Maintaining a Laying Flock the Sustainable Way
by Kelly Klober
September 2005, Acres U.S.A.

   For a long time the number 525 was quite important to those maintaining a laying flock. It was the length of time, in days, that the birds in the flock spent on the farm. It is the total number of days in a 22-week grow-out, from hatching to first lay, followed by a roughly 12- month laying period, leading up to the first major molt. It’s a fast-moving time frame that says much about how chickens have come to be viewed in recent times. They came, they went, and nowadays when they go, the next stop is more apt to be the compost heap than thin soup.
   It wasn’t always thus, and we need to get back to a system with greater respect for both the birds and the producer. Egg production was perhaps the first farm venture targeted by vertical integration, which with one hand began throwing away chicken breeds and with the other, farmer/breeders. The laying flock once epitomized sustainable agriculture and was actually self-renewing while in active production.
   The ten best hens in a flock, pen mated to an exceptional male, laying at 80 percent, and laying eggs with 80 percent hatchability should produce 200 baby chicks from the eggs laid and home incubated in the month of April alone.
   Conservatively, at least 80 of those chicks should be pullets — 80 pullets of known background, of genetics that have been trialed and proven on that particular farm, reared to that producer’s standards, and adapted to that farm’s environment.
   Thus, by channeling just 10 percent of the flock’s production for a relatively short period each year, a flock of up to 1,000 hens can easily become self-replicating.
   The purebred laying flock can be one of the best examples possible of multitasking. They produce table eggs, their own replacements, and are the basis for future genetic change and performance enhancement. If you are in this for the long haul, you will never be finished building and shaping yeur breeding lines.
   Many feel well served by a breeding concept tenet of “rolling mating.” In this system the best hens of the laying season just past are retained and bred to the best cockerels produced that season. The best pullets produced are retained and bred to the best roosters of the previous breeding season. Some will opt for even more intensive linebreeding, maintaining one or more strains that are based upon but a single, exceptionally productive individual.
   The American Poultry Association provides an excellent guide to type and breed character in its very useful volume, the APA’s American Standard of Perfection. Couple selection for good type with an ongoing program of selection and breeding for improved performance and laying can truly be described as hitting on all cylinders of production. Aunt/nephew and uncle/niece matings, for example, are a proven type of inbreeding that will not impact reproductive performance or bird vigor and can be carried out with fairly simple record- keeping methods.
   For many producers an interesting fact has emerged over the years. Although tightly controlled matings with select individuals did indeed produce better birds, when the backup male or males were pen run with extra females or when breeding pens were broken up and the birds turned into a larger flock, many good individuals also emerged from these somewhat random-appearing meetings.
   In fact, they weren’t really all that random as good birds were being penned with good birds. Still, real progress ones only through the ability to pinpoint and build upon the best individuals available, and to that end you will need to be able to denote and track individual birds within the flock.
   There are no ears to notch, and few are the hens that would support numbered neck chains. To this end, producers have come to rely upon a number of different types of wing and leg bands. Some are as simple as narrow coils of different-colored wire, some can be clamped around the leg, others are seamless, and still others carry a variety of numbers and letters, including a two-digit numeral for the year in which the bird was hatched. In a pinch I have used a plastic Pull-Tite as a leg band to help in the sorting process.
   With a combination of colored and numbered bands, a great deal of information can be encoded and kept right with the bird. Some band types are fairly simple to remove and replace, and thus the birds can be retagged when placed in new matings or pens. This information can then be used to record a great deal of data with just a few light pencil strokes on each egg as it is gathered. Mating or pen number of origin, date, etc., will all prove helpful when preparing trays for the incubator. This information should then be backed up in a log of incubator contents and operation.
    Keeping track of new hatchlings inside the incubator has been a challenge that has spawned many creative solutions. In earlier times, the eggs due to hatch from different matings would be carefully placed into pouches made of light cloth. A modern version of this practice is to position the eggs at day 18 of incubation into sections cut from old pantyhose and knotted at each end.
   I have seen hatching trays segmented with wooden or wire dividers and covered with a mesh cap to prevent escapees from going over the top. Many have also used fine wire mesh to make “pedigree baskets” to hold the eggs from different matings at hatching time. Let a single white Rock chick “jump ship” in a hatching tray shared equally with Single Comb Rhode Island Whites, and finding that proverbial needle in a haystack will sound and seem downright pleasant in comparison.
   After the chicks hatch out, you can keep them apart with multiple small brooders or use leg bands of many sizes, changing them often as the chicks grow. Leave a too-small leg band on for very long, and it can damage a rapidly growing leg and may even have to be cut away.
   One ID method that appeals to me — because it approximates the ear notching we use with baby pigs — is the punch method. Of course, chickens have no ears as such, but the webbing between the toes of newly hatched chicks can be punched with a simple numerical key. You can then, for example, assign a specific punch enumeration for each mating or breeding pen. Additional data can be added later with leg or wing bands.
   The standard punch key is:
   No. 1: no punch in either foot.
   No. 2: one punch, left foot, outside web.
   No. 3: one punch, right foot, outside web.
   No. 4: one punch, left foot, inside web.
   No. 5: one punch, right foot, inside web.
   No. 6: punch both left webs.
   No. 7: punch both right webs.
   No. 8: two punches, left and right outside webs.
   No. 9: two punches, left and right inside webs.
   No. 10: three punches, both left webs, outside right web.
   No. 11: three punches, both left webs, inside right web.
   No. 12: three punches, both right webs, outside left web.
   No. 13: three punches, both right webs, inside left web.
   No. 14: punch all four webs.
   A toe punch is a small, pincer-looking tool that can be bought for under $10 from most poultry supply houses. It is all metal, and should be thoroughly cleaned after each use. It can be rinsed in a mild disinfecting solution while in use.
   Many are reluctant to do much handling of these delicate appearing balls of fluff, but this is a simple, quick and painless procedure. Many report problems with the punched openings closing back, but this is generally the fault of a poor procedure. Spread the foot, make a quick punch deep into the web, and them make sure the punch matter is completely removed. We have older hens with toe punches that remain clear and easy to read after several years.
   The nature of farmers to tinker and experiment will have most making matings beyond the basic, rolling- flock type. Some will try new genetics and others might further tighten line matings. Pair and trio matings are generally best for these purposes, and I have seen many a rabbit hutch pressed into service to hold these small groups.
   If the desire is to trial new blood, the best approach is to bring in an outside female. Breed her to a male deep in the breeding of the existing flock, and then, if the mating nicks, introduce the best female offspring into the existing matings slowly.
   Building the laying flock, increasing performance while maintaining good breed type and character is a task that is ever ongoing. Skills and experience will both need to be acquired, and there will always be something new to learn. For example, file away this bit of lore followed by many long-ago producers: select for hatching only those eggs laid before 10 a.m. Apparently the old-timers detected a coefficient for birds that laid both for longer periods and earlier in the day.
   With heirloom breeds and varieties now at the fore, there is real opportunity to take them up and build with them anew. Will a White or Barred Rock line of 300-plus eggs per bird per year be developed? What can be made of the rarely seen Exchequer Leghorn? Only time will tell, but there is no better time to start than now!

    Kelly Klober specializes in raising livestock using natural methods and is a frequent contributor to Acres U.S.A. He has written a comprehensive new guide to natural hog care, which is scheduled for publication in 2005. Watch upcoming issues of Acres U.S.A. for details.