⠀ 9 year old mini hen has stopped laying

[HenLoverz]

Our 9 year old hen has stopped laying. What is the average length that hens lay? Is there any feed we can give her to invigorate her?

 

[DrPatrickBiggs]

Each hen is an individual when it comes to laying. Having said, that, laying for 10 years is a very good record of which you should be proud. There are a couple of factors you may want to consider to try to help her lay again. Hens are very sensitive to light and as the day length decreases, it signals hens to reduce and/or stop laying. As hens age, the reduced day length may have a greater effect. This is a normal process (called molting) and can be good for hens to refresh and rejuvinate their laying capabilities. You may want to give them a rest until spring or for at least 6 - 8 weeks. During that period of time switch them to a starter/grower diet like Purina Start & Grow. When you want to bring them back into production increase their day length back to 16 or 17 hours by adding artificial light.
If birds become overweight, they may also stop laying. Check their body condition and if you feel they are too heavy, you may want to continue their molt and reduce the amount of feed slightly (10% reduction), to help them loose weight. Once they have lost their weight, you can try to bring them back into production by providing artificial light as mentioned earlier and feed a good complete and balanced layer diet. Patrick Biggs, Purina Poultry Nutritionist.