Struggling with aging hens

[Barrdwing]

I've had remarkably good luck with our little EEs. While all of the pullets in their first spring lay like crazy, it has been the EEs that time and again bounce back after the winter molt and resume laying at only a slightly slower rate. When the flock starts to get above three years old on the average, we do see a bigger drop in egg production. And no older hen will ever match the production that she had during her first laying season. But we have a 6-year-old EE that still gives us four or five eggs a week, and her daughter does the same. Our other older hens, like the Sussex, are not laying as well as that, but they're putting in the effort. I have to wonder if that "hybrid vigor" of the EE is part of the reason they lay so well.

That fall/winter molt hammers our girls every time, even the good layers: they're so busy growing feathers that by the time they're done, it's cold and the days are short, so they take a vacation. I figure that taking a break from the egg production is good for them, and allows them to rebuild their reserves for the next laying season. But I will try adding more protein to their ration this fall, and see if that helps speed the molt up: they range, but there aren't too many bugs out there in winter so maybe they've been deprived.

 

[NanaLantana]

Well, I thought I'd throw in my two cents' worth - I had an old EE hen that laid on and off for 9 years! I found the trick for her when she quit laying at about 4 years - she started stealing sips of my coffee in the mornings, and then she started laying again, for almost another 5 years! The coffee acted as a stimulant, she didn't get much, and she was still very happy and healthy. If you have a small flock, you should be able to give them a little coffee! However it does not work during a moult, of course. Also, my old EE loved to pick the triangles out of the dog food, the green bag purina. That was the cheese flavored one, I guess. Wouldn't eat the other shapes. Don't give dry cat food, it gives the chickens the runs! Hope this helps, hope your chickens start laying again.

 

[NanaLantana]

Oh, the coffee has to have cream and sugar -

 

[bkreugar]

Quote:
THIS is exactly how I feel about it. I also let mine free range so i lose birds throu out the year due to predators, but that also allows me to feed less. But I agree I let them live out their days with me whatever they are.

I have done the same for good horses. Not ALL but my great babysitters, I kept them till they HAD to euthanized, they had a few good retirement years. It was my way of giving back to the individual animal and to the whole process.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
THIS is exactly how I feel about it. I also let mine free range so i lose birds throu out the year due to predators, but that also allows me to feed less. But I agree I let them live out their days with me whatever they are.

I have done the same for good horses. Not ALL but my great babysitters, I kept them till they HAD to euthanized, they had a few good retirement years. It was my way of giving back to the individual animal and to the whole process.

x3

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
I'm a newbie here and wondering how you force a molt? Can you elaborate? Thanks!

 

[chknfrmr]

X 2

I'm new to this too and curious how that's done?

Lamar

 

[BANTAMWYANDOTTE]

This is seems very strange to many people but a hens egg production only decreases each year until it slows down so much that she won't even allow the rooster to breed. Leghorns in egg factories are retired after 72 weeks because their egg production slows too much. This is common to Leghorns. Todays Leghorns have been bred to quickly produce eggs without going broody and to produce these eggs with little feed and regardless of living conditions. This gene altering breeding has cause the Leghorns reproductive organs to start shutting down (like menopause). This is due to the strain that laying that many eggs at such young age (everyday) puts on the reproductive organs. They simply wear out quicker because they are used more than others.

Alot of the replies here say that layer breeds slow down egg production after two years but I have to disagree. My six Red Sex-Links lay five eggs a week from early April until October before slowing the eventually stopping mid-winter. They have done this for the past three years with very little varitation in the pattern. They are cofined but they are happy. Happiness is the key to getting them lay.



Try this my advice in this thread and see if it helps your Leghorns but I think new hens would be more effective......

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=501018



Maybe try a more dual purpose chicken next time like the Jersey Giant or the Delaware. If you only want white eggs try mixture that some hatcheries offer like the Austria White that will lay longer than the leghorn or the Ancona who lays larger eggs and are more likely to lay longer than the Leghorn.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
I had 3 about-two year old Leghorns (lost one to a dog last week) and they did slow down over the winter, I was getting *maybe* one white egg per day from all 3, but they did molt last Nov/Dec, and come this spring, I'd say around April for sure they kicked up the laying again. They turned 2 on April 10 this year, and I've gotten 3, or now 2 white eggs per day almost every day for a while now. I had a love/hate relationship with the breed when they were younger, but now I love my feisty old girls. They're a bit headstrong, and surprisingly good at ranging, and handle the heat well - just today I was almost considering buying a couple more Leghorns!

Mine were ranged on my back yard for the first 1+ of their life and during that time I saw them gulp down small snakes, not to mention all the bugs, but now they are confined most of the time. I've fed them a lot of Purina Flock Raiser when they ranged, then Layena, and within the past 6ish months I've switched them to a local mill layer feed (it doesn't have animal protein either that I can tell from the vague ingredient list). With age their egg shells have gotten thinner, but it doesn't seem to matter what I'm feeding them (always have oyster shell on the side and I cook/crush/re-feed eggshells too). I bring them kitchen scraps and scraps from work, including meat, as often as I can, but as you can imagine the quantity/frequency varies a lot.

 

[whiteflare]

Quote:
How long do these 'breaks' usually last for? Mine stopped laying around their second birthday, and it's been about eight and a half months since the last eggs.