State of the flock, January 2019

I've been trying to transition to a younger flock for several years now--with little success. I prefer to do it as cheaply as possible: the cheapest is to get some fertilized eggs for free, which I managed last year, and can hopefully do again this year. Next cheapest is breeding my own, but is far more complicated and is probably not an option this year, despite having a nearly grown cock in the flock--none of the current hens are worth breeding, really. Then there's the option of buying chicks: it's more reliable than hatching eggs, but still not without its problems, and it can really add up, with chicks being around £3-£5 each (opposed to buying fertilized eggs at £5 for six). And I just can't afford to buy young hens at £20 each, despite it being the easiest method for getting new layers: getting my own eggs shouldn't be so expensive.

We've agreed to take six new rescue hens next month, as a local farm is shutting down. I assume they'll be the same age as our previous rescue hens: 18 months old. We've had some rescues continue to lay well for a year, but some just haven't laid at all; it's a gamble, but we're doing it partly for charitable reasons too. There are still three old rescue hens in the flock right now. They haven't laid since the beginning of December; they have all just molted however, so I expect them all to live another six months at least. The oldest is nearly six years old and the other two are nearly five.

And I'm hoping our little Pekin bantam will go broody again this spring. She's done so two years in a row, but we'll just have to wait and see; I want to get some more eggs under her and some chicks hatched, both for meat and for laying eggs. 

Currently we have seven chickens, one of which is a rooster, hatched last April.  Two hens are laying:  the only hen hatched last year (aka the cheep) and her adopted mother Cookie are taking it in turns to lay one each day.  We also have another hen the same age as Cookie (three years old) and three placid old rescues (four and five years old), none laying.