When to cull old hens??

[333113]

If they are ragged, they might be getting ready to molt. Eggs and feathers are made of protein, so egg production will drop during a molt. I agree with Mosey2003 on boosting their protein. They will probably resume laying after their feathers are "rebuilt." An adult chicken molts every couple of years, on average, but then they look quite good. I took my 7 year old hen to the State Fair right after she recovered all her feathers after a molt, and she won reserve Continental.

 

[333113]

My chickens free range a large area and are fed a little bit of scratch towards bedtime and layer pellets in the day. They also get handfuls of live mealworms and crickets once a week that I breed and raise. Also they have access to oyster shell that stays out in the coop 24/7.

I hatch out chicks and I recently had a chick with a couple of deformities and the egg was from one of the older hens. All of the eggs that I have tried to hatch from the older hens have either quit developing or the one chick who did live had deformities.

I was told it was a nutrient problem and that my older hens don't take in nutrients like younger hens do, so I need to get better feed for them that is higher in nutrients and things like that. But it only is with the older hens. All the other eggs I've hatched out from my other hens have been perfectly fine.

In my older hens, shell quality can be a problem. If you want to hatch eggs from an older hen, candle them to see how porous the shell looks. If the shell is thinner, the egg will lose moisture faster in the incubator, causing development problems. You might want to add more calcium-rich layer feed, or supplement with oystershell.

 

[333113]

Well said, @Eggscaping !
Are you a mediator in real life?

Wait a minute...this IS real life!

 

[Elmien]

My girls are pets more than egg producers so when they stop laying, they simply move in to retirement. I have a girl that is about 6. She stopped laying two years ago but she still gets her food, veggies and treats like the others girls. I feel that she worked hard to produce huge delicious eggs for many years and deserves her retired life.

 

[Banditschickens]

 

[Saaniya]

I don't support this matter I'm sorry weather egg or anything if I have hens and they stop laying I wouldn't cull it's hurting because elderly comes on everyone then it's not like that to kill them just because they are eating and not giving eggs everyone have their right to live so I let them live as long as they can ..this is the thing I call humanity they can't speak but they have emotions pls don't cull ur birds just because they are useless

 

[Nairy-sama]

Depends on the bird. I've had game bred hens that died of old age at 15 or so years, and still sat great and laid about 3x a week. I've got two leghorns that are both 7 years now. One still lays 4x a week and is a great broodhen. The other is not laying so great this year and has developed cataracts in both eyes. She's not completely blind yet, but when she starts having too much trouble she'll likely be put down. First chicken I've ever had get cataracts.

 

[Mosey2003]

While I agree to the recommendations of extra vitamins Andy minerals the weight of eggs is a first for me.
I have hens that are coming up on 4th summer of laying. I gave 12 large eggs from these old hens and 10 of the 12 hatched with zero issues. My chickens
are Orpingtons, RIReds, Maran, a few crossbreeds too. My roo that is with this flock is also soon to be 4 years.
You’ve got my curiosity up about the egg weights. You’ve given me a project to do this Fall.

The over 65 grams rule isn't an absolute, but it's a threshold where you can start to run into more trouble. It's great that you haven't! I mention it in case anyone IS running into trouble and can't point to anything else, then that could be it. What you'll get is chicks that either don't hatch, or that hatch but still have large unabsorbed yolk sacks. So if that's what someone sees and the only "off" factor is they're setting very large eggs, that may be it.

 

[CheekyMare]

I culled 25 roosters last weekend and we’re canning them today. I cull roosters when the hen:rooster ratio gets out of whack.

Hens, I cull when they start sleeping in places they shouldn’t or when I need to reduce the population. Or when we want to make soup.

 

[Shorty22366]

I don't cull my babies. But when I got them I didn't care of they laid an egg or not. They are my pets. I have 40 right now 37 hens 3 roos. I also have 8 6 day old chicks and 4 7day old ducklings and they will live their lives until they die or they get severely injured. I will never eat one of them. I will rehome extra roos. I hatch chicks and I sell or give them to people I know. People who won't eat them either.