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Post by fowlplay on Mar 22, 2004 22:54:24 GMT -5
alright everyone. i am getting frusterated and i need some help here. i have 3 hens, a grey, and 2 white kelso hens, that just dont want to lay to well. were my other hens lay realy well, these 3 only want to give a couple eggs a year. i have tried different diets , environments, force fed them layer mesh, i need some more ideas. if they dont do well for me this year, i am going to introduce them to my rotisseri!
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Post by MakinIt on Nov 27, 2004 17:53:59 GMT -5
Well I'm not an "expert" but here are a few ideas that won't cost you much to try... and some are downright silly sounding but "it worked for me" in the seventies. Sunlight... the more lighting you have the better. I kept a 100 watt service bulb on 24x7, the only time it was out was because one of the filaments burned out and I had to change it. A radio playing most of the time also... did it just to experiment, no real proof that you couldn't attribute to the feed and lighting but my hens laid everyday for 3 weeks out of the month and one week I'd get more eggs than I had hens.... don't ask me to explain it because I Can't... but it was an interesting occurance. ;D I kept them on laying mash and all the oyster shells they wanted, never let it run out. I always heard hens would burn out on laying mash but mine seemed to do just fine and they preferred it. Lastly plenty of fresh water. I used the 100 watt light to keep the water from freezing in the winter and it also provided the artificial lighting to keep them laying. As for setting... I think it was Kickingbird that told me in a way that I could understand it... if your strain or line is predominantly from incubated eggs over the years then your birds have lost their natural instinct to set. Don't quote Kickingbird on that... its just how I understood what he was telling me. And.... It wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong. ;D I also kept only ONE rooster to a flock... usually 30 or so hens... and he Had to "prove himself" worthy of guarding the flock before he received the duty/honor. Well I hope something in this helps you. Take Care.
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Post by Kickingbird on Nov 28, 2004 9:48:51 GMT -5
Sunlight... the more lighting you have the better. I kept a 100 watt service bulb on 24x7, the only time it was out was because one of the filaments burned out and I had to change it. Some hens will continue to lay with 24 hour lighting and some won't, you can keep them all laying by using a simple light timer and giving them 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkA radio playing most of the time also... did it just to experiment, no real proof that you couldn't attribute to the feed and lighting but my hens laid everyday for 3 weeks out of the month and one week I'd get more eggs than I had hens.... don't ask me to explain it because I Can't... but it was an interesting occurance. ;D This is a great idea and has been proven by university studies that music helps animals perform better and chickens are no exception, even if your birds don't lay more eggs they will be calmer around ppl. BTW NO HARD ROCK! Use soft soothing music. I always heard hens would burn out on laying mash but mine seemed to do just fine and they preferred it. This is an old wifes tale, The hens will do fine on good quality laying mash.As for setting... I think it was Kickingbird that told me in a way that I could understand it... if your strain or line is predominantly from incubated eggs over the years then your birds have lost their natural instinct to set. Don't quote Kickingbird on that... its just how I understood what he was telling me. And.... It wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong. ;D This is also true but due to selection. PPl selling hatching eggs and raising layers have culled birds that have shown broodiness (or chosen to keep thoes that don't) Thus breeding broodiness out of the birds. It is kinda like reverse evolution, in nature these are the birds that would never reproduce because they would not set on their own eggs.I also kept only ONE rooster to a flock... usually 30 or so hens... and he Had to "prove himself" worthy of guarding the flock before he received the duty/honor. Only thing to keep in mind here is if you are trying to get consistanly fertile eggs you will want to have one rooster per 8-10 hens for heavy breeds and one rooster for 10-13 hens for light breeds. You may do ok with more but your taking a risk of heavy infertility. Great advice Dean, I can't believe I didn't see this post back in March when it was written. Sorry Tony. BTW I use a great product that seems to get hens laying and helps with fertility. It is called Foy's Pigeon Builder. But don't use it if you are going to eat the eggs as it has some antibiotics in it. Mark PS> If you want to know where to get this product just PM me.
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Post by fowlplay on Jun 27, 2005 19:42:33 GMT -5
lol....i forgot i even made this post last year....problem solved itself when something wiped out my kelso family, now my problem. i have a muff hen that lays like there is no tommorow, but the ornry old bag only sits for a couple of days and than she is done with them....good thing for foster families......lol iknow how to solve the problem now....so things will change....later guys -tony
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Post by josephrettig on Feb 19, 2012 3:26:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the solution.
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