questions about old hens

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In the past twenty years I have had two hens who had stopped laying over a year go broody. In one case, I put an older Dominique hen into a group of younger hens, and in the second case I had an older partridge Rockwell hen in with some pullets that I didn't realize were laying. I suspect that the trigger was the eggs in the nest. I had no fertile eggs the first time, so I bought a couple of chicks at the feed store and snuck them under her late at night. She raised them. The second time I had eggs in the incubator, and when they started to hatch I substituted them for the eggs she was sitting on. She raised them, too. Neither of them tried it again. I still have the Dominique...she is 14 years old!
 
ConnieA said:
In the past twenty years I have had two hens who had stopped laying over a year go broody. In one case, I put an older Dominique hen into a group of younger hens, and in the second case I had an older partridge Rockwell hen in with some pullets that I didn't realize were laying. I suspect that the trigger was the eggs in the nest. I had no fertile eggs the first time, so I bought a couple of chicks at the feed store and snuck them under her late at night. She raised them. The second time I had eggs in the incubator, and when they started to hatch I substituted them for the eggs she was sitting on. She raised them, too. Neither of them tried it again. I still have the Dominique...she is 14 years old!
Click to expand...

14 years old is amazing!
 
ConnieA said:
...an older partridge Rockwell hen...
Click to expand...

Okay, my sister and my friends are teasing me about the "New Rockwell Breed" ("Did you name her Norma, after Norman Rockwell???")-- Sorry, not a new breed! Spell-checker got the best of me. She was really a partridge Rock hen.

I have to say, we grew up with Partridge and Barred Rocks. They are good layers and dinner birds, and friendly to children. My parents hardly ever kept them long enough to find out, but ours today lay pretty well into their fifth year, with some laying intermittently much longer. I would recommend them as a good backyard hen who can gracefully transition from laying hen to old family pet. Wish I could find the photo my Mom took in the late sixties of the cat and two Partridge hens stretched out in the sun on the back step.
 
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