
Will probably get a new 'dark brown layer' cock this year.

- Do you buy chicks or started pullets?
I started out by purchasing a mixed age flock from another keeper, which brought in lice, leg mites, and respiratory disease.
Only buy hatchery chicks now due to the bio risks of other sources.

Anything you'd like to add?
I slaughter/sell/barter/give away all cockerels hatched between the age of 13 and 16 weeks,
just when they start making trouble and are still tender enough for crispy skin on the grill and fantastic bone stock.
I don't have room to keep them separate and won't tolerate the hormonal chaos and stress on/in the flock.

 

[happychickengirls]

I also have chickens that are now going on 8 years and still laying- I am actually adding 4 new baby chicks this year- will keep them separated from the older ones till they get bigger. I also will say that my older chickens are very dear to me- they have grown up with our family and they are still going strong! I have also lost a few to predators, sickness and just death itself! The babies I purchased from a online chicken hatchery!

 

[CrazedCowgirl]

- How often do you replace birds?

I'm almost to a yr of having chickens and now that we have our own property, my plans have changed from 6 hens in a backyard coop to almost 30 plus 3 roos and having to move birds a from breeding pen to breeding pen. Over the last few months, I've moved away from just having backyard layers that are mutt birds to buying breeding stock Orps and looking for the SOP and coloring I want in my stock. I only have 1 of the original birds I started with last April and she's my Blue Andalusian. I really do love her and she'll stay with us until she decides her time is up.

- What do you do with the older birds?

I just got chicks last yr but I plan on adding in new blood and stock at least twice a yr. Older birds will be slaughtered and placed in freezer camp for table birds later in the yr.

- When you replace birds, do you: hatch your own, buy local, order from hatchery, breeder, other?

My "pets" I buy local from either farms or the feed store. Breeding stock I buy from breeders.

- Do you buy chicks or started pullets?

I prefer started pullets but chicks or hatching eggs are usually more manageable and reasonably priced.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

_Purpose of Flock
Since 3 of the 5 in our family had gluten/grain allergies, I began a flock to maintain healthy eggs for the family. Also, since my daughter wanted to be a Vet Tech, we used animal projects to improve her skills (and I got to relive some of my farm life childhood again on a 1/3 acre semi-suburban lot which is still considered farm land).

- How often do you replace birds?
Since my focus is eggs, I generally replace at 2 years of age, no later than 3 years of age. UNLESS, the one or two birds which become sweethearts. This of course exempts my broody hens which are worth their weight in gold and are treated as the royalty they are.

- What do you do with the older birds?
I find at 2 years of age, there are a lot of takers for developed hens that still have good laying life left. Those that are special breeds (like my Marans and Rhodebars) I sell off Craigslist. Those that are backyard mixes or run of the mill commercial hybrids, I give away to friends for free. I have never had any problems finding homes for them quickly. Roosters either go to freezer camp (my family won't help process, so I put my lot in with a friend's) or are sold if a valuable breed or re-homed for free (if I don't have the time to process them and someone else does or just wants a rooster).

- When you replace birds, do you: hatch your own, buy local, order from hatchery, breeder, other?
I now prefer to broody hatch from my own eggs as I am breeding for egg color, though I add special breeds through purchased fertile eggs (the cheapest and safest way to go). Since I've only got 1/3 acre to work with (and the house has to have *some* backyard I'm told by the family), I am currently working with anywhere from 10 to 15 birds and hatch in small increments 2 to 3 times a year to keep the next generation growing to take place of those that will be phased out. Currently I have one Barnevelder rooster over a breeding harem of different breeds to vary the egg color. I've coordinated my projects so that I can tell at a glance by plummage what hybrid I've got, what age they are, and what egg colors I should expect (which has been working out pretty accurately).

- Do you buy chicks or started pullets?
Since we burned down our original coop to the ground (as in nothing left but camp fire ash and metal fixtures/nails on a smoldering heap) in the night, with no one seeing anything, by a flood lamp as we were integrating the hand raised feed store chicks from garage to coop (we'd had an awful cold snap the week after we put then in the new coop), I now only broody hatch or broody foster. No more heat lamps or flood lamps ever again. We've built a designated broody hutch with enclosed reinforced run. Over the years, I've come to the point that if an egg won't hatch or a chick can't survive with my broodies, then that's the risk of farm life. With a small flock on small acreage, I keep for sustainability and have learned to not intervene. I won't risk burning the house down with another integration disaster. (BTW, my broodies are excellent at keeping chicks alive and integrating them into the flock, especially with my fine rooster watching over all of them.)

I also occasionally purchase some good quality started pullets from breeders to improve my flock (as I purposely work through the breeds to see which fit my purposes best...always with proper isolation and integration), and I have added to my flock with feed store chicks using my broodies to foster (which can be trickier as the silly hatchery chicks often don't know to stay with mom for warmth and are less hardy than my backyard hatches).

Anything you'd like to add?
Understand the goals for YOUR flock and make effort to stick to them, at least through that year/breeding cycle. Goals can be different from year to year. Be aware when your goals shift and make adjustments as needed. Be happy with what you do with your flock.If it is becoming too much of a hassle, then cut back (egg sales can drive you to over work with customer pressures). Unless you are doing this for a living, keep it fun.

Really make effort to avoid chicken math if you are working with small field size. Over crowding and over populated coops and fields is a recipe for disease.

If you are working for sustainability of your flock (versus pets), then cull, cull, cull, anything that can't keep up on its own (assuming good husbandry). I have tried to "save' hatches and birds only to regret it later. You don't want to breed forward their weaknesses and the weaker birds act as disease vectors to the rest of the flock.

Have fun with your flock

LofMc

 

[countrydog54]

This is more of a question. If we have 12 laying hens now (and one fat rooster) and we want to expand by adding some chicks, what is the best way to safely introduce the new chicks to the rest of the flock?

 

[diane3744]

Hi, not sure how to post on here to the right place. Confusion regarding how to ask a question to everyone. I got a French Black Copper Maran last spring and she started laying about 6-7 weeks ago. I got an egg about every other day and once in awhile each day. Then all of a sudden she stopped. The weather is actually warmer now in the 30's to 40's. Before it was beliw freezing but i had a heater so basically she is in the same weather environment. Cant figure out why she suddenly stopped. I know new layers are irregular at first nut she wasnt. She was a started pullet too when i got her. The other hens i got atsame time are still laying. Any ideas? She is very healthy and hss proper lighting as well. Thanks.

 

[lazy gardener]

Brood them in the coop in a separate area with a heating pad brooder, and let them mingle with the flock when they are about 3 weeks old, being sure they can come and go from their brooder, but the big birds can't get into their brooder. You will need MORE than 4 s.f./bird in the coop, and 10 s.f. in the run/bird including chicks to integrate multi age birds without aggression issues IMO. Ideally, they should have their first meetings when out free ranging.