Many eggs all at once or over a period of time?

[junebuggena]

Ooc, back to the original post in relation to:
Is that (assuming a fixed number of ova at birth) because the time spent down while broody and during the off season extend the use of the fixed amount of ova? Or, do the occasional breaks make a larger percentage of the ova viable for egg laying purposes?

Probably a bit of both.
And giving a hen a break during winter gives her body a chance to recover from laying all spring/summer long, thus keeping her in better condition and overall health. All that laying does take a physical toll on the hen. That break does tend to reduce the chances of a hen developing egg binding, internal laying, or yolk peritonitis; all of which can be fatal. Hens that are allowed to recover from intense laying cycles, are usually healthier. Healthier birds live longer. The longer a hen lives, the longer she will lay.
There have been cases of hens over 10 years of age, still laying eggs.

 

[jpalmatier83]

Healthier birds live longer. The longer a hen lives, the longer she will lay.
There have been cases of hens over 10 years of age, still laying eggs.

That's at the crux of our discussion though isn't it? I totally agree that healthier birds live longer, but, will longer lived birds necessarily lay longer? Also, are there other factors than health (such as breed or seasonal laying cycles) that will cause birds to lay longer? Are there choices people can make (breed, feed, lighting) people can make which would result in a longer time span laying, lower density laying lifecycle? Instinctively you can, but back to their original post, is there any resource (studies, posts, synopsis) for a concise comparison?

 

[jpalmatier83]

Something that just occurred to me...

It's been stated that healthier birds with better nutrition and living conditions lay sooner and more often right? Assuming a fixed number of ova, couldn't that imply that although healthier birds have a longer life, they'd have a shorter laying window, as they would be more inclined to lay earlier and more often (and use up their fixed number of ova)?

 

[lazy gardener]

Something that just occurred to me...

It's been stated that healthier birds with better nutrition and living conditions lay sooner and more often right? Assuming a fixed number of ova, couldn't that imply that although healthier birds have a longer life, they'd have a shorter laying window, as they would be more inclined to lay earlier and more often (and use up their fixed number of ova)?

While ova degrade in the body over time, I doubt that any hen would ever "run out" of ova. I have no science to back this up, just my personal thought. I know that the female human has far many ova than she would ever be able to release in a life time. I assume it's similar for chickens.



Unlike men, who produce new sperm daily throughout most of their lifetime, women are born with all their eggs in one — okay, two baskets (ovaries). To be more precise, a woman is born with about one to two million immature eggs, or follicles, in her ovaries.Jun 12, 2015

 

[jpalmatier83]

Fair enough. The question then becomes, if the hen has more ova than she will ever use, why does a chicken eventually slow/stop laying? And how does one extend the process?

 

[lazy gardener]

For the very same reason that a woman stops menstruating... can no longer get pregnant. Want to extend the years of fertility in your flock?: provide the best nutrition and environment possible. Genetics also plays a role... same with humans. Put a human in a stress filled environment, provide sub optimal nutrition, get her hooked on cigarettes, alcohol, and any other number of harmful behaviors... that's bound to have a negative effect on fertility and health of any children she might have. We are created to have an optimal period for bearing young. I think God is wise in that decision. While man can tinker with the process and extend it with hormones, how wise is it? At 60, I am worn out by chasing after 3 grand children this week. Hormones can extend child bearing years, but they can not give an aging body the endurance required to provide the care required to raise an infant to adult hood.

 

[jpalmatier83]

And to wrap this back to the original post once more:

Is there a particular breed, type, niche that may be more desirable for someone who's looking for a long lived pet that may have lower laying "density" but will also have longer laying longevity? Not suggesting "playing god", but: in the future I would be happier buying a breed which would lay 4 eggs a week and continue to do so for 5 years, rather than buying a breed which would lay 6-7 eggs a year but only lay for 2.5 years. Does such a distinction exist?

Thanks.

 

[lazy gardener]

And to wrap this back to the original post once more:

Is there a particular breed, type, niche that may be more desirable for someone who's looking for a long lived pet that may have lower laying "density" but will also have longer laying longevity? Not suggesting "playing god", but: in the future I would be happier buying a breed which would lay 4 eggs a week and continue to do so for 5 years, rather than buying a breed which would lay 6-7 eggs a year but only lay for 2.5 years. Does such a distinction exist?

Thanks.

You might start by looking at Henderson's chicken breeds chart. Heritage quality birds are most likely to give you what you are looking for. Consider this: hatcheries are cranking out just as many chicks of a particular breed as they can. So, they are focused on using breeders that are heavy layers, sometimes to the exclusion of focus on other desirable traits: longevity, personality, feather quality conformity to breed standard. If you choose a breed, then find a quality breeder, you may end up with birds that are longer lived, perhaps lay less eggs/week, but more eggs/life time.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

No. the things that you mentioned are merely tweaks in the environment and these things will not force a hen to lay more eggs than she would otherwise lay. By adding light your just creating the appearance of Spring time in the hens mind, her hormones do the rest. A 16% protein ration will not result in fewer eggs than a 22% protein ration. The increased protein will merely add to the expense of producing eggs and result in ammonia smells in the chicken droppings. Another biggie is the breed of hen.

Now back to the breed of hen. The greatest improvement in egg laying ability happened when the urge to set or go broody was bred out of laying hens. This one improvement in a hens DNA resulted in up to 200 additional eggs per year per hen because sitting hens don't lay ANY eggs and some hens suffer with bouts of broodiness three or four times per year, or in other words one bout of broodiness for about every 20 eggs produced which is about the maximum number of eggs that a hen can hover and this means less egg production without an increase in hen health. There is NO evidence that not going broody in anyway adversely affects hens' health regardless of what people like PETA, HSUS, or other Vegan activist claim. However broodiness or at least excessive broodiness is harmful to a hens' overall health.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Probably a bit of both.
And giving a hen a break during winter gives her body a chance to recover from laying all spring/summer long, thus keeping her in better condition and overall health. All that laying does take a physical toll on the hen. That break does tend to reduce the chances of a hen developing egg binding, internal laying, or yolk peritonitis; all of which can be fatal. Hens that are allowed to recover from intense laying cycles, are usually healthier. Healthier birds live longer. The longer a hen lives, the longer she will lay.
There have been cases of hens over 10 years of age, still laying eggs.

There is no doubt that a ten year old hen will lay a few eggs. I can personally testify to that. However very old hens only lay as few as half a dozen or so eggs a year. However this reduced production did not go hand-in-hand with a similar reduction in feed consumption.

I would like to remind everyone that in the last 100 or so years, that as birth rates have decreased woman's life expectancy has caught up to and surpassed human males' life expectancy.

A hen in good health ovulates daily or almost daily but in every important way going broody to a hen is tantamount to giving birth in a woman.

I find the idea absurd that a hen who lays less regularly is in any way a better or more healthy hen, all it proves is that the Chicken Seller who hatches such chicks is either a lazy or careless breeder who is slack in the selection of their breeding stock or else that chicken

seller is perpetrating a fraud on the chicken buying public.