Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Thought I'd start a thread about goals for a homestead flock...at least, my goals, and I assume the goals for many who are trying to produce food on the homestead. Chickens are a big part of that here, as they are our only livestock right now.
Last year I didn't keep track of egg numbers, though I wish I had. This flock has been my most productive flock thus far in 40+ yrs of keeping chickens, not to mention they also stopped in the spring~at least some of them~to produce some meat and flock replacements. My hatch rate was dismal this past year but I think I may have found the problem and it shouldn't affect next year's hatch.
My new pullets(3 pullets of mixed breed produced in this spring's hatches)are starting to lay and it's right on time for them~before, on or right after the 6 mo. mark. That's the timeline I shoot for in my flocks for maturity in hens....anything more and one is feeding a hen that is not producing when others are, which already makes her a cull. Why feed a hen that is slow to produce when you can breed and keep hens that produce at the normal time?
On the other hand, I wouldn't want a precocious producer that starts at 4-5 mo. either, as they tend to burn out earlier in their laying life and not just by those months but by years. That's why most breeders shoot for that magic 6 mo. POL, as it seems to indicate that hen will be a good and steady layer for a long time...at least, that's the theory. I'm sure results may vary.
Anyhoo, one has to shoot for some kind of standard when wanting to keep good production rates, be it in eggs or meat, so it may as well be that average POL age of 6 mo. The predominate breed in my flock is White Rock and all the mixes are from my WR male and my WRs all seem to hit that mark of 6 mo., though I've heard from WR breeders of their birds not quite making that average and maturing later at 7-9 mo.
So far, a full third of my flock are resuming laying, which is rather remarkable for me, even with new pullets coming into POL, and that number seems to increase each day this week. Usually my flock will take a bit of a break from molt to mid to late Dec. and then resume laying. One of the hens who have resumed is 6 yr. old, so not too shabby for an old lady.
As of yesterday and today, I'm getting 6 eggs per day and that may increase as time goes along. I had saved back eggs from August, Sept, and Oct before the flock went on hiatus, but now I need to start purging those eggs out to family to make room for the influx of fresh eggs...who knew? I'm happy about it, but it sure was unexpected this soon.
As spring rolls around, I'll document hatches for meat and flock replacement here and hope to hear from everyone else on the same.
What methods do you use to keep production up~breed selection, breeding for certain traits, culling for certain traits or trends, feeding for production, a holistic approach encompassing many methods, etc.?
Last year I didn't keep track of egg numbers, though I wish I had. This flock has been my most productive flock thus far in 40+ yrs of keeping chickens, not to mention they also stopped in the spring~at least some of them~to produce some meat and flock replacements. My hatch rate was dismal this past year but I think I may have found the problem and it shouldn't affect next year's hatch.
My new pullets(3 pullets of mixed breed produced in this spring's hatches)are starting to lay and it's right on time for them~before, on or right after the 6 mo. mark. That's the timeline I shoot for in my flocks for maturity in hens....anything more and one is feeding a hen that is not producing when others are, which already makes her a cull. Why feed a hen that is slow to produce when you can breed and keep hens that produce at the normal time?
On the other hand, I wouldn't want a precocious producer that starts at 4-5 mo. either, as they tend to burn out earlier in their laying life and not just by those months but by years. That's why most breeders shoot for that magic 6 mo. POL, as it seems to indicate that hen will be a good and steady layer for a long time...at least, that's the theory. I'm sure results may vary.
Anyhoo, one has to shoot for some kind of standard when wanting to keep good production rates, be it in eggs or meat, so it may as well be that average POL age of 6 mo. The predominate breed in my flock is White Rock and all the mixes are from my WR male and my WRs all seem to hit that mark of 6 mo., though I've heard from WR breeders of their birds not quite making that average and maturing later at 7-9 mo.
So far, a full third of my flock are resuming laying, which is rather remarkable for me, even with new pullets coming into POL, and that number seems to increase each day this week. Usually my flock will take a bit of a break from molt to mid to late Dec. and then resume laying. One of the hens who have resumed is 6 yr. old, so not too shabby for an old lady.
As of yesterday and today, I'm getting 6 eggs per day and that may increase as time goes along. I had saved back eggs from August, Sept, and Oct before the flock went on hiatus, but now I need to start purging those eggs out to family to make room for the influx of fresh eggs...who knew? I'm happy about it, but it sure was unexpected this soon.
As spring rolls around, I'll document hatches for meat and flock replacement here and hope to hear from everyone else on the same.
What methods do you use to keep production up~breed selection, breeding for certain traits, culling for certain traits or trends, feeding for production, a holistic approach encompassing many methods, etc.?
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