Red stars lifespan?

[Jock]

I bought trays of day old chicks for egg laying and wondered what their normal lifespan is?
Do they moult or stop laying at any time?
After (if) they stop laying for a while do they return to laying again?

Also, if I put a rooster amongst a few of them, will they breed and hatch?

Thanks in advance
J

 

[Egghead_Jr]

They should come into lay by 24 weeks. Will have first mature molt usually the beginning of second winter. Being in winterless Tanzania I don't know when yours will molt, should be during months of less daylight. Egg production doesn't stop completely but will be greatly reduced for about 3 months during molt. After each molt egg production is slightly reduced. I decided to slaughter my production layers before third molt, fall at 2.5 years old. I was getting 4-5 eggs a week still but with molt, winter laying and knowing they'd produce only 3-4 eggs per week come spring wasn't worth feeding them for 5 more months.

Chickens have a finite number of eggs. With production layers you get a lot of eggs for two years but they drop off production faster than traditional breeds. Will still lay eggs though not as well and usually not economically enough when older birds.

The lifespan of a chicken is 10 years or more but production layers like Red Stars tend to have reproduction issues and can die young. From experience and reading here it seems to be around three years old when/if it happens. One of mine passed late summer of second year.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yes, you can hatch their fertile eggs. They won't likely ever go broody, as that has largely been bred out of them, but you could incubate. The red sexlink when bred, won't produce after its kind. It is itself a mix and the chicks produced will vary wildly as to coloration.