[mintytwoshoes]

Hi,
Just interested to find out everyones experience with egg laying as to what age chickens cease to lay! I think it must vary from breed to breed am I correct?  What is the oldest laying hen in peoples experience?

[kris]

 hey   how r u
  well  it does vary  alot   we farm them commercial now   from small acorns might oaks grow as its happened
 we are just putting in some  new  p.o.l   birds  at the end of next month   we order the  birds as  day old chciks then  they are reared  for us  up to 16 weeks old , on our old contract  we had to  get rid of hem  at 72 weeks  of age  but they  will  still  lay ,   they will lay  up to three years on some occasions ,however  the shell quality  will  go down a lot and the number of eggs  will  decrease,
 some breeds  will   just stop after  a couple years  others will  push on  for another  but  over the years  the crucial  thing we have noticed  if you  bring the birds into lay  to early  not allowing them  to put on enough  weight  then  it will  reduce there laying life
 allowing them to  molt  over winter  will  refresh and  keep them  laying for longer   the  longest we have  kept a flock in lay was 108 weeks but  the % of lay wasn't very good towards the end   and the number of poor shell eggs even with  oyster shell and  grit plus extra water based  vits  made little to  no difference  hope thats answers  your question

[Caroline1]

I purely do as a hobby and have chickens aged 5 yr still laying admittedly only occasionally but the eggs still taste good

[Blondie]

My Pekins were amost 6 years old and still laying 3 or so eggs a week each when the fox got them.

They were free range and were very spoilt as they were pets.

[mojocafa]

Hi minty 



All by birds must be ancient as am currently getting no eggs

[chrismahon]

We have 5 ½ year old Wyandottes still laying regularly and we bred from them this year, good strong chicks. According to an old poultry book I have a Frenchman did a study back around 1900 and concluded that hens only have 600 eggs to give -you either get them quickly or slowly. I have heard a figure of 700 eggs mentioned but have no idea where that number came from.

[Stereo]

I believe this is true. Regardless of breed, all hens have pretty much the same number of eggs in them. A commercial hybrid doing 320 in year 1 and 250 in year 2 is just about worn out.  That said, the slower layers often don't survive long enough to get through all their eggs or medical issues stop them laying early.

[mentalmilly]

I have found warrens don't lay much after 2 years old and the shells become thin, but l have 2 speckledy  and sussex still laying at 4 years and Indian Game of 6 years still lays in the summer.   My mixed flock, mostly old girls are laying though not as many a week but eggs all good.