[karlooben]

my girls seemed to  have slowed down a bit on laying i am now getting 9 eggs per day from 16 girls were as before i was getting 12- 14 eggs per day could it be the yukky weather we have been having thats put them of . its really bugging me 

[Kate and her Ducks]

Probably that and the fact they are ex-batts. The reason they get rid of them after all.

[too many girls]

mine have slowed down too, i think they are coming to the end of their egg laying, i will be keeping them as pets of course.

[karlooben]

i assume mine are only 2 years old or slighty younger i would have thought thats to young for them to stop laying , i understand that farmers get rid of them as the think the quailty of the egg goes down .

do any of you guys know how old your birds are roughly .

[Kate and her Ducks]

I didn't think that they cared very much about quality, just quantity. I understood that the quantity started dropping off making it less financially viable.

[karlooben]

think i will just have to wait an see if they are just having a bad week , i have another 6 coming in a week saturday and thats my limit { i expect some of them to die well maybe } . so if my level of eggs just drop to low then i will have to look at letting some go as i dont have the room to keep non layers but then again i dont know whos laying an whos not .

i need 22 different coloured leg rings then over a  weekend so  i can watch them go into the house an see whos laying an whos not .

[too many girls]

mine were 18 months old when i got them, when i took Lonely to the vet i told him she was now 2 1/2, he said she was a good age (i think he mean't she was old) i don't really know how long ex batts live, but i don't think it's as long as regular hens.

[Hawkins]

Im only getting 4 eggs from my 12 chickens. But i dont care either there all pets even though my dad calls them duds.

When I went to the vet this week with purple chicken vet said that ex bats can live to 5 or 6 years old. Not sure how old mine are either.

[too many girls]

my dad calls them, rat's with feathers......................

[mrs.ploppy]

I thought that was pigions!  (sorry to fanciers).

[GrannieAnnie]

I didn't think that they cared very much about quality, just quantity. I understood that the quantity started dropping off making it less financially viable.

that and the fact that as they get older you get the wrinkled shells, thin shells, no shells, different colours!  The supermarkets think we all want our eggs the same colour and size and uniform shapes!

My brother said to me last week when he phoned, I'm not being funny, but that last lot of eggs you gave us, were they from your younger chickens as some of the shells were very thin.  They were mostly from the older girls, but you see, he is only used to the class A eggs from the shops, people like him never see all the class B and ungraded ones like we do that don't get into the egg boxes but go into meals and cakes and stuff.

Within 6 months of having them, our 75 ex batts were laying about 6-8 eggs a day!  I think they were truly worn out, poor things!

Hybrids which were bred for commercial farms are only bred to last about 2 years, and I think that's why they stop laying generally so quickly.  They are so egged out!  But yes I too have heard of some living until 5 or 6, but don't think they were still laying!

[karlooben]

i had that yesterday someone saying about the size of the eggs etc , an i told  her thats cause the shops only think we want certain eggs an the farmers must throw so many away .
but her husband moaned as they were covered in poo  an she just said to him thats what u get with fresh eggs .

as i have said i suppose i will  have to wait an see what happens if i have to let some go then at least i know they have had a taste of the good life .

[cathangirl]

Karlooben,
Aren't chickens for life, like dogs?
Neither my OH or myself will want to Kill ours off. 
cathangirl

[too many girls]

i think my hens have more than earned their retirement, i don't care if they never laid another egg.

[andreadon]

it's likely that your hens are taking it in turns to lay.

I agree with everyone about the laying dropping off after a year of laying - that's why the farmers get rid of them - no point keeping a hen around if she only lays half the amount that a new hen will lay.

it's supposed to drop by 20% each year, but I suppose that depends on the breeding as well - there's no way that it's only 20% in an ex-batt.
Rita has hardly laid any eggs at all since autumn, and those she has laid are only suitable for us to use because they're either too-thinned-shells or very weird shapes.
but before Sandra got poorly, she was laying normal eggs (but only on about 50% production rate).  Both of those were batts, so it's different with them too!
the only way the farmer can guarantee enough useful eggs is to go with new pols every year.