How do you make chickens to lay more eggs?

[BY1100]

Hi all,

Sorry for the newbie question.
Do farmers give or inject chickens with hormones in order to force them to lay more eggs?

 

[Pugsabi]

No, they breed those qualities in them.

For example, they find that one of their birds lays a lot of eggs, they breed that bird in the hopes that her chicks will also lay a lot of eggs. Over time they produced different types of chickens that are known to lay more eggs than others.

Most people call these types of birds production birds. They can lay many eggs a year but this drastically shortens their lifespans.

A production bird might only live two or three years, while a heritage bird (a bird that hasn't changed much over it's history) may live to be seven years old or more.

 

[JedJackson]

No. For one thing, that is cruel, and I don't believe it would work, anyway. It wouldn't be cost efficient or practical, either.

What can be done to increase egg production is to feed them with balanced layer feed that includes all the nutrients they need in the right amounts, having clean water available at all times, minimizing stress for the layers, and having artificial light so that the birds get at least 12 hours of light per day. Other than those things, not much can be done. Leghorns, production reds, and sex links are the best layers.

 

[aart]

You have to squeeze them.
Sorry, couldn't resist....real answers already given.