How long do hens lay eggs

HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. All rights reserved. Tsekhmister via Getty Images. Suggest a correction. Parchment, Wax And Freezer Paper. I want to go to pasture "only", and plenty of room. I have stopped feeding them. They are grazing on pasture stuff and seem quite happy. I have watched their egg production go from about 3. However over that 2 week period their yolk color went from yellow to deep orange, and my customers love it.

How do I get volume back up? Surely the commercial pasture egg guys don't go through this. Your hens have probably recovered by now, but anytime you change feed you'll see a drop in egg laying. You'll also need to supplement with feed while they are on pasture. To protect your pasture you should move them every couple of days. I was told that adding crushed hot red peppers to the feed would keep the hens laying. I tried it, and they kept up the egg production through the winter.

I kept some roosters too, although I don't know whether they kept the hens active and whether or not that might contribute to discouraging the girls from getting idle during the winter months.

Why would you not have a vet put your chicken to sleep if she is sick or in pain? Wouldn't that be more humane? Mainly, expense? Vets charge a lot of money for an office visit, just to put a chicken to sleep. Most flock owners don't have the money to pay for that expense for something they don't consider 'pets'. There are exceptions, but also, most vets are not avian experts, and don't know the dosages to give for a chicken's euthanasia, and they will look at you like you're an idiot, knowing full well that you should be doing it yourself.

If you can't kill a chicken yourself, then you have no business owning one. I have a flock of three year old red sexlink hens who began pecking each other during their first molt. More than half have bald rumps or backs. They are free range on a half acre grassy orchard and seasonal garden.

I have been told if I get a rooster the hens will stop this behavior. Forgot to mention there are 13 hens and they do have a henhouse with multiple nest boxes but the door is open for them to go in and out at will.

More than likely they're pulling the feathers off of each other to eat them, for extra minerals, and to speed up the process of molting. Recommend that you give them higher protein feed during the molt season, such as Nutrena's Feather Fixer formula.

It will help tremendously. I have one hen that the other hens are pecking at her so badly that it causes her to bleed. Why are they doing this and how do I stop it.? I don't know what to do hope that you can help. She's at the bottom of the pecking order hierarchy. Usually this is the bird that is the most shyest, weakest, submissive, in the flock. Observe your flock to determine who is at the top of the hierarchy Separate this Alpha bird out of the flock for a few days.

Then, after several days, re-introduce her to the flock. The pecking order will have been shuffled, and she'll be at the bottom of the order for a while, until things settle out. This will give the first Omega bird a chance to re-establish herself higher up in the hierarchy.

We recently bought butchard chickens from my nephew. I read that after it is processed and frozen, it's better to wait 3 months before you eat the chicken. That it will taste better. Any truth to that? Thanks in advance!

Hi, Beth. What we can offer for advice about freshly butchered is that you should let them rest for 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator before freezing. We have not heard about keeping them for any specific amount of time in the freezer to make them taste better. My husband and I had a girl with constant crop issues and made every attempt to help her We got some and put it in a bag and put that in a bucket and activated it with water.

The bag filled with carbon monoxide from the chemical reaction and it took less than 45 sec after placing her in the bag Just an option for urban chicken mom's to avoid Carnage Carbon monoxide causes the chickens to pass out painlessly.

So yes, it's more humane than chopping a head off! You are confused, dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, there is no chemical reaction with water, that just helps melt the ice.

Your chicken suffocated, which is a horrible way to die. You could achieve the same result by putting a dry cleaning bag over its head with a rubber band around its neck. Snowflakes make me sad. I have empty 12X12 stalls in my barn. Could I use a stall as a coop?

I would also make hen boxes and a perch. A horse stall would make a great chicken coop. You also need to make sure you close up any ceilings or vents from predators as well as ensure the latch is predator-free. In the interest of accuracy, dry ice is carbon dioxide , a nontoxic gas that we exhale when mammals breath. Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas created from combustion of fuel. Using dry ice simply creates an atmosphere without oxygen.

To the wacko commenting on here, yes it is humane, very humane, they simply go to sleep. I really need some help. My husband brought home 6 chicks to add to the 7 older ones we already have about a year ago.

The older ones, about 4 yrs old, have just about stopped laying. We live in a nice subdivision and raising chicks should not be more than 4. My husband travels so guess who cares for them! I raised these girls! Is there anything I can do to get rid of them humainly?

Thanks for any help you can give. Your best bet would be to inquire at a local Humane Society. List them for free on Craigslist under both "farm and garden" and "free" sections. As an alternative, if you can list them for free at a local feed and grain store. Or, if you live near a local store that processes live poultry, they will know someone who will come and get them. We have had chickens for years but we would always lose them to coyotes, bobcats, etc.

These dogs are amazing. I have not lost a chicken since I got a couple Aussies. I fell in love with the breed and starting breeding them. We get eggs daily as we use a heater in the chicken house in the winter so while the chickens don't all lay, they take turns, enough to keep up with our daily needs.

We have not been successful at having any baby chicks. Is there more we can do to help our girls. We have one Rooster that crows all during the day and is down right mean and will attack my husband when he goes into feed. We think it may be he was the only survivor from the bobcat. I don't see any spots or signs that the eggs are fertilized. Do you think it is the rooster? I want to see baby chicks running around. We also let them free range some days as our dogs keep them close to the house for us.

How old is your rooster? While you need a rooster to fertilize the eggs to hatch them into baby chicks, chickens do not generally mate in the wintertime.

In the natural world, hatchlings would perish in cold conditions. Come spring, the rooster should be mating with the hens. I am so glad I came upon your website! Thank you so much for taking the time to keep this going.

I originally had questions about refeshing my memory for caring for fresh laid eggs, has been over 12 yes since I last had chickens. So glad to learn other things here. Saw the comment about being upset about painlessly killing chickens. Anyone who keeps chickens will probably have to do this for one reason or another, just a fact if life, duh, as all living things die eventually.

Why not kill an animal as humane as possible? Thank you for your information on all aspects of chicken life and care. Wil save this site, and refer back to it to get accurate information. In the article above it was stated that a chickens life span was 3 to 7 years. My family and I have always raised chickens and most of the time they lived 10 or more years. I believe I read their average life span is 10 to 12 years. I also read that Silkies live longer, living sometimes to Chickens live a long time if cared for lovingly, and not exploited.

The problem is that most people do exploit them for eggs, making them lay as many as possible, which is unnatural and decreases their lifespan. You must be referring to those farms that keep the chickens in cages to lay eggs, as 'exploitation'. This shows your ignorance of how a chicken lays eggs.

There is NO way to force a chicken to lay more eggs. It takes 25 hours for a chicken to lay an egg. A chicken, like a human, only has so many zygotes which is where the eggs begin to form from for its lifespan It's like going through menopause for a human woman So, 'unnatural' and 'decreases their lifespan'?

You can separate the chick from its mother But I would likely think that the mother senses there is something physically wrong with the chick, and it won't survive long, anyways. This is something that Nature has instilled in many animal mothers. The hen is culling a sick baby that won't survive for long. Survival of the fittest.

Likely, you'll never see this answer, and it's likely resolved itself by now, but just to inform future readers. I am buying a place where there is a right to farm rule and the owner has offered to leave her hens. I like and enjoy animals and when I saw that when she lets them out in the evening they clear off all the insects like nobody's business I thought hum But I am a vegan or trying to be and don't want the eggs.

Can one have hens without them ever laying eggs? Silly question I know, but I know nothing of chicken husbandry. That said, you could always adopt some older rescue hens who are not be laying anymore.

Or, select chickens which are bred for meat production and lay few eggs. Or, when your chickens lay eggs, give the unfertilized eggs a natural by-product to a friend who is not vegan. Or, the eggs can be used in the compost to enrich your soil. If you garden, egg shells around young vegetable seedlings are great for deterring slugs.

Finally, homesteading folk have been feeding eggshells back to their chickens for added calcium. I hope this answer helps! I clicked on this link to find out about laying ages for chickens not how to kill them! I actually cant believe majority of your article is about wringing their necks and chopping off their heads with axes, what on earth would prompt someone to write about the brutal death, by your. Im sickened by this article. Taking responsibility for any animal is all encompassing.

Death is a part of life - considering the life span of a healthy chicken is years you will likely out live your chicken. As a chicken owner - you'll need to be prepared it's death. If it's diseased; you'll be responsible for euthanizing the bird or allowing it to suffer.

Having a sick chicken put to sleep is entirely different than chopping off the head of a health animal simply because its too inconvenient to keep it. I had to have my dog put to sleep recently. It broke my heart.

I do not believe the life of a chicken has less value than the life of a dog. When I was a teenager in the late sixties my grandmother tried to teach me how to wring a chicken's neck. She was quick and efficient. When she let that chicken go it flopped on the ground a bit then died. I'd let the chicken go and it would jump up and run off. We finally resorted to the axe and chopping block. Five decades later I decided to try one more time to wring a neck.

That was when I learned my mistake. It's all in the wrist. I had been 'windmilling' my birds. Using my elbow to sling them around. I found out that if I held my arm still and just used my wrist action I could kill that bird. I'm 67 now and I know my grandmother would be so proud of me. It took me long enough, but I made certain to pass this information on to my daughter who raises birds, too. I live in the middle of Amish country here in Ky. They will lay the chicken or rooster on the ground with one hand and with the other hand they will lay a tobacco stick across the birds neck.

Then they will place a foot on each side of the stick and pull the chickens legs and their head will come right off. Recently I had 2 hens die in the hen house on the same day. Will this cause my hens 2 stop laying. One hen dying can simply happen by chance but two hens dying makes us wonder if you have an illness?

That would be the main concern. I have 5 young hens, laying an egg each daily for the past 5 months. I was away for a week and my kids were afraid to collect the eggs. One hen became broody and sat on at least 10 eggs for nearly a week. When I came home, I collected 28 eggs, but not one more has been laid since I got home 6 days ago. How can I get my hens to start laying again?

We get mauve. I submitted a question but sent it before I finished it. I said d the type of chickens we have and the question is why aren't they laying. For some reason only one of them lays 1 egg a day. The others do not lay any. What can we do to get them all to start laying again? Thanks for writing! There are a variety of reasons why chickens stop laying eggs: Annual molting, stress, lack of water for even a few hours , or aging hens.

Are your chickens molting currently? If so, they are either growing new feathers, which coincides with a lowered egg production, or experienced a stressful situation.

That can be caused by a predator being nearby, not enough food, not enough water, or intense heat. If they are not molting, the problem could still be lack of water, lack of food, or too much heat.

Our Rooster has been limping now for 3 days, he doesn't make a sound, he mostly lays there all day, we checked the hock to see if it was out of joint, seems fine, the right hock feels warmer than the left hock. Any suggestions that would help us? He is eating laying down and occasionally gets a drink. We have been giving him low dosage of ASA. Thank you, hope to hear from you soon. Did you check the bottom of his foot for any redness or swelling or lesions?

If so, he may have Bumblefoot and you need to call a vet. Or, if the scales on his leg are raised, he might have scaly leg mites; spread castor oil or vasoline on the leg and see if the scales go away. Thank you for all the wonderful information and ideas! I am new to this but grew up with chickens Hi i keep laying eggs and they are of different age,of late when i'm collecting the eggs i normally find a smaller egg like for a bird. Pullets can start laying eggs around 16 to 32 weeks, depending on breed and other factors.

This can happen for a month or so, until her system gets adjusted to its new role. This is normal. This can also happen occasionally in older hens. If, however, the hen continues to do this regularly after she is fully mature, she should be checked by a vet. I hang my chickens upside down tie their feet together on a fence post and use my very sharp pruning loppers to cut off their heads.

They aren't upside down very long and they are calm. Also, they don't flap around afterward and they're already in the draining position. It seems to be the least stressful method of harvesting that I've tried. I bought 6 13 month old hens about a month ago. I have been reading up on the subject, and it seems to vary on what people say.

Also know, I'm not new to owning a flock, but it has been awhile. Anyway, its been a month now, and not one egg.

They seemed to be molting when I got them too, in February?! I have never had this happen in any flock Ive cared for in the past. Curious to any opinions and advise. Oh I should probably add, healthy birds, nice poop : no mites that I can tell.

They do seem to fixate on the food and water, I have no idea of their previous conditions. We have 10 year old laying hens, which are doing very well with 2 roosters. Is it possible to add new laying birds to current stock without the old picking on the new birds? We would like to add more to increase egg production for upcoming years. Our hen house is large enough to add more stock without any difficulty.

We would only add hens no increase in rooster stock. I have 8 laying hens various ages. I want to make sure I'm not underfeeding them, while not also wasting food. What you feed your chickens will depend on several factors, such as age, breed, and type of feeder. A 6-pound hen will eat roughly 3 pounds of feed each week. They may eat more in winter than summer. Water consumption may vary with certain factors, such as temperature. In hot weather, an adult may drink more than in cold weather.

I have 5 hens not even 1 year old yet Hens can stop laying for several reasons, including health, stress is another hen picking on her? A guess might be that it is day length. Many breeds stop or slow laying during the winter months because of the decrease in daylight.

Hens need about 14 to 16 hours of light per day for egg production. Put a timer on it so that the natural light and artificial light will total about 14 to 16 hours. If you do not need the eggs, it is fine to let the hen rest without adding the artificial light; it is part of her natural cycle. Also make sure that the coop is warm — cold can slow egg production. Check for predators; if they appear around the coop, it can cause stress, which in turn may slow egg production.

Also check for pests and diseases. Good luck! How do I stop my roosters from breeding my hens to the point of making the girls feathers come out to bare backs and putting holes in their legs?

I had a rooster that almost killed a hen. Feathers fell out, wings were pulled down to the bone and red skin. We put a topical on her as a rooster repellent. Sorry that I forgot the name of it. But, it helped and another think we did was to get a few more adult laying hens. It refocused the rooster. Most roosters need about hens to stay occupied and to stop the picking on just one hen.

At least, that is what I have been told by folks more experienced than me. Short of that, it may be time to have some rooster stew. Thank your for your detailed description of caring for chickens. You mentioned that year old chickens don't roast well; I think you mentioned stewing them. Once I bought a couple of chickens that I watched being killed, and hung upside down for draining the blood. The chickens were dipped in hot water, feathers pulled out, the innards taken out, and put into bags for me to purchase.

I took two chickens home but I could not roast them in the oven, and I probably tried stewing them, but they were rubbery!!! You state that year-old hens aren't tender enough to roast. Now I know those two chickens I bought must have been too old to roast.

Now, years later I know. Sincerely, Ozelia Ruth. You are lucky to have had Hopi for 15 years! And Hopi was lucky to have you. She had a long beautiful life. I have 2 isa brown chickens. The chicken was about 3 months old when I purchased last year in July Can you tell me whether she is too old to lay any more eggs or there may still be a chance to lay eggs, after such a long period of time?

Fall is a normal time of year for chickens to stop laying eggs as the sunlight decreases and they molt, but 7 months is a long time. She's not that old. Another common reason is dietary, though it sounds as if your other chicken is laying. See this page to learn more. I have 8 Rhode Island Red hens that are a little over 2 years old and I was getting 7 to 8 eggs a day, now I get 1.

Any ideas? Fall is molting time. If your chickens have been laying nicely for a year or longer then they'll shed some feathers and stop laying for a while. The molting is triggered by decreasing daylight. They'll return to laying. Adding a lighting program could also help in the future.

When we first got them right away the next day we were getting on average of 2 eggs a day. Then after a week they stopped. We were just giving them some sweet feed we had, so then we bought laying mash, which was pellets.

Meant to get the chopped. Anyway we don't know what to do. I have some chickens, recently I had one sitting on a nest She wouldn't eat or drink anything unless I hand fed and watered he.

She wouldn't get off the nest, yesterday I found her dead in the lot and 1 baby hatched. Can you maybe tell me what happened, her comb kept getting dull and faded. It's possible that she had mites. I'm lucky my birds have red mites, but many are clear colored and you just can't see them.

My birds are OK until they're broody. Sitting around in the nest box all day being bloodletted gets them anemic. I noticed that just as babies were hatching my bird was looking exhausted. I thought the peeps kept her up all night, I gave her food, water, etc. I had no idea why I was getting bug bites. I knew my birds were itchy after the long hard winter -- but keeping them cooped up with the heavy snows led to dirty oily birds and tons of bird mites.

They need to bathe. I messed up. I caught her before she was too far gone, started cleaning up around her and her babies, now her babies are 8 weeks and she's OK, her color is back in her comb. I used diatomaceous earth, boric acid, and offered them sand, DE and wood ash in addition to their normal dirt for bathing in. Sunlight, dust bathing, etc. But the 2nd hen to set a nest -- I kept an eye on her.

Still mite issues. I might never get rid of the buggers. I kept her hydrated and fed, cleaning up around her, etc. Many home flocks produce eggs on and off for three to four years. Each year, the level of egg production is lower than the previous year. Also, egg size increases and shell quality decreases each year. Both the number of eggs you can get from a flock and the number of years a flock will produce eggs depend on several variables, including the following factors:.

Some commercial breeds of chickens have been developed specifically for egg production. The commercial White Leghorn is used in large egg production complexes, but these birds typically do not produce well in home flocks. They are simply too flighty. Moreover, they lay white-shelled eggs. People purchasing eggs from small flocks often prefer to buy brown-shelled eggs, even though no nutritional differences exist between brown-shelled eggs and white-shelled eggs.

Breeding companies also have developed commercial layers for brown-shelled egg production, with some bred specifically for pasture poultry production. In addition, many hatcheries sell what are called sex-link crosses. These specific crosses allow the hatchery to sex the chicks at hatch based on feather color.

As a result, the number of sexing errors is reduced, so you are less likely to get an unwanted rooster. Some people like having a flock composed of different breeds.

Such a flock can produce eggs having a selection of shell colors. Many dual-purpose breeds, such as Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds, lay eggs with light brown shells. Maran hens lay eggs with dark, chocolate-colored shells, which have become popular lately. The Araucana is a South American breed that has feather tufts around the face and no tail and lays eggs having light blue shells. The chickens produced from these crosses have beards and muffs rather than the tufts seen on Araucanas, and they have tails.

If bred to the purebred standards, such a cross will result in an Ameraucana, which lays eggs having blue-green shells. Obviously, you can choose from several breeds. When making your decision about which breed or breeds to raise, keep in mind that commercial-type hens may give you a higher level of production initially, but other breeds tend to lay for more years.

For additional assistance in deciding which breed to choose, see the related article on which chicken breed is best for a small or backyard flock. It is important to manage pullets correctly, especially in the areas of nutrition and light management, because correct management will affect the level and quality of egg production once the birds start to lay.

If the pullets come into production too early, they may have problems with prolapse , which can cause health problems across the flock. Also, the hens may lay smaller eggs throughout the production cycle.

When raising pullets from day-old chicks, brood the chicks as you would any other type of chick. See the related article on brooding poultry hatchlings for information about the basic care of chicks. For future laying flocks, keep in mind that light management is important from brooding through all laying periods.

If you purchase pullets ready-to-lay, you should ask how the pullets were raised with regard to nutrition and light management so that you can adjust your subsequent management of the flock accordingly. For example, you may have to delay light stimulation if the hens are too small. Chickens are called long-season breeders, meaning that they come into production as days become longer.

That is, they start producing eggs when there are more hours of light per day. Typically, day-old chicks are kept on 23 to 24 hours of light per day for the first few days to make sure that they are able to find food and water, especially water. After that time period, you should reduce the number of hours of light per day.