Mountain Glen Farm Journal: Becky's Chickens

Our current chicken flock is old (three years) and the laying power has greatly diminished over time; this is to be expected and is very normal.

A decision had to made...buy new laying hens or buy eggs from the grocery store. The answer, a no brainer; buy younger hens.

Becky decided to move the egg production operation over to her place. So, last week, she purchased 31 red sex-link (cross-bred) pullets locally. This breed always produces beautiful brown-shelled eggs.

I still have the old hens. I was getting a couple of eggs per day, but I could not identify the non-layers as all the hens still sported a fairly healthy, red comb indicating that they are a layer. So, they all remain in my flock.

I asked Becky for four of the young pullets and added them, yes added them, to my current flock. In the world of chicken, it is a no-no to mix different ages of birds; the pecking order goes into full swing and the young pullets would certainly be the peckees. I took a chance.

When I added the four pullets, I carefully watched them during their first day with the old hens. A little beak pecking did occur, but not much; there was no blood shed as could have been the case. The four pullets were acclimated into the flock within a day’s time.

That first dusk, as the older hens entered their house, the new hens were confused. They did not know where to spend the night; evidently they were not watching the routine. So, Glenn and I had to manually direct the pullets to the opening of the house. The four finally entered and we closed the door. All Mountain Glen Farm fowl were safe for the night.

The next morning, I discovered that my egg production double; suggesting, perhaps, that some of the older hens were compelled (remain viable as an egg-layer or become chicken stew) to lay or the new pullets produced two eggs each. I will never know; but, I was pleased.

While the weather is still mild, Becky houses her pullets in a movable pen; thus, providing fresh grass daily to augment their feed. Chicken feed has become quite expensive in the last year; nevertheless, eating fresh and tasty eggs is worth the expenditure; ask anybody who gets eggs from Becky’s hens. The eggs are gorgeous; but most importantly, flavorful.