How old is your oldest laying hen?

[Ducksandchickens]

My RIR and barred rocks are three years old and still plugging along with eggs. I’m just wondering how old your oldest hen is? (That still lays)
Just trying to figure out the average age a hen stops laying!

 

[Kessel23]

The oldest chickens I have now are around 4, I think, they might be 5, I am honestly not positive. They are still laying. The oldest hen I have had was a 10 year old RIR, she laid her last egg when she was 7 and then became a nasty egg eater and would teach the other birds to break open and eat eggs. She was very smart, she was older than me at the time and I would often leave the coop door open and forget to shut it at night, when the door was left open coyotes would come in and kill tons of birds, the hen realized this and soon started sleeping in the barn whenever the door was left open. She dropped dead when she was 10, I was pretty upset that the only chicken that was older than me died but at least the egg eating stopped.

My grandpa has some hens that are 13 years old, I am not sure when they stopped laying or if they stopped but I assume they could not still be going at this age.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

We have an EE that is at least 7 years old (we got her as an adult) She has been laying on and off for the past few years. Last year she did not lay but a few eggs and we thought she had just become a pet. Well Christmas day she laid a bright blue egg, which we thought was a sweet gift, except she has continued to lay at least 2 or 3 eggs a week since. It has been almost 5 months that she continues to lay every couple of days a week. Don't know when it will stop, her eggs are getting lighter in color, but comb remains pretty red. I guess it just depends on the hen!!

 

[alexa009]

My red sex link is a 1.5 years and is a very good layer and my buff orpington and barred rocks are 2 years old and lay almost everyday. I have had chickens laying at 4 years though.

 

[Broody Bist]

My last RIR girl is well over 5 years old (lost count lol) and still lays a large brown egg every day. She's the oldest hen we have and the bossiest.

 

[Ducksandchickens]

My last RIR girl is well over 5 years old (lost count lol) and still lays a large brown egg every day. She's the oldest hen we have and the bossiest.

Sounds like my RIR ! She thinks she is the boss but I’ve taught them that I’m the leader of the flock!

 

[Broody Bist]

Sounds like my RIR ! She thinks she is the boss but I’ve taught them that I’m the leader of the flock!

Susie still tries to be the boss even though her son is head of the flock now (We let one of our broodies hatch one of Susie's eggs, since she's so old and we wanted a descendant from her. Turns out he was a roo!! lol)

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

My oldest hen, an EE mixed breed, is 4 years old and lays @ least 5 eggs a week. Her sister from the same clutch rarely lays.....

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Six years old and lays better than most of the young ones

 

[Ursuline Chick]

My RIR and barred rocks are three years old and still plugging along with eggs. I’m just wondering how old your oldest hen is? (That still lays)
Just trying to figure out the average age a hen stops laying!

@Ducksandchickens This is turning out to be a fun thread, thank you for starting it.