When do big hens usually stop laying

[guest226]

My big girl Clementine, is a 9 lb buff cochin. She is 3 years old and going on 4 years old.

I noticed she started laying every 3 or 2 days. Before she laid every other day constantly. She sometimes goes a week without laying too.

Is this around the age when egg laying will start to taper off, especially for bigger, less active hens?

Thanks if anyone can give any feedback!

 

[guest226]

My big girl Clementine, is a 9 lb buff cochin. She is 3 years old and going on 4 years old.

I noticed she started laying every 3 or 2 days. Before she laid every other day constantly. She sometimes goes a week without laying too.

Is this around the age when egg laying will start to taper off, especially for bigger, less active hens?

Thanks if anyone can give any feedback!

bumping this thread!! it’s been 2 more days without an egg. In total it’s been about 5 days.

She has no symptoms of egg bound and her poops are normal. She does stand in one place for most of the day but she eats and drinks, and sometimes scratches around.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some breeds are known to lay a lot on average, some a lot less. But even among breeds each hen is an individual, you can get one that lays often even late in life, you can get one that doesn't lay a lot even when she is young.

On average a flock of commercial layers lay really well their first laying cycle. That's from first egg until they start their first molt. After their first molt they tend to also lay really well in their second laying cycle until their second molt. Then on average the flock drops maybe 20% after each succeeding molt. I keep saying "average" because individual hens may lay well above average while others lay well below.

Cochin are not known to be great layers. According to Henderson's Breed Chart they may lay 2 to 3 eggs a week and maybe 120 to 160 eggs each year. It sounds like yours was a bit above breed average for a bit but may have dropped back some.

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Our hens are not bred like the commercial flocks to lay really well for two laying cycles and then drop off. But most breeders of our chickens are not breeding for longevity of lay either. They will follow the same relative tendencies.

She has no symptoms of egg bound and her poops are normal. She does stand in one place for most of the day but she eats and drinks, and sometimes scratches around.

It is possible there is something wrong with her. It happens. I'd be more concerned with her not acting normal than whether she is laying or not. Are your other hens acting not normal?

 

[guest226]

Some breeds are known to lay a lot on average, some a lot less. But even among breeds each hen is an individual, you can get one that lays often even late in life, you can get one that doesn't lay a lot even when she is young.

On average a flock of commercial layers lay really well their first laying cycle. That's from first egg until they start their first molt. After their first molt they tend to also lay really well in their second laying cycle until their second molt. Then on average the flock drops maybe 20% after each succeeding molt. I keep saying "average" because individual hens may lay well above average while others lay well below.

Cochin are not known to be great layers. According to Henderson's Breed Chart they may lay 2 to 3 eggs a week and maybe 120 to 160 eggs each year. It sounds like yours was a bit above breed average for a bit but may have dropped back some.

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Our hens are not bred like the commercial flocks to lay really well for two laying cycles and then drop off. But most breeders of our chickens are not breeding for longevity of lay either. They will follow the same relative tendencies.


It is possible there is something wrong with her. It happens. I'd be more concerned with her not acting normal than whether she is laying or not. Are your other hens acting not normal?

Yeah, she used to lay every other day until pretty recently.
She's always been less active than my other hens due to her size, but overall she isn't acting too abnormal.

The vet diagnosed her with coelemic distention, aka egg yolk perionitis, however I don't know if that's the case. She has a big belly, but it is not hard and she doesn't have laboured breathing at all. She is able to run around fine when she wants. After the vet diagnosed her she laid eggs for a few weeks consistently. I've also never seen any lash material from her.

My other hens are acting completely normal. I have 2 easter eggers, one lays almost every day, the other is recovering from an egg bound incident - and is acting fine, just not laying. My rock partridge is a strange hen that has never laid in her life, but she's healthy.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would think of this as normal, generally each year they lay less, each year, their non laying after molt increases, and generally you get bigger eggs, but often times the yolks are weaker and the whites are thinner.

The only thing to do is add younger birds

 

[SamLockwood]

My big girl Clementine, is a 9 lb buff cochin. She is 3 years old and going on 4 years old.

I noticed she started laying every 3 or 2 days. Before she laid every other day constantly. She sometimes goes a week without laying too.

Is this around the age when egg laying will start to taper off, especially for bigger, less active hens?

Thanks if anyone can give any feedback!

There's a ton of variables. Some breeds lay like crazy for 2 to 3 years and that's it.

I had a speckled sussex hen that was 13 years old and when I started free-ranging my flock she started laying again (I even hatched 7 chicks from her).

The last of the "mean girls" in my flock is at least six years old and lays fairly regularly (an egg every 2 to 3 days). I have no idea what she is, probably some sort of sex-link.

Note that I let them them wind down over winter: I don't give them artificial lights in the winter months to try to boost their egg-laying.

 

[guest226]

There's a ton of variables. Some breeds lay like crazy for 2 to 3 years and that's it.

I had a speckled sussex hen that was 13 years old and when I started free-ranging my flock she started laying again (I even hatched 7 chicks from her).

The last of the "mean girls" in my flock is at least six years old and lays fairly regularly (an egg every 2 to 3 days). I have no idea what she is, probably some sort of sex-link.

Note that I let them them wind down over winter: I don't give them artificial lights in the winter months to try to boost their egg-laying.

Wow!! 13 year old hen laying eggs?
I think my hen might be winding down or starting a molt cycle soon. Hopefully no issues in thee future.

She has always been a little avoidant of eating calcium/oyster shells so her eggs were always a little thin shelled. Thankfully they aren't very big and compared to her size it would seem like they would be easy to lay.

 

[estephan03]

I just had a bird die from egg peritonitis. She lived for over six months with the condition unbeknownst to me; eating, pooping, foraging like all the others. When she started standing in one place all day, that got our attention and the sleuthing began. By the time we figured out what was wrong with her, it was beyond repair. (The details of her deterioration are actually quite horrifying. I'll spare posting details here, but am happy to help anyone directly.) Needless to say, my research concluded that she should have only lived for a month and that it was probably a genetic deformity that just had the right conditions to develop one day.
If your vet can treat it, and you're willing to spend that much money on a chicken, the sooner the better. IMO.