What age is considered old?

[BlackCoffee]

At what age is a laying hen considered old and ready to be made into tasty stew?

 

[ShrekDawg]

A lot of people, especially egg sellers, etc., will replace their layers as soon as egg production starts to decline, often around 2-3 years, but others keep them their whole lives or a few years longer, all personal preference really. Typically a hen's production will start to drop off by the second winter but not always. This is especially true for production laying birds and hybrids bred for eggs who tend to lay much earlier and more often but also tend to burn out a lot faster. The heritage breeds typically mature slower and lay longer so they may still be laying well past 2 or 3. So yeah. All personal preference and why one keeps their birds I suppose. Mine are for both eggs and pets so I'll be keeping mine their whole lives.