Your oldest layers

[azygous]

You were very fortunate to be able to start your flock with such terrific stock. Most of us are forced to rely on hatcheries.

A thought just occurred to me. Could a declining quality of commercial feed affect the longevity of your genetically superior birds? Do you go out of your way to procure quality feed?

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Well, I dont have the old line of australorps anymore, werent allowed to export them to canada when we moved. Our chickens back in germany would only get whole grains(corns, oats and barley) with with freeze dried shrimp, whole dried peas and oystershells, no overly processed stuff. Here I cannot get anything even similar(unless I get the plain whole corn and oats but I think the peas, shrimp and oystershell are key parts) so I feed the commercial layer ration.
Diet probably has a lot to do with it, but at the same time I still think genetics play a big part, an old polish fellow I know doesnt want to waste money on "fancy" layer feed, his chickens just have the whole grains and free ranging, but after 2-3 yrs they are still burned out and either arent laying more then an egg or two a week or get sick and die.

 

[azygous]

Well, my oldest Wyandotte hens are 3 - 4 years old and not laying and a 5-year-old Brahma is not laying at all after she laid a series of misshapen eggs, the final one not bearing the least resemblance to an egg. That was well over a year ago.

The rest of the layers are young, but I told them to take the winter off this year, deciding not to add artificial light. But my EEs decided to lay anyway. They're all under three years of age and laying every other day.

They're all hatchery birds. They get commercial layer feed along with fresh veggies year round.

 

[Brandi Leigh]

My hens are youngins', they are all around 9 months old. Out of my nine girls I average 6 eggs a day!

 

[chickenfarmer14]

my oldest bird is 4 and lays around 4 a week

 

[suen46]

My 8 hens only give us 1 egg a day. 2 rocks, 1 red, 2 brown, 2 white hens.1 mixed. All the girls are under 2 yet do not lay. Laying pellets and fresh water. Free range for an hour or so every day. What am I doing wrong????

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Its winter and they need supplemental light to lay decend, also they may be molting like half of my girls seem to be doing right now. A birds production is linked to the amount of daylight hours, a chicken needs about 15 hrs of daylight to trick their system into laying.

 

[RWise]

One of my hens has a problem with more than 14 hours light a day, at 15 hours her eggs had a bump around the middle of the egg. I reduced the light to 14 hours and her eggs returned to normal. She will be 3 this spring and needs her rest at night.
My girls (the Roo's too) meat me at the gate/s first thing in the morning (the sun is not up yet, still dark out) and tell me they want out, and most days I let them go. My hens all return to the hen house to lay their egg, kinda funny to watch a hen come running to the chicken yard, over to the water grab a drink and into the hen house to lay her egg. "Oh, oh, oh, I gotta go,,,,,," And the Roo is about 30 feet behind her, and he often waits just outside the hen house, just like an expectant Dad! I give my girls lots of grain (whole), fruits veggies, toasted egg shell and oyster shell, what ever table scraps the dogs dont eat. No egg layer mash/pellets here!

suen46, are your birds (feathers) nice and shinny with bright red combs?

Ever watch a chicken steel a dogs bone? My dogs are very good to put up with it!