Hi from a relative newbie

[MooCowMom]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

Not generally.

Any of the birds that were bred for high production rates have that done at the expense of longevity.

If you switch to heritage breeds or just stay away from the production breeds you will enjoy them longer.

Thank you! I have followed your advice!

 

[MooCowMom]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

Yes, thank you. I have been enjoying this happy hen house!

 

[MooCowMom]

Welcome. As heart-breaking and in my opinion criminal as it is, you have the factory farm egg industry to blame for the issues you are facing with your girls. In the wild, hens only lay about 20-eggs per year. The factory farm industry over the past several decades has abused the hens to lay 200-300 per year.

Then, they get rid of the hens at 18-months, and not nicely.

Even though you are giving your girls a good life, they come from a line of production breeds that make them lay way more eggs than their poor little bodies can handle. The abusive increase of egg laying volume that the factory farms made has also resulted in many health problems. As one example, a hens liver restructures when she comes into laying. A high volume of eggs is the biggest factor leading to liver hemorrhagic disease which most of the time results in sudden death. I try to help their livers by adding milk thistle to their feed.

As far as ceasing laying early, this is also a result of being bred to lay too many eggs. Hens, like women, have a certain number of eggs.

You have provided great insights – thank you. Milk thistle… where do you obtain that? How much do you give them?

 

[MooCowMom]

Hi, sorry for the issues you are encountering. It sounds like in addition to misrepresenting the breed, you may have been given chickens older than the 8 months stated.

I chatted with a breeder recently, and he came up with the same conclusion. Thank you for your feedback.

 

[MooCowMom]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Is it possible to post pictures of your birds? It seems very likely that you were sold high production hybrids.

Pictures, yes I should try to post some. My flock of four is now two.

 

[MooCowMom]

Maybe someone here can share their experience with @MooCowMom about which heritage breeds to get.

I know very little about what chickens are or aren't so looked it up and this site seems good.

Thank you for this reference. I am grateful!

 

[MooCowMom]

Welcome to BYC! We're so glad to have you here.
So sorry about your girls, good luck with them.

Thank you, I am doing my best.

 

[MooCowMom]

Sadly, my flock of four RIR hens has now become two. Prudy passed away overnight without any visible health problems. She had been slowing down, and would be found simply sitting on a nest at various times of the day. I want to think she was just old, and fell asleep. But I wept all the same.

 

[MooCowMom]

Time for cheerful news! Ten days ago, we adopted four young hens from a trusted and reputable breeder! We now enjoy Sophie (Blue Copper Maran), Esther (Cream Legbar), and sisters Cayenne and Pepper (Ameracauna). We feel extremely blessed! Thank you all for your encouragement.

 

[MooCowMom]

I hope this doesn't deter you from getting more chickens. It is heartbreaking to lose them or when something goes wrong with them, but it sounds like you are a good chicken keeper and trying some other breeds or lines of chickens will give you better success.

Thanks for joining and welcome to BackYard Chickens!

Your encouraging words are heartwarming! Thank you!