"old" hens- what to do

Beekissed said:

One thing you need to realize about old hens. Their bodies will keep trying to produce long after they no longer can make a full egg and deliver it, so they develop lash eggs and the resulting problems from that. Very rarely do old hens just potter off into a blissful old retirement and die peacefully on the grass one day....usually they experience horrible discomfort from this internal laying and the fluid that collects around them, so they need to either be culled before they can experience that discomfort or shortly after you notice they have a problem. Either way an old hen will need to be culled. Never really saw an old hen just drop over dead one night, dying peacefully in her sleep of old age.

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I noticed this on my Lavender Orp and I suspect she is not laying as I have more hens than I am getting eggs from and then I say this hanging flesh on her and wondered if this could be a lash egg problem? I hate to cull her but if she's not laying and she is in pain I will!

kimthom66 said:

I noticed this on my Lavender Orp

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What is "this? I didn't notice anything in the picture.

I will say that IME bantam hens live much longer, with far fewer problems than LF. But even LF can live a long time and even keep laying. About 10 years ago, when I was in high school we ordered chicks from McMurray and they became major pets. Now, out of the original 25 my Mom still has 7 of them: 2 D'uccles, 1 Sebright, 1 frizzled cochin bantam, SL Polish, 1 SL Wyandotte, and 1 EE. In fact, the only bantams from that batch of chicks that have died did not die of natural causes. Some of these chickens haven't layed in years and years, like thr SL Wyandotte, but a D'uccle and the EE were still laying regularly last year!

That said, we did find a lot of the hens were weeded out around 4-6 years old from egg laying problems, especially breeds bred for high production. Then around 6-9 several (mostly large breeds like Brahmas, Delaware, and Cochin) died for no apparent reason, l think their hearts just stopped.

One of the D'uccles is blind (who knew chickens got cataracts?!), and the Polish recently got crippled when a predator took another hen (from that same 10 year old batch), so they do live away from the rest of the flock and I am not sure they would be able to make it with the others if my Mom didn't take special care of them. The rest live with the younger chickens and just keep ticking; they seem active and healthy. I was just out visiting my parents a few days ago and the bantam Cochin and EE came up wanting to be held!

So they definitely can have a good life after they finish laying. You'll be able to tell when something is wrong with them if you're observant.

I agree

Beekissed said:

One thing you need to realize about old hens. Their bodies will keep trying to produce long after they no longer can make a full egg and deliver it, so they develop lash eggs and the resulting problems from that. Very rarely do old hens just potter off into a blissful old retirement and die peacefully on the grass one day....usually they experience horrible discomfort from this internal laying and the fluid that collects around them, so they need to either be culled before they can experience that discomfort or shortly after you notice they have a problem. Either way an old hen will need to be culled. Never really saw an old hen just drop over dead one night, dying peacefully in her sleep of old age.

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This is a very helpful thread. I, too, am thinking ahead.
Beekissed, what symptoms of retained egg laying should we look for?

QuoVadis said:

What is "this? I didn't notice anything in the picture.

I will say that IME bantam hens live much longer, with far fewer problems than LF. But even LF can live a long time and even keep laying. About 10 years ago, when I was in high school we ordered chicks from McMurray and they became major pets. Now, out of the original 25 my Mom still has 7 of them: 2 D'uccles, 1 Sebright, 1 frizzled cochin bantam, SL Polish, 1 SL Wyandotte, and 1 EE. In fact, the only bantams from that batch of chicks that have died did not die of natural causes. Some of these chickens haven't layed in years and years, like thr SL Wyandotte, but a D'uccle and the EE were still laying regularly last year! 

That said, we did find a lot of the hens were weeded out around 4-6 years old from egg laying problems, especially breeds bred for high production. Then around 6-9 several (mostly large breeds like Brahmas, Delaware, and Cochin) died for no apparent reason, l think their hearts just stopped.

One of the D'uccles is blind (who knew chickens got cataracts?!), and the Polish recently got crippled when a predator took another hen (from that same 10 year old batch), so they do live away from the rest of the flock and I am not sure they would be able to make it with the others if my Mom didn't take special care of them. The rest live with the younger chickens and just keep ticking; they seem active and healthy. I was just out visiting my parents a few days ago and the bantam Cochin and EE came up wanting to be held!

So they definitely can have a good life after they finish laying. You'll be able to tell when something is wrong with them if you're observant.

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It's the fleshy part hanging down from her stomach?

Hmm, I can't see it well enough to really say what it is, but I doubt it is internal laying egg type problems, normally their rear end will be swollen, not the chest.

I have a large flock of about 50 - 60 birds. I keep my hens until they drop below 4 eggs a week usually, (If there is something I really like about them, or if they are good mothers etc, I'll keep them longer) and than we put them in the freezer as stewing hens so they have a quick death and don't go to waste. I have a few hens in my flock that are over 7 years old and still lay almost every day. With proper management you should not have any health issues with older hens (of course there is always a few exceptions as with any age of bird) but they do take some extra time. I had one hen, an old English game, that laid until she was 12, (yes, you read that right) I sadly lost her to a fox last year.

mymilliefleur said:

I have a large flock of about 50 - 60 birds. I keep my hens until they drop below 4 eggs a week usually, (If there is something I really like about them, or if they are good mothers etc, I'll keep them longer) and than we put them in the freezer as stewing hens so they have a quick death and don't go to waste. I have a few hens in my flock that are over 7 years old and still lay almost every day. With proper management you should not have any health issues with older hens (of course there is always a few exceptions as with any age of bird) but they do take some extra time. I had one hen, an old English game, that laid until she was 12, (yes, you read that right) I sadly lost her to a fox last year.

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With that many birds how do you figure out if they are laying four eggs a week or not?

QuoVadis said:

With that many birds how do you figure out if they are laying four eggs a week or not?

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An excellent question -- I keep close records on my flock, and am in and out of the coop on a regular basis, so I keep an eye on who's in the nest box on a regular basis, and who's not. I also inspect the hens, and make sure their combs are red, not overly fat, lack yellow pigment, etc. If I'm not sure on certain hens, than I take them to spend a few days with my bantam flock so I can monitor their egg production.