Pullets are more Profitable than Hens to the Household Poultry Keeper

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 81, Issue 1, 15 July 1950, Page 51

Pullets are more Profitable than Hens to the Household Poultry Keeper

AMATEUR poultry keepers frequently ask how long a fowl should be kept, and a common answer is “Two years.” In this month’s article for the household poultry keeper W. L. Mclver, Poultry Instructor, Department of ■ Agriculture, Hamilton, shows that that reply is more likely to be wrong than right and recommends the householder to keep pullets in preference to hens.

IN too many household poultry runs fowls are kept until they die natural deaths. In a few cases they are granted the mercy of a sudden end, but most of them linger on for weeks or months before death ends their suffering. That is inhumane, and all poultry keepers should kill seriously ailing birds promptly. Killing by dislocation of the neck is quick and painless, and the method was illustrated on page 437 of the “Journal” .of November, 1949. People who shudder at the thought of killing a sick fowl should think of the unnecessary pain they would cause by leaving it alive. If the thought of allowing continued suffering is not enough to induce them to kill the bird, they should consider the economic aspect, because ailing fowls usually go off the lay quickly and afterward are uneconomic. Lower Production Each Year Fowls lay fewer eggs each year than in the previous year, so a flock will not produce in its second year the same total of eggs and profit as in its pullet. year. Nevertheless, all birds are not unprofitable in their second and subsequent years, for some pullets are such good egg producers that they will lay a high total during' the next year, when they are technically hens; in fact, some hens lay a larger number, than the average pullet. These birds obviously are worth keeping a second year and a few even longer. An experienced poultry keeper can recognise such birds by exterior characteristics, but most householders cannot distinguish one fowl from another. In any case, a commercial farmer has to keep an . adequate number of older fowls from which to breed, as immature pullets should not be used for breeding. Probably because these farmers keep hens for a second year, most people have the impression that fowls should be retained for 2 years neither more nor lessbut that view is wrong. Some pullets are not good enough to keep for a complete year, and a few hens can be profitable for several years. However, to be a really paying proposition the hen must be a late moulter and must resume laying quickly after the moult if she is to compete with pullets, which offer the advantage of beginning to lay in autumn and continuing during winter when egg prices are at their highest.

Cost of Feeding through a Moult Even if the householder is adept at culling or has a knowledgeable friend, hens are less profitable than pullets when feeding costs are taken into account. Some people contend that feeding a fowl through the moult is cheaper than rearing a chicken to maturity because a bird takes only about 12 weeks to moult and resume laying but a chicken takes about 24 weeks to reach maturity and lay, but they overlook difference of food intake. The moulting bird is fully grown and has an adult appetite, even if it is less during the moult and' while the bird is out of production. While the fowl is dropping feathers it eats less than normally, but while regaining feathers it < eats heartily and strives to build up a good body reserve of fat before spring. Allowing for table scraps fed to the fowls, a hen will eat about 191 b. of mash and grain during the moult; the early moulter might eat more,- the late moulter less. The growing chicken eats very little in the early weeks and a total of about 241 b. of food by. the time it begins laying, but the cost of this extra 51b. of food is repaid rapidly by the increased value of winter eggs. Before the present system of one price for eggs in winter and another in summer, involving only two price alterations yearly, two summer eggs equalled one winter egg in value; even now winter eggs are one and a half times as valuable. Keeping Birds for a Second Year The situation is complicated further when fowls are kept for a second year. If no culling is done some pullets are certain to die during the year. Most farmers admit to 8 or 10 per cent, of mortality among pullets, but the New Zealand average is likely to be double

that. That means that insufficient birds are left at the end of the first season to fill the hen house and the family’s supply of eggs for the next year is reduced. If the birds are culled properly, the egg supply becomes worse. Only 45 to 50 per cent, of the pullets still alive at the end of the first laying year are worth keeping another year. That is, an average of only 5 out of 12 pullets originally placed in the laying house are worth keeping a year later. If 12 pullets were needed to supply the family’s egg requirements, what chance have 5 hens of meeting the quota? Buying a few replacement pullets each year and running them in the same house as the hens is not a good method. Apart from the fact that older birds bully young ones, hens and pullets require different ratios of proteins to carbohydrates in the diet during late summer, autumn, winter, and early spring. Cost of Replacements The cost of replacement birds has a large effect on the comparative profitableness of pullets and hens. The accounts will vary considerably according to whether the stock is bought at a day old, at 6 or 8 weeks of age, or at 4 or 6 months. A low-priced first-year hen at ss. to 7s. 6d., even if it gives fewer eggs laid mainly in spring and summer, can compete favourably with a pullet bought near maturity at 20s. to 275. 6d., but if day-old chickens or reasonably priced perching pullets are bought, more profitable results can be expected from keeping all pullets from one year than from hens or a combination of hens and pullets.