Such a venture is truly sustainable because the most important input, the seed stock , comes from the original farm. It hinges upon identifying the most productive females and their male offspring and using these birds to create a line that performs uniquely on the home farm. The Hogan method has been taught for decades as a tool to evaluate the layer potential of young stock and the continuing performance of production birds. It is a fairly easy method to teach, but is relatively labor-intensive, requiring each bird to be evaluated by hand.
The laying flock should be worked at regular intervals to remove poor performers and ill or injured birds. This ensures that valuable feedstuffs are only going to those birds that are most fully and profitably utilizing them.
The egg producer needs to be as serious about breed choice and performance improvement as the producer of fine Hereford cattle or blooded horses. If your flock is rooster-heavy, is filled with hens past their second year of laying, has at least one of every breed in the big hatchery catalog, or if the only culling is done by raccoons and foxes… the answers to your laying performance questions are being answered before your eyes! To become sustainable and to build predictable performance, the good egg producer must become a good poultry breeder.
For chickens? Yes — just try to keep in mind that this is still a lot less expensive than the going price for even the most commonplace feeder calf. Good feed is the fuel from which eggs are produced, and a thoughtful plan of nutrition is essential for chickens at all stages of development.
Hens individually consume rather minute amounts of feed daily, and their rations must be nutrient-dense and consistent in form. Depending on her size and breeding, a hen at lay will consume between 4 and 8 ounces of feed daily. Hens lay best when provided at least 16 hours of day light, whether natural, artificial or a combination of the two.
Some flock raisers use winter as a period of rest for their hens without supplemental light. We recommend using one incandescent watt or LED 3- to 9-watt bulb per square feet of coop space.
Coop Environment If birds are stressed, egg production may suffer. Stress comes in many forms — predators, over-crowding, aggressive hens, loud noises, too much heat or cold, poor nutrition and illness. Use these tips for keeping the chicken coop stress-free: Predator proof your coop with galvanized wire and add metal screens on doors and windows. Provide at least 4 square feet of indoor space and square feet of outdoor space per bird.
Offer one nesting box per four hens with clean, dry bedding. Separate hens if the pecking order becomes aggressive. Keep temperatures comfortable in the coop, but not drastically different than outdoors. Chickens, especially cold-tolerant breeds, can withstand winter temperatures without supplemental heat.
Boredom is a sign of unhappy chickens, and this could hinder their good egg production. Do not just let them stay inside their coops without anything to do. One way to fight boredom is to let them scratch around.
Put hay or torn pieces of paper inside their coop. Scratching would help them improve their metabolism, and this would keep them active and warm especially during winter. Another way to make them not bored is to give leftover vegetable scraps or pulled weeds from your garden. As a result, so that your hens have something to peck around their coops.
Too much noise and hot temperature could make your laying hens feel stressed and uncomfortable inside their coops. Poor ventilation could also make your coops susceptible to the growth of disease-carrying bacteria that could also harm your laying hens. Lighting programs influence egg size by accelerating or delaying the age at which hens start to lay eggs. The younger a hen is when she starts egg production, the smaller her eggs will be during her first year of life.
The start of egg production can be delayed by providing 10 hours or less of light each day to 19 weeks of age. Decreasing the daily hours of light at any time after 10 weeks of age will also delay the start of egg production. Skeletal size has some impact on egg size. Hens with bigger and longer bones tend to become bigger hens and lay bigger eggs.
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