10 year old "retired" hen laying again after 3 years

[Vicker]

Ha! Yes! I had some old birds that had stopped laying. I planned to cut my feed losses and use them for meat. Miraculously, they'd start laying again. This cycle repeated until finally the egg quality got so poor that I finally culled them.

 

[Cody19]

Hi everyone -

Has anyone ever experienced a fully mature, "retired" hen, laying after not laying for 3 years?

I have an Easter Egger, that was my best layer, 6 eggs every week, unless molting. About 3 years ago, she stopped laying. She virtually never prostrated herself to me (head hen) & she started doing it again about 3 weeks ago, nearly everyday.

About a week ago, I found her in the nesting boxes, she did not lay. A couple of days ago I had a really bloody egg in the nesting box & had already picked up all blue/green eggs earlier in the day that would have accounted for all the Easter Eggers in the flock, today, she is in the nesting box right now. She is 10 years old.

My 6 yo EE took a year off from laying then she started laying one a week last year in summer then stopped in winter. It’s midMarch and she has already laid 12 eggs. I’m in Las Vegas area so it’s not the weather. Maybe her internal clock just started for some reason. Whatever it is, I’m glad she’s still healthy and happy. I say let the seniors enjoy their retirement years. They deserve it!

 

[MsSueT]

Hi everyone -

Has anyone ever experienced a fully mature, "retired" hen, laying after not laying for 3 years?

I have an Easter Egger, that was my best layer, 6 eggs every week, unless molting. About 3 years ago, she stopped laying. She virtually never prostrated herself to me (head hen) & she started doing it again about 3 weeks ago, nearly everyday.

About a week ago, I found her in the nesting boxes, she did not lay. A couple of days ago I had a really bloody egg in the nesting box & had already picked up all blue/green eggs earlier in the day that would have accounted for all the Easter Eggers in the flock, today, she is in the nesting box right now. She is 10 years old.

I have a 6-year-old Easter Egger who, for the past several years, has laid 3-4 eggs over a couple of weeks right at the beginning of spring. Then she collects benefits for the rest of the year.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I have an old hen (unsure of her precise age sorry) and she lays a few eggs every spring, maybe twice a week, then stops again. I think chickens just like to keep us guessing! I think it's fairly unusual for hens to make it to that age either historically speaking for domestic chickens or waaaay back in the jungle fowl days, so I guess we just don't know what can happen.

I intend to keep my older hens, but I'll have to see what happens when I start to get a lot of them (only have 2 so far) I only expand my flock by 2 keeper pullets a year, so it'll take me awhile to get a lot of old ladies.

 

[twagoner]

I have a very old EE too, possibly older than 10 years. I call her BG (Beautiful Girl). She is a very large girl. In the past six years, she would give me about two eggs per year, but surprised me last fall when she gave me about two weeks of green eggs daily. My pit bull almost killed her about a year ago. I brought her inside and nursed her through a terrible tear on her side. After 4-6 weeks, she was all healed up. She is such a sweet girl and has a lovely speaking voice. I would never consider culling her.

 

[Silly Indie]

That’s quite impressive! The oldest one in my flock is about 8-9 she doesn’t lay very consistently anymore but might occasionally visit the nest box and leave a nice brown egg. She hasn’t laid since last spring and I’m hoping she lays just once more so I can brood it as she’s a favorite in the flock

Here’s the queen herself: Buddy!

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Very strange! Maybe due to illness or something undetected she wasn't laying for a couple years then she's back to tip top health and still has some eggs to lay for you.

My Silkie hen is 11 years old and lays 3 clutches a year and goes broody in-between, I allow her to raise 2 clutches a year which takes a couple of months each then she takes a Winter break. I may cut her back to 1 clutch brooding a year as it does take a toll on their body although she see seems born to do it! Best mumma ever

 

[Bonwell]

I have an Ancona hen who's about 10, And probably hasn't laid in about 3 ish years. Should I be expecting eggs?! but seriously, I wouldn't have expected that a chicken could lay after taking 3 years off

 

[Cody19]

My 6 yo EE took a year off from laying then she started laying one a week last year in summer then stopped in winter. It’s midMarch and she has already laid 12 eggs. I’m in Las Vegas area so it’s not the weather. Maybe her internal clock just started for some reason. Whatever it is, I’m glad she’s still healthy and happy. I say let the seniors enjoy their retirement years. They deserve it!

Update. It’s end of April and she is still laying every other day and now my 6 yo French Maran is laying, too. Impressive. You go girls! And don’t worry, I’ll let you live out your senior years with your 6 yo Silkie rooster buddy without fear of an untimely death.

 

[Arelwood]

Aw this is so great! You must be an eggcellent chicken keeper or have magical powers!