What is the life span for the lay hen before they STOP lay eggs?

[tuanle]

Hi all,

I currently have 5 lay hens, and they are only about 9 weeks old. Still have sometime before worry about when the birds get too old for lay egg. But it is good to know ahead. My question is how long will the bird stop laying egg after they have their first egg? 2 yr or 3 yr, or more ???.

Any thought comments would be great! Thanks you all in advanced!

 

[Popcorn]

It depends on the hen. My RIR girls are pretty consistent, my ISA brown has stopped laying, and my SLW is the best layer of the bunch, including the year old EE I have. All my hens but the EE are nearing three years old, the ISA stopped at two years.

 

[speckledhen]

You can't really say with any certainty-it's too individual, though most hatchery sex links die of reproductive malfunctions fairly early on, before 3 years of age.

I have several hens who are over 5 1/2 years old and still laying several eggs per week most of the year, but only one of those is a hatchery bird, a Brahma.

 

[tuanle]

The following lay hens are what I currently have (Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Red Star, Partridge Plymouth Rock, Black Australorp Chickens). Based on the comments above, there is no way one can tell how long the chickens will stop laying egg based on their breed. Thanks to all of your comments.

 

[terryg]

By the second year even your best layers will drop production at least 20%. The third year the best layers will again lay about 20 % fewer eggs, and the others even less than that. Longevity of laying is different than production. Hens like the Polish, who never laid a lot of eggs to begin with, can keep laying and laying. My 5 year old Polish lays 3 eggs a week. I have an Australorp who at age 7, lays once a week. Economically hens don't make sense to keep after 18 months, but most of us backyard chicken keepers don't keep our chickens to pay the bills. I write a lot about old hens on my blog and you might want to read this: http://hencam.com/henblog/2012/07/how-many-hens/

 

[tuanle]

Thank all for your reply.

terryg - I read about your old hens blod, it is interesting subject. Great blod!

 

[duckinnut]

Obviously their pullet year is the best laying year but like Speckled said they are all individual. Sure there is a baseline for individual breeds but not etched in stone. I have a RSL who is now 28 months old still averages 4/5 (usually 5)eggs a week while her flock mates have dropped off 2/3/4 a week and for the past nine days she has laid. I know this because she is segregated due to an leg injury that she has mostly overcome but was being picked on in the coop. She has free range of the place,gets extra attention and she is schooling 2 Australorps pullets in the ways of the world. Not sure is to what keeps up her egg laying pace. happiness,genetics or a combination of things. Can I clone her? Also have a Buff now 15 months when she started laying she went 21 days of laying,took off one day and another run of 10 days but now has settled into 3 a week. So it is really hard to say when the store will actually close.