How long (on average) will a hen produce eggs?

[cottagechick]

Quote:
Lol! Seems like they should lay for decades.

Imp

Actually if they had 10,000 eggs and they lay 365 a year...they should be able to lay for at least 27 years....

 

[humpbacks1962]

If they lay for many years, they give you fewer eggs a week. If they lay very often, they finish their eggs early in life. That's the payoff.
My Black Stars gave me an egg each day, through the winter even, until they totally stopped after 3 1/5 - 4 years.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
Lol! Seems like they should lay for decades.

Imp

Actually if they had 10,000 eggs and they lay 365 a year...they should be able to lay for at least 27 years....

A pullet might well be born with 10,000 eggs in potential, but it is unlikely that anywhere near 100% of those would ever have the chance to develop. There are more factors to a hen laying an egg. Over all health. All the systems of her internal organs and bone structure would also have to last for 20 years. It is the rarer hen who can maintain all these systems in a healthy enough balance to lay for a decade.

Nature uses the longer lens of generational reproductive capacity to determine the survival of a species. A mammal, that lives 80 years, likely has two or even three subsequent generations of reproductive offspring she has birthed. A chicken can easily accomplish that within 3-4 years.