When do chickens stop laying eggs?
No jokes or wise cracks allowed/
2006-07-05 11:01:24 · 12 answers · asked by Checkers- the -Wolf 1 in Pets ➔ Birds
when they die dude or hit chicken pause. lol
2006-07-15 22:49:12 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian who does not slaughter or eat his chickens (I keep them to have free-run eggs from birds that I know are treated well.) I have had chickens live for up to 12 years although 6-8 seems to be the average. They lay really well for the first 2-3 years and then slack off, but even very old hens lay occasionally if conditions are right. My older hens earn their keep by giving me cruelty-free feathers naturally shed (I sell them), manure for the compost pile, and by hatching out and raising chicks. (Even if they are not laying well, many breeds will still go broody -- I just give them eggs from another hen.)
In the commercial chicken industry, however, the layer hens are kept only until the first annual moult begins, when they stop laying, shed old feathers, and put their energy into growing new ones. This usually happenes at about 12-18 months old, at which time, they are shipped off to become soup.
2006-07-16 16:41:32 · answer #2 · answered by not_mn_nice 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chickens can live for many years and continue to lay eggs for many of these years. However,after two or three years many hens significantly decline in productivity his varies greatly from bird to bird.
2006-07-05 18:09:26 · answer #3 · answered by aka Astra 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They can lay for many years but most start to decline after about three years and people will kill them off and introduce new blood into the flock to keep it productive.
2006-07-05 20:55:50 · answer #4 · answered by tlctreecare 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In my experience they lay eggs until they die... up to three yrs, I think? But the quality of the eggs deteriorates with time.
2006-07-05 18:06:30 · answer #5 · answered by Jill 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I’d say about three to four years. Mine are free range and feed only organic so they live to be five to six and stop laying about four years old.
2006-07-05 23:16:52 · answer #6 · answered by Alexis' macaws 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't stop laying eggs.
2006-07-05 19:42:16 · answer #7 · answered by shelby26789 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
most time when they are ready to sit they stop during cold weather they slow down and very old hens begin to slow down but I don't think they ever really stop have never let them get too old make dumplings out of them
2006-07-12 09:06:08 · answer #8 · answered by roy_alice_mills 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the summertime.
2006-07-05 19:20:20 · answer #9 · answered by Jean H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
WHO CARES!!!
GET A LIFE!!!
2006-07-05 18:14:58 · answer #10 · answered by sportznut05 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋