OLD HEN

[marymac]

I just processed my first hen, which I thought was too old to lay any more eggs. Not sure of age, as she was given to me last fall. As far as I know she didn't lay, so I felt it was time. My question is ... she still had eggs inside her, several large ones and clusters of smaller ones. She was really fat though. So would that stop her from laying?

I have heard that it can, but if that is true, why would there be so many eggs inside her? Would she had eventually laid them? I have a few more about the same age that i think aren't laying either which I plan to dispatch, cause I've been feeding them for months now and out of 6 big hens I get 3 eggs on a good day.

 

[marymac]

Does any one know about this?

 

[TJ's Na-Na]

I don't have a clue how old your hens are, but we have a
" 6 year old " Rhode Island Red Hen, of course she has had
a good life, that is still taking Reserve Champion at County
Shows here in NE Oklahoma....LOL And, although she doesn't
lay a lot of eggs anymore, she has blessed us with over 20
beautiful, healthy "show prospect" chicks this spring.

If you're wanting egg production, you're probably better off to
replace the older hens. They are excellent for stewing. I keep
a separate batch of EEs and Cinnamon Queen/EE cross hens
for egg production around here and rotate them at about 3
years of age.

Have a good one !

 

[SproutGirl]

She may have had a condition called egg binding. I'm not sure what causes it, but it can be fatal to a hen. You can search for egg binding on this forum, or you can search for it on Google.