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Commercial hens usually begin laying eggs at 16–21 weeks of age, although production gradually declines soon after from approximately 25 weeks of age. [10] This means that in many countries, by approximately 72 weeks of age, flocks are considered economically unviable and are slaughtered after approximately 12 months of egg production, [ 11 ...
Commercial hens usually begin laying eggs at 16–20 weeks of age, although production gradually declines soon after from approximately 25 weeks of age. [2] This means that in many countries, by approximately 72 weeks of age, flocks are considered economically unviable and are slaughtered after approximately 12 months of egg production, [3] although chickens will naturally live for 6 or more ...
Older hens gradually produce fewer eggs, and the eggs are usually larger. [1] Since the average lifespan of a pet layer hen is 8–15 years, [2] henopause has received attention as a potential problem for backyard or urban chicken farmers who are eventually faced with the decision to either slaughter older layers or keep them as non-producing pets.
On average, a chicken lays one egg a day, but not on every day of the year. This varies with the breed and time of year. In 1900, average egg production was 83 eggs per hen per year. In 2000, it was well over 300. In the United States, laying hens are butchered after their second egg laying season.
Chickens farmed primarily for eggs are called layer hens. The UK alone consumes more than 34 million eggs per day. [84] Hens of some breeds can produce over 300 eggs per year; the highest authenticated rate of egg laying is 371 eggs in 364 days. [85]
However, the rate of development can be affected by a range of factors; including the specific breed, the temperature of incubation, the delay between laying and incubation, and the time of year, raising the need to create a standardised system based on morphology rather than chronological age.
The causes and development of vent pecking are multifarious. Risk factors that have been identified as increasing vent pecking include dim lights placed in nest boxes to encourage hens to use the boxes, the diet being changed more than three times during the egg laying period, the use of bell drinkers, and the hens beginning to lay earlier than 20 weeks of age. [2]
As a second example, color sexing broilers was proposed by Shaver in 1973. The genetics were based on the company's breeding plan for egg layers, which had been developed in the mid-1960s. A difficulty facing the breeders of the color-sexed broiler is that the chicken must be white-feathered by slaughter age.