life span and egg laying

ThePRfan

Songster
5 Years
Sep 27, 2014
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I have saw questions about a chicken lifespan,people think they can live up to maybe only 3 years,yeah,no.

A chicken can live to ve 12 or 13 years,depending on its care and environment.
They normally almost stop laying at 3 or 4.This also depends on breed.

Egg laying.
They don't necessarily stop laying.They just don't choose to at elderly age,which is 4 and older.
 
Well,they make the eggs,they lay em...

I'm not certain what that means. Every hen is born with X amount of ova in her ovaries. Some lay almost constantly and eventually deplete their given supply (hybrid egg layers) others lay through out their lifetime and in the case of many extremely broody breeds die while still carrying hundreds of undeveloped ova in their ovaries. Development of ova/eggs is controlled by feed, environmental factors, hormonal factors, breed characteristics - but I never have been made aware that it is a choice.

edited to add 'hormonal factors' which for the most part are controlled by day length one of the environmental factors.
 
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I'm not certain what that means. Every hen is born with X amount of ova in her ovaries. Some lay almost constantly and eventually deplete their given supply (hybrid egg layers) others lay through out their lifetime and in the case of many extremely broody breeds die while still carrying hundreds of undeveloped ova in their ovaries. Development of ova/eggs is controlled by feed, environmental factors, hormonal factors, breed characteristics - but I never have been made aware that it is a choice.

edited to add 'hormonal factors' which for the most part are controlled by day length one of the environmental factors.
That's great info. Thanks for posting.
 
Ditto what Sourland said. Hens do not "choose" to lay or not lay eggs any more then a human female chooses whether or not to ovulate! It's a function of the body and can be affected by many factors. As far as lifespan? Could be anything. I've known people with teenage hens. I've had birds stop laying and die of reproductive problems before their 2nd birthday, then there are others who are around 6 years old and older and still laying. It's just extremely variable due to so many, many factors so it's really impossible to predict or give an average lifespan of how long any particular bird may live or how long she will lay eggs.
 
I wonder. Do most hens get around the same number of ova?

In people, the majority get a good amount. Plenty to be fertile from puberty through menopause. Menopause varies, but some women are born with few eggs....

What I am getting to... If a breed not known for eggcellent production as in 4+ per week, or a breed that has considered poor production 1-2 per week lay the same number of eggs (generally) over their lifetime?

Would a hen from a poor production breed (generally) still be cranking out that 1-2 eggs per week at 7 years old and beyond.... When the excellent breed would have slowed down because they have used most of their ova in the first 2 years?
 

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