Ange1 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Just wondering how many hens to put in the cube. I was also wondering about egg production. I know the egg production reduces after a year. If you're lucky enough to roughly get 1 egg a day from a hen, how does that rate 'lay off'?! Is it as dramatic to only 2 eggs a week in the second year do is it not as bad as that? I suppose it varies?! I'd like to keep the egg production fairly stable, ie I would be dissapointed if I got used to approx 30 eggs a week only to find that after the first year it reduced to 8 eggs a week! So going back to my second question if I put quite a few hens in the cube 6 - 8, after a year I'd not have as many eggs and no more room to put new 'layers' in and I would have to wait (how ever long hens live for) until I could replace them?!! Which is why I was thinking of only buying 4 hens for now. Does anyone else 'stagger' their hen buying for this reason? Any advise much appreicated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puffball Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 i've heard chickens live for 4-7 years and they have only just started declining in the egg laying after 3 years of having them...i think that bigger hens lay for longer but don't hold me to that... also if you did want them more for eggs than pets you could always sell them on or get them adopted once they aren't laying enough. personally i would never do this but my dad seems to like the idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 We have 2 pepperpots and they lay larger eggs in their second year, about 5 a week compared to 6-7 a week in their first year (although 1 hasn't laid for 9 weeks now The 3 pure breeds are in their first year of laying, so can't comment on them yet. Hybrids tend to live for 3-5 years, where as pure breeds live longer as they take a break over winter (mostly). It would be a good idea to add a couple of new POL chickens every autumn/spring, but then you have the problems on introductions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Some of my girls are 4 years old and still going strong. They lay between 3-5 eggs a weelk each, but that tails off in the winter to maybe 1 or 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 It doesn't tail off too dramatically - my original gingernuts are approaching 2 years old, and still laying every day; the adopted gingernut and speckledy who are nearer 3, are each laying 5-6 a week now, although over the winter they slowed down, and stopped completely for a few weeks. I have considered getting two new ones, just to keep the egg-production up in future years, but I'm not sure I have enough room for six and the introductions can be a bit hairy. I think having older, non-laying hens is just a fact of chicken-keeping - I would not dream of getting rid of them when that time comes, they will live out their retirement in peace and quiet I hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ange1 Posted June 1, 2008 Author Share Posted June 1, 2008 Please don't missunderstand me, I'd never get rid of a chicken just becuase it didn't lay an egg as often as it should! There are so many people who have said they will buy their eggs from my girls (and they're not even here yet!) that I was wondering about keeping up with the damand! The tailing off of numbers of eggs don't sound so bad as I'd thought. Also as I am not at all expereinced I feel that I would want to keep introductions to a minimum. so I guess the answer is get as many as I feel that I would like in the first place? Yay! Thanks for people's thoughts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Sorry Ange, wasn't meaning to suggest you would ditch them when they stopped producing! I think it was puffball's dad who seems keen to offload any non-layers (not that puffball supports that, I'm sure). I did set out with the plan of adding two new ones each year, but it means going through the pain of introducing them to the established flock. Because hens have an uncertain life-span I have decided to wait until, inevitably, numbers fall below four and then add two, rather than just doing it on a timed basis. I'd go for as many hens as you think you want - and then add two! It really is no harder looking after four than two, or six than four - and it's better to get them all at once to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I started with 3 chickens One died after a month. We replaced her about 6 weeks later, so one of the original three is about 2 months younger than the others, she laid loads of softies then stopped laying to moult, then went back to laying and is now in her sixth week of being broody! In March we got three ex-batts, we have never had more than 2 eggs a day from them, one has recently been ill so stopped laying and now one is moulting - no idea which one as they all still look a bit tatty! Then we lost one of our original 3 hens to a fox, she was a good layer too. A month ago we got three more hybrids, 2 of them have come into lay already but we are getting more softies than good eggs yet. It all seems like a bit of a lottery to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I have lost 3 hybrids at about 2 years each, & now have another one looking like she is going the same way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
