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Yes, I noted your location and I realize that every country has a different system. The plain and simple truth is that here, there are only a handful of BIG hatcheries that do most of the business for the general public and numerous, smaller ones. The big ones do a huge volume of business. They cater to what most folks want when they go to the feed stores in spring to get chicks, chicks who grow into laying hens who deliver the goods, a daily egg.
You see it all the time in posts here: "oh, my gosh, my hens haven't laid for three days! I need those eggs! How do I kick them back into production?!". That's what feeds the hatcheries' business here. Most of the breeds barely look like what they are supposed to look like, much less have great genetics for longevity. Why would they want that? That cuts into their business if folks don't have to come back every couple of years for more birds. They breed broodiness out of the birds and production into them. Just my humble opinion.
Beyond the issue of bad genetics, chickens are living creatures, first and foremost. Hens are not vending machines, to quote myself from a few years ago. They are affected by a lot of things. If their bodies need a break, good grief, let them take it! Don't try to push them past what they can do without damaging their overall health. But, that's just me. Some want to rotate hens every two years so they rarely see the reproductive malfunctions that generally start to happen around two years of age. Some run egg businesses and can't keep "lollygaggers". Mine live here their whole lives, generally. If they quit laying after five years and live five more, that's fine. They've served the family. I'd rather feed non-layers for a couple of years than watch them die slowly, wasting away, becoming weak and pale, knowing what's happening in their bodies.
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