Egg laying for dummies????

[cottagechick]

Thanks for all the help guys. I want to ask the really basic questions so that I am not assuming anything without verifying.

So here is a few more.

1. Does early and late maturing refer to egg laying? Early being around 16 weeks; late being closer to 24 weeks?
2. The two years of prime egg laying starts counting after they mature so if a chicken starts laying at six months then at 2.5 years they will start to decrease the volume of eggs but increase the size of the eggs that they lay. Have I got that right?
3. Do most breeds drop by half in the third year or is it only that drastic for the really early maturing heavy layers?
4. The eggs will be much smaller than normal at first and gradually increase in size throughout their lives.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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[cottagechick]

Ok, so that is new to me. There are full molts and partial molts? If I have pullets that are 4 or 5 months in September is it likely they will molt this year or wait until next year? What about chicks that are hatched at the beginning of September?

Thanks so much for all of your help.

Julie

 

[Fred's Hens]

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Yes I have kept them, up to three-four years. The Sussex got worse with age. The Barred Rocks tapered off a bit, while doing OK, but still it is the nature of things to be less prolific as the aging process continues. All the poultry science I read suggests this trend. Some breeds live longer than others, and some breeds are more steady over time, but most breeds to their best egg laying during the first few years of mature life. This isn't particularly mysterious. Fertility in humans drops off greatly with age as well.

 

[ChicKat]

cottagechick -- really great, throrough and interesting questions.

Fred's hens - Thanks for the insightful information about the chickens and the grading for egg production.

All this should help us understand the process better.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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There is a juvenile molt.

The first real moult is at 18 months or later, sometimes more than 2 years.
Lots depend on age, time of year, temperature, amount of light, feed.
Commercially they can starve, deprive of light to get them all to moult at once. They'll do this if they want another round of laying and bigger eggs. If hens kept in sheds with thousands of birds and 4-5 to a cage, they can't let them randomly moult and still supply the market Walmart with eggs under $2 a doz. They have to know that they are all laying and all stop at once.
This is the beauty of the small flock situation. More expensive eggs based on the economy of scale but healthier birds and healthier eggs.