Planning ahead for the Chicken Flock

[Mortblanc]

Check with the hatcheries and breeders. Over here we can have chicks shipped in boxes "next day air" and you get them one day old. You can have any breed you desire in 24 hours after the hatch.

I have never found anyone willing to part with grown, productive birds.

I have raised a clutch of black Astrolops, which are a breed derived from the Orpington stock. They hold the world record for egg production by a single flock. They have also held up well in my bitter cold winters so they should be good for your climate. They are a small hen with black iridescent feathers that glow blue/green in the sunlight.

I have found that my birds go broody as soon as the temps warm up to 75f-80f degrees the first summer after they turn 1 year old. If you do not let them hatch a clutch they will go broody every two or three months and sit on an empty nest for a month. When they go broody their egg production does not slow, IT STOPS COMPLETELY!

They have been good mothers and I have never lost a chick due to hen neglect. They also seem to adopt new chicks into the flock and forget who the mother was. And keep in mind that good mothers think that is their purpose in life. They will go broody often and stay that way.

I would suggest you mix your flock with a couple of the hens of a breed for hatching chicks and the rest for their continued egg production. Two broods of 12-15 eggs a year will sustain your flock and you do not need 15 hens all going broody on you.

My rooster was a full yellow Orp, so I have raised two clutches of mixed breed hens that have produced well also.

If you are used to rescue birds it will take some adjustments to raise chicks. Three months to killing time, six months before your first eggs, broody after a year, molt at two years, cold weather/short daylight shock (stopping egg production). And all the while you are still feeding them, protecting them and worrying over them. When a chick lays her first egg it is worth about 25pounds, since you have been feeding them for half a year.

If you pen them you must supply every morsel of food and if you let them free range you have predators that dip into the flock on a regular basis. You will have better eggs, but you will not save money on them, but you already know that.

As for being inclined to eat from the flock??? What do you intend to do with the 50% of your hatchlings that are male? And that is out of every clutch! You want 10 new hens to fill out the flock, you are going to hatch out 20 eggs to get them and half will be male.

You can't have 15-20 roosters running around going crazy and driving everyone nuts. Much better to have a big killing at 12-15 weeks, a good fry up and fill half the freezer.

That has been my experience anyway. I have enjoyed my hens, and the eggs, but sometimes they are a pain in the butt!