And how many eggs should a chicken lay each day?
How long do chickens live? What do you do when your chicken stops laying eggs? And how many eggs should they be laying? Often, when chickens stop laying eggs it’s simply part of the seasonal cycle, but sometimes it could be more. Here’s what to do.
When Do Chickens Start Laying Eggs?
A chicken (called a pullet until she is a year old), begins laying eggs when she is about 18 to 20 weeks old or so. Some breeds begin when they are older, however. Healthy chickens lay eggs most reliably in their first 2 to 3 years. After that, egg production will taper off.
How Often Do Chickens Lay Eggs?
Most hens will lay one egg per day, but factors like weather, day length, nutrition, and the presence of predators will affect daily egg production. Egg laying is largely dependent on the length of the day, and most hens will stop laying when they receive fewer than 12 hours of daylight.
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When exactly this will happen depends on the chicken, though. Most of ours did go “off lay” as the days grew shorter in the fall and the seasons changed. They laid fewer and fewer eggs until, one day, they simply stopped.
One or two continued to lay sporadically throughout the cold, dark days of winter, although most of those eggs froze and cracked before we got out to collect them. (In that case, we gave them to the dog, usually raw and right on the spot. He had a lovely, shiny coat, but produced sulfurous gas at inopportune moments.)
We found that our old hens usually produce fewer eggs, but larger ones. In a production flock, this is a problem because the consistency of supply and size is important. In the home flock, who cares? (Another advantage to old hens: they’re used to you and are less flighty and panicky.)
When Chickens Stop Laying for the Winter
You can extend the laying period for your hens by putting a light hooked to a timer in the hen house. This will give the hens a couple of extra hours of artificial daylight, but the natural pattern for most hens is to stop laying in the winter.
How Long Do Chickens Live?
Chicken lifespans vary widely, with most hens generally living between 3 and 7 years. However, with ideal care, they may live even longer.
If a chicken is kept safe from predators (including dogs) and doesn’t have genetic issues, they can certainly live 10 to 12 years old.
What to Do When Your Chicken Stops Laying Eggs
Before you read this section, understand that this article isn’t about chickens as pets but as farm animals. Taking responsibility as a small farm owner means accepting the full cycle of life. Farmers do not bring chickens to vets in the same way as a family pet (unless you have very few chickens); most of us need to be prepared to handle both the births and the deaths ourselves.
As the hens go off-lay, you have several options.
1. One option, especially if you have very few chickens, is to allow the older hen to contribute to the farm in other ways.
- Older hens are great bug catchers. Imagine having a roving mosquito and tick eater!
- They help control weeds in your flower beds and vegetable garden.
- They are better than young hens at watching for predators.
- They contribute nitrogen-rich manure for the garden.
- They are better broodies, perfectly content to sit in a nesting box on a clutch of eggs, unlike many younger girls.
- They tend to be great mothers, having had the experience!
Note: It is important to keep an eye on older hens so they’re not pecked by the younger, feistier girls. You may also need to lower their roost for easier access and provide a little extra warmth and comfort.
2. Another option is to use your chickens as meat chickens instead of egg layers.
Year-old hens usually aren’t tender enough to roast and older hens tend to have tough meat, so if you choose to go this route, prepare for a lot of chicken stew.
The more humane approach is to give them the winter off and wait. They’ll begin laying again in the spring.
(I’ve heard people say that they couldn’t keep chickens because “you have to kill them when they stop laying eggs.” Not true. We never killed a hen simply because she stopped laying.)
3. The third option is to humanely dispose of the chicken.
Even if you decide to keep your laying hens until they die of old age, you will eventually have to dispose of a chicken. Maybe you’ll have a sick bird or a hen injured by a predator—accidents do happen. If a chicken’s life does need to end, we want to do it as painlessly as possible. There are two simple ways:
- Wring its neck. You have to be quick and forceful to avoid causing pain. We don’t use this method, but it can be done.
- We use a quick chop to cut the chicken’s throat. An axe and a block (a stump or upended round of firewood will do, as long as it’s stable) are probably the simplest methods for people new to this age-old practice.
There are a couple of ways to hypnotize or calm the chicken.
- One is to place the chicken breast-down on a flat surface while holding its legs. Wave a piece of chalk in front of the chicken’s beak until you have the bird’s attention, then draw a line straight out from the beak for 12 to 18 inches. The bird will focus on the line and not move or flap.
- An alternate method which seems easier is to lay the bird on its side, with one wing under it. Tap your finger in front once at the point of the beak (but not touching), then about four inches in front of the beak. Repeat alternating taps until the bird calms down and holds still.
To keep it as painless as possible, make sure you improve your aim by pounding two long nails into the stump, far enough apart to span the chicken’s neck but close enough together to keep its head from slipping through. Apply enough tension to the legs to stretch the neck and keep the bird in place. Then use the axe. If you intend to eat the chicken, hold it up by the legs to let the blood drain. There will be flapping, but rest assured that the bird is dead and doesn’t feel any pain.
Have a pot of scalding (140° to 160°F) water ready. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can tell that the water is hot enough if you can see your face reflected in it. Dip the bird for 20 to 30 seconds. Afterwards, you can wipe the feathers off with your hand. Chop off the feet, then cut around the cloaca (anus—chickens use the same opening for excretion and egg-laying), being careful not to nick the intestines, and scoop the innards out with your hand. Rinse with cold water. If you can get all of this done in 20 minutes while the oven preheats, you can cook the bird immediately; otherwise, let it rest for 24 hours, until rigor mortis relaxes.
People who raise their own food know where it comes from, what’s gone into it, and how it’s been treated. Whether your chickens are ultimately intended for the table or killed simply to end pain or illness and then buried in the back forty, remember that this is your responsibility as a small farm owner. Doing it, and doing it well, means that you’re doing your best by your birds.
More of Raising Chickens 101
If you are wondering how to get started with chickens, click here for the full 6-part Raising Chickens 101 series.
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We have found that hanging the hen by the legs with the head down calms them. They don't struggle at all. Then a quick cut with a sharp knife while holding the head severs the head.
Great topics, my first time having chickens. I have 7. Really enjoy them.
I use a cone. I put them in there, and let them relax. Then I cut the neck off. Let the blood drain on a bucket. It is wonderful for the garden. I think that if they have time to relax, it makes the meat more tender.
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When you indicated there would be flapping when you chop a chickens head off is kind of an understatement. That bird is going to go crazy and holding it by its feet is going to get you covered in blood. I've seen chickens flapping on the ground and just stood back until it calmed down.
Cut the corner out of a plastic shopping bag and slip the chickens head through so that its body is firmly in the bag. Tie it off and finish the business. You can hold the chicken now and let it bleed out without getting covered.
Why do you not mention that chickens molt. some times twice a year it will slow down or stop egg production . They will loose lot of feathers which some times you may think there is some thing wrong but there is not. It is a natural chicken thing . Hens also go through an egg cycle. have you ever killed one of your hens and seen a row of yellow balls at the base of here tail those are eggs. They will take a rest period and make the next years egg roe. The roosters also molt.
Thank you for this comment! My 2 girls (hens) used to lay every day, but this winter that's slowed. They're not that old. Maybe 2 - 3 years old & I've had them since right before they were old enough to lay. One has always laid the largest, prettiest eggs, while the other ones eggs were always slightly smaller and sometimes speckled. Anyway, the younger, smaller one has never laid consistently abd once even brooded for several weeks before finally starting to lay again. Right now, neither is laying. The larger one started laying again for about 10 days but has now stopped again. There's alot of feathers in the coop right now so she must be molting. (They are let out daily to free range the yard). This is the longest we've had 2 still living with us as before one would usually get killed by a predator after about a year or so and we'd just replace her with another young hen. We have no roosters.
"He had a lovely, shiny coat, but produced sulfurous gas at inopportune moments." Was that about the dog or your husband?
It is not 3-7 years although that’s all they typically last in the backyard farm because of misinformation. A Chickens real lifespan is 20 years. The massive egg layers don’t last as long because they lay bunches of eggs. But if you change their feed to their nutritional needs they will not only keep laying, they will live longer!
Recently I put an ad up for my eggs and mentioned at the bottom that I will take in any unwanted hens/roosters. I got a reply asking if I would take unwanted hens that weren’t laying anymore. I said of course! Because what I really need them for is body heat to help heat up the coop that is far too big for 5 chickens. After much hem hawing by her and me promising not to eat them she finally agreed to bring them over. Two red sex linked hens age 4-5 joined my little flock. One of them had adult pasty butt and one of them had respiratory issues so bad she was vomiting up loogies. Ew. They were both dull in luster with pale combs. I thought it was because they were just “old”. I mix my own chicken feed from whole food I buy separately. About a week later a strange egg showed up in the nest box. Hm I thought. Maybe a fluke of one already laying. Two days pass and another just like the first appeared. The smaller of the two grannies started laying again! I knew it was her because I walked past her and she squatted. She has laid every day since then. The rounder of the two never started laying again. She got depressed. She starved herself to death. Unsure why. Before that though she started doing well. Grew more feathers. Foraged for bugs. But whenever I collected the eggs she would avoid looking at me. I told her I didn’t care if she wasn’t laying anymore that she was needed in other ways. That perked her up for a couple more days. But then she just gave up. Poor girl. I tried. The other one is shiny feisty bossy smart alert and perfectly content. Since then my pullets started laying so now everyone is laying! I just picked up 6 new babies and I’m so excited to see them grow up and live long happy healthy lives!
If you cut off the head, instead of letting it spay you with blood, have a box handy
and holding the chicken by the legs with one hand, insert and hold the chicken
"headless" first into the box. contains the blood and chicken better.
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