Best time to get new hens?

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OldForum
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Joined: 28 Apr 2007, 01:12

Best time to get new hens?

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Mo
I got my first 3 hens at the beginning of March, three and a half years ago. 18 months later 1 had died, only 1 was laying well so I got 3 more. The one that was moulting never really got back into lay fully. The last of the first 3 moulted last winter and never started laying again (except a few shell-less eggs).
So from the ones I bought in spring 1 laid for 15 months, 1 for 18, 1 for 30.
The newer 3 have laid for 2 years but only 1 is laying now (and I shan't be so sentimental about culling and stewing this time,it seems a waste to eat other hens and not mine).

Is it better to get hens (point of lat, I want the reliable option) in Autumn or Spring

AnnaB
My girls are as follows: 2 ex-battery about two and half years old - one lays daily except when moulting, the other one is too beautiful to lay...thinks that she is a cockerel. 2 'new' ex-battery hens about 18 months old laying most days. You wrote about shelless eggs? Do you give baked chopped eggshells in their diet? I have also got oyster shell which I give as well. Hope this is of help.....I couldn't eat my girls, a personal preference!!

Mo
I dont like eating them either, so it's stew, mince, hide in the freezer for a while, sneak into stews, but rather that than some factory raised hen.
And certainly rather that than watch them go downhill like the last of my first batch because I couldn't bring myself to do the deed.

Anyone got any ideas on Spring or Autumn?

sunchick
I would have thought that if they lay better in the summer months, that you should get your point of lays in spring, so you get a good start, seems a bit of a waste to nurture them through the winter for a lower return if you have a choice of purchase dates. As you know I ain't no expert but that seems like sense to me!

minidaz
I've been told that Sept / Oct is a good time to get chickens. Where my Mum, Dad, Sister live, there is a rare breed poultry centre, and this was the advcie that they gave. I'm due to pop in there on friday for a look around and a bit of a chat.

Have to see what they say

Richard
I am slanted to agree, but I've brought new chickens in at most times of the year.

I think the idea of getting them in Autumn is good, because they're settling in during the winter months when eggs may be few and far between.

Come Spring and, hopefully, it's like letting the elastic band go !

Interesting.

Sarah Jane Starkey
Somebody else said that to me, that getting new hens at this time of year will mean feeding them over the winter for not many eggs in return, but given that our hens are much more interested in kitchen scraps than the bought pellets anyway it's not costing us yet ...

Anyway I was much too excited to wait until the Spring. I'm like a big kid, I go and visit them at the end of the garden every half hour. (Can you tell I've only had them five days!)

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