Timothy Norton wrote:For those who keep layers, how do you manage your flock to achieve your egg productions goals?
I've considered adding new generations of hens annually or biannually but I don't have a basis for making that determination.
Do you just raise a flock of hens until they live out their natural lives, do you butcher your oldest hens or maybe something else?
Our egg production goals are home based for our family of 8 and 2 neighbors. I like to have 22-25 hens laying to achieve this.
Due to having a dual purpose flock, my selection process is ongoing as I try to keep the larger hens and a larger rooster or two for meat and egg production. There are other selection criteria along with that but the gist is to select the best from my dual purpose flock and keep the 22-25 hens and 1-2 roosters in addition to tractoring broilers a few times a year.
I use plastic leg bands to identify different generations and genetics. As we go through the broiler season and selections get made out of the new generations, I'll cull or sell or give away some older hens. The rooster culling is an ongoing thing because we have a very hard time getting along with each other once they get to be older.
I prefer to sell or give the older hens away. Sometimes they have only been laying for 12-18 months and need to go because of the ongoing selection process. I really dislike processing hens after point of lay.
I did separate flocks for eggs and meat but it became unnecessary once we got our selection process going and it is much easier to manage one flock. You can select from one flock and incubate eggs from your own selections. From what I have seen as far as hatchery chicks, they appear to be selecting more for egg production than meat unless it is a dedicated meat bird like the Cornish X or rangers.
I say all that to say if all I wanted was eggs, I'd get white leghorns and hatch eggs to replace them every 2 years ,after point of lay.
I will also note that some friends of ours handle this question through the dreaded "chicken math" which we've been fortunate to avoid so far.
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