Suprelorin & Spaying

[techwood]

Have a few questions if anyone can help.....

I've been reading about the Suprelorin implant and how it can give hens a rest from egg laying.

Is it possible to have hens on this full-time so they don't lay any eggs at all? I'm not interested in their eggs at all, just more interested in making sure they are happy and it seems, from what I have read, to benefit the hens to not have to lay.

Also, may be a silly question, but does spaying a hen stop egg production?

Any help would be great

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Egg laying isn't dangerous or bad for hens. Many of my hens live 8-10 years. You can choose breeds that don't lay much and avoid sex link hens. Feed and house them correctly, let them be chickens, not cloistered protected objects and honor the animal for what it is. I hardly ever see health problems in mine.

Using unnatural means to stop laying will probably shorten their lives. Egg laying requires calories, remove that and your hens get fat and die from things related to obesity.

 

[techwood]

But they were never really meant to lay as many as they do so even reducing it down to one egg a month is going to be far more natural for them and save them a lot of issues.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What's natural is for a hen to lay a clutch of egg, 6-20, than incubate them raise the chicks than do it again. Most chicks don't make it. The hen does it as many times as she can.

There are breeds that still do the natural behavior, mostly bantam and game breeds. Some haven't been bred for egg production.

It's not normal to lay once a month. Egg laying is natural and doesn't hurt most hens, so I don't know what information you have gotten that makes you afraid of it. It might be better for you to find a different species to keep.

 

[techwood]

From what I can gather all domestic chickens are all originally bred from the Red Jungle Fowl which lay around 11-13 eggs a year (around one a month). The only reason chickens these days lay as much as they do now is from years of selective breeding by the egg industry in order to make them produce way more than they ever would naturally. The modern domestic chicken found on egg farms are pretty much genetic monsters of their natural self. Just because they can lay this much doesn't mean it's natural for them or that it is good for them. I've read quite a few threads on this forum where people have suggested letting hens take a break from egg laying and hence my questions. Hope that clears things up.

I'm also doing a report so if anyone can directly answer the questions that would be a great help x

 

[techwood]

Just to clarify the hens are not being bred so I'm only discussing the natural egg cycle and not any potential chicks

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

It is natural for them to lay when the do. All politics aside of whether man should breed animals to do or not do something, interfering with what is now your domestic hens laying cycle is probably not best for them. What the other folks are talking about is some birds at certain times of the year slow down or stop laying all together, instead of forcing them to lay through artificial means they allow the birds to do what the bird's body wants. Most hens do take a natural break in the laying cycle and thus production will vary. I hope this helps explains what folks are trying to explain. Just let them do their thing, they do not need their cycle controlled if you want to be as gentle with their system, also check out natural chicken keeping thread, a lot of knowledgable people there. There is more but I am on a break and need to get back to work.

Peace and happy chicken keeping.

 

[Chickenkeepr]

What chickens are now is "natural" for that breed. You're talking about the descending from another bird centuries ago. Things change. You wanting to stop the egg laying process with most likely greatly shorten their life, and do who knows what to their mental well being. If it's so important to have an egg laying breed not do what is natural for them, perhaps you should get a non-egg laying breed or a different kind of bird all together. I apologize for sounding harsh, but you wanting to potentially put your hens in danger because you think they lay too many eggs really rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I don't want you thinking we don't understand your concerns but think of it this way mother nature practices selection and has created creatures that in their natural form are extreme you would never think to fix them to a less extreme form. The problem is you forget your hens could be created by nature to lay a lot and not just as easily by man, mice have lots of babies they are not broken just adapted for preditation by other species. Try to look at yout hens like that not broken not abused but evolved. Your birds have a natural cycle that someone has taught you is unatural. That is not the case, selection by humans is not cruel nor is selection by nature, it simply is an expression of tje biodivetsity and evolutionary process that can occur in any species. I hope this helps explain that your chickens are not broken, abnormal, unnatural, or suffering, they are simply doing what is natutal to them.

 

[aart]

So you're asking as research for a report for school?

Domestication and hybridization(not GMO) had changed many food animals.
Spaying or medicating a production hybrid chicken to lay less seems a bit oxymoronic to the 'natural' theory.