[Mbmyco2]

Our chickens are 3 years old and only producing 1 egg a day from 4 hens, what do people do with their old hens and how to introduce replacements? any advice welcome thanks

MikeB

[Springlands]

Mike - everyone has different ideas about what to do with old hens. Some people (me for one) just let them enjoy their twilight years others take a more pragmatic view and cull them.

It is just possible that it is early days and your hens will start laying again - mine are just getting into their stride - they are a mixture of ages and some of the young girls (just over a year) and some of the older ones (three years plus) are laying.

As for introducing new hens - you need to be careful. They are best isolated at first to ensure that they are not carrying any diseases and then, if possible, gradually introduced to the existing girls. Some people have runs side by side so that the existing hens can see the new girls but this is not possible for everyone.

[Sparkyrog]

Curry ?  ( I will get my boots )

[GrannieAnnie]

We normally cull when they stop laying, not enough meat on them to eat though.  Our ISA's will be 4 in May, and having had no eggs over the winter, we thought they may have run out of eggs.  We also have Shaver blacks that will be 3 in June, and yesterday we got 11 eggs from 11 hens! 

We are regularly now getting 9 eggs a day.  So don't give up on them just yet! 

[barley]

mine  are just pets and not egg machines , although the eggs are a bonus  they are allowed to retire peacefully here

we usually wait till we get to about 4 oldies left and then introduce about 6 newbies at a time , that way the oldies can't pick on the newbies to much as they are slightly out numbered ( from my figures you realise I keep about 10 !! LOL)

its usually the oldies that do the bullying but the youngsters soon find their feet after a week or so

[joyfull]

mine live with me and enjoy a happy retirement as a thank you for the eggs they have given me. Mine are all getting on now and their ages range from 3 upto 8 and I am now getting 3 eggs a day from 10 hens but had none throughout winter so this year I am going to introduce 3 or 4 young girls into the flock once I can decide on the breed I want.

[BIG ZOOK]

Mine are all classed as pets and I keep them well looked after and wormed .Most of mine die of old age , but I do cull a sickly hen asap.

[Helenaj]

I cherish mine until their last moment. they've earned it and if I'm wasting money on hens that give me no return, then there's worse things I could waste my money on! 

 I certainly wouldn't give up on 3 year old hens. I have 8 of mine over that age and they are all still laying.

[Snoop]

Yours seem quite young to have given up egg-laying altogether, Mike. Maybe they're still struggling with the winter conditions and needing all their calorie intake for themselves rather than egg production. I've noticed that one of ours is starting to moult, and that also reduces egg laying. Yours might start up again. If so, you'll have saved yourself the cost of buying new chickens if you hold off culling them for a bit, if that is in fact what you decide to do.

Local advice where I live is to replace half your flock every year, but that seems unnecessarily early and expensive to me. My local friends think I'm daft as we keep our chickens till they get old and only cull them when their quality of life starts to fall (they fall over and can't get back up, give up eating, that kind of thing).

[Sassy]

Unfortunately if they are hybrids three is about the time that egg laying would become very very sparse. However, if they are pure breeds they may well start up again. 

[TanyaGibson]

So cool to read many of you let their girls live out their days and don't cull when they stop laying. . . I feel the same way and couldn't bear to be without them even though the two youngest haven't laid for a while.