I have a question for those who might want to share their wisdom. I recently purchased some GLW eggs on ebay, only 3 have made it so far in the incubator, hopefully they will make it to hatch. Also hoping at least one will be a rooster. So that being said I had hoped for more when I put the 12 eggs in the bator but it just hasn't worked out. There is a person in town locally looking to reduce their flock as they no longer want to or are able to keep all of their laying hens. They have one GLW that looks nice however she is a little over 3 years old. I was thinking of taking her just to have the diversity later on for hatching eggs. So my hesitancy is even if I get a rooster at hatch it will be at least 7 months or so till mature and able to fertilize the older hens eggs. So at that point she will be closer to 4 yrs old. At that age is it really feasible to expect to get many eggs from her for expanding the GLW flock? Should I pass on the free GLW? How often does a 4 yr old lay? I don't know as all my laying hens are all young, 12-14 months. need guidance.
If you want her to add new blood to your flock I say go for it - though do remember to quarantene her! (I generally don't add any adult birds to my flock because of the range of illnesses they can bring with them). Mine still lay, though not so frequently, at 7-8 years. They hadn't slowed down at 4-5.
Thanks for the info.
(unless they get ill) I guess a lot of peeps kill off theirs before they even reach that age, as they are poorer layers. But hey, pretty is pretty 
I'm guessing our oldest won't survive the winter though.
