Here are questions I haven't seen an answer for yet.......

[WestKnollAmy]

How many eggs do your hens lay a year?
Do the hens lay more as 2 year olds or 3 year olds or older?
At what age do the ladies start slowing down in laying?

Do you ever hatch yearling eggs if they happen to produce any?

Believe me, I have more questions but I figure this is a start.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Arbor]

This has been my experience, but will not necessarily be standard across the board:

How many eggs do your hens lay a year?
I've collected up to 34+ eggs from a single hen, but normally around 20-24.
Do the hens lay more as 2 year olds or 3 year olds or older?
My 2 year olds don't lay as many as my older hens, and each hen is different each year.
At what age do the ladies start slowing down in laying?
So far, I've not had a hen that did lay slow down. The oldest hen I've ever had passed away at 15, and never slowed

Do you ever hatch yearling eggs if they happen to produce any?
never had any to try and hatch unfortunately

Believe me, I have more questions but I figure this is a start.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Awesome info! Thank you!

I understand each is different but it blows me away to hear they lay up into their teens. My chickens and Guineas slow down after 5 or 6 years old. This is most interesting news. I appreciate it.

I hope others will chime in with their experiences, as well.

 

[Lil Zoo]

I had 4 yearling hens in a pen with one male this fall. That group laid over 40 eggs late in the fall, I don't know of course which hen laid or how many or if all laid a few, most of them were fertile. The other pens I had 4 hens in with 1 male. One pen didn't have one egg. The other had 2 eggs, that pen had 2 year old male, 2 eggs weren't fertile. Last pen didn't have a male so expected no fertile eggs, but seen no eggs at all. So my newbie experience was rather mind boggling. I also had 1 older hen in the pen that laid none, but she could of laid her catch before I got her.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

This probably goes without saying, but:
These responses refer to how many eggs they lay if you take eggs away from the hens to incubate yourself.
If they are left to their own devices, hens will lay, and hatch, one (sometimes two) 5-6 egg clutches a season.

 

[AugeredIn]

How many eggs do your hens lay a year?
I had three one year olds that laid two, five and six eggs respectively.
My two year olds averaged 15 eggs per hen (One hen laid only seven eggs).
My three year and older birds averaged 21 eggs but not all were fertile (I had a high non-fertile average at the beginning of the year)

Do the hens lay more as 2 year olds or 3 year olds or older?
Yes. See above.

At what age do the ladies start slowing down in laying?
Don't know. I had a ten year old hen that laid tons of eggs before I sold her.

Do you ever hatch yearling eggs if they happen to produce any?
I set five of the yearling eggs above. Three were fertile. None hatched. Only one of the yearling hens laid before the boys lost their tales. That is almost always the case at our place.

Believe me, I have more questions but I figure this is a start.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[AugeredIn]

I had 4 yearling hens in a pen with one male this fall. That group laid over 40 eggs late in the fall, .....

That is pretty awesome. My yearlings always lay late and almost always after the males start throwing the train. I think us guys in the south suffer from the heat when it comes to egg production and the male fertility period.

 

[casportpony]

I didn't get any eggs from my 3 yearlings that I know of, but they were free ranging. Then the next year, as two year olds, I got maybe 4, but none hatched. This year they must have laid around 15 each. I am just learning about hatching/raising peafowl, so the only ones that hatched were the nice fresh eggs that I put under my banty hen and RP turkey.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

This probably goes without saying, but:
These responses refer to how many eggs they lay if you take eggs away from the hens to incubate yourself.
If they are left to their own devices, hens will lay, and hatch, one (sometimes two) 5-6 egg clutches a season.

Yes, I collect eggs several times a day from my 27 pens of birds plus from the free ranging coops, too. I never let eggs stay in a pen. If a bird goes broody I may give her eggs, usually not even her own but that depends on a few things.

Thank you.

 

[Lil Zoo]

Maybe that's another reason my last batch of eggs looked so good then didn't hatch. I only got 2 babies out of the whole lot, but they were all from the late yearlings. That male didn't drop his train till September. Mr. White lost his starting of August and Mr. Cam soon followed.