They're Lying About Your Backyard Chickens | How Long Can A Chicken Lay Eggs

I must admit, I'm an absolute chicken nerd. Angela and I pay attention to how often each hen lays an egg and what the temperature is each day, and if there's been a storm or anything else that can affect them laying an egg. We have hens that are 7 years old, 5 years old, 3 years old, and 1 year old. So when I hear very popular KZbin homesteaders and farmers saying that a hens production decreases by as much as 50% by their 3rd year, I get a little frustrated by their misinformation. Here is our real life statistics for 7 of our lovely ladies.
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[@loripretti843]

Jason I think the reason your Chickens do so well is because you and Angela Kay consider them and treat them like they are your babies!!!! I know that you 2 both love and care very much for your babies!!! GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!!!

[@artofcreationhomestead]

Thank you! A well loved chicken is a very happy chicken....and generally productive

[@ItsMe-jj2wf]

I am considering getting chickens and would absolutely love to see the routine you follow to take care of your babies! My neighbors had chickens and they were so much fun and had great personalities. I totally understand the attachment!

[@artofcreationhomestead]

Thank you so much for wanting to see our chicken care routine. Your comment inspired us to do a video about how we care for our chickens. You can look for that video coming out tonight.

[@teridavis5367]

Aaaahhhh...now I want chickens! Great video with fantastic information! Thank you so much for sharing!!!

[@artofcreationhomestead]

EVERYONE should have chickens lol

[@anapaulacrawford5837]

😅😅 i totally understand you, i don't have them right now . But when i did the girl's were well fed i tell ya , i never really trusted the chicken feed that much other the whole corn . So anything was left from kitchen expected meat they got it . Leftover rice greens etc. I also raise for meat chicken which those i needed to put my heart to rest and i am thankful for they survise . But yeah, a chicken can lay eggs up to 6 year's with good care ! And you thought you were a chicken nurde !!😅😅😅👏🏻👏🏻 One here toooo .

[@artofcreationhomestead]

We have 7 year old hens laying better than they did at 6 years old.

[@anapaulacrawford5837]

@@artofcreationhomestead uh huh . It's all in the works i swear .. good job in your hand ! God bless!

[@breesechick]

This was a very important video thank you for sharing!

[@spymaine89]

always organic layer pellets . free run around outside and in woods pick them up and pat them. they will come to you, keep them until they die .just like any loved freind. treats; they love cabbage organic and chedder. dont like carrots. they love to fly and run, they are in their house at night roost 1x6'' board, comfy.. that s me just like you.

[@artofcreationhomestead]

gotta be good to them girls. 😀

[@builtontherockhomestead9390]

Spring 2021 a coon killed my entire flock, except for 1 hen and 1 roo. I bought an incubator and started hatching out their offspring. I also got eggs from a friend and hatched those. Anyway, that hen laid an egg every day all of 2021 and into 2022. Literally got an egg everyday all winter long. The new hens didn't start laying until spring 2022.

[@AHay-of3dk]

Then don't say "entire flocck"

[@georgeingridirwin6180]

Goodness. About a year before the new ones started laying!?!??? And here I'm concerned that ours are just turning 5 months. This is our 1st year & there is so much to learn. But i really enjoy them so far. I'm trying to geow "fodder" now so i can have mastered before winter. Because right now they free range most the time.

[@larrystone5749]

Thx for sharing enjoyed it Keep growing Be safe God Bless

[@artofcreationhomestead]

Thank you so much.

[@justdanadane]

#1 on the charts & in our hearts...Sweetness! 😊 The girls look wonderful. I was fascinated by the info. I didn't realize they could lay gelatinous eggs.

[@artofcreationhomestead]

I didn't know they could either until we had one start doing it lol....but she's doing better with the better feed

[@georgeingridirwin6180]

😮 I've never heard of it before.

[@spymaine89]

just like a human good food happy life is a long healthy life.

[@libertyoutdooradventures6595]

One question, how do you know what chicken laid what egg? I have 8 pullets and I want to keep track like you do

[@nogames8982]

I have chickens that are everywhere from five years old to just under a year old right now. It's nice to have chickens of all different ages. I know they slow down as I get older, but that's OK. Because then I get new ones along the way and that makes up for it.

[@artofcreationhomestead]

Yep....we get new ones every 2 years typically. This is our year to get new ones and we're excited

[@nogames8982]

@@artofcreationhomestead I can't get any more unless I get rid of some. i'm already five over the limit :-) my town allows 10 chickens, no roosters. I have 15 chickens right now. but my neighbor has like 30 so… and the chickens are not under animal control they are all under the code enforcement area. And since the town couldn't enforce a code if their lives depended on it, I'm not worried about having five extra chickens. for years I had 12 and I bumped it up to 15, but that is the max that my coop can hold. They only go in the coop to lay eggs and sleep anyway so but I can't get any more ethically.

[@dianewoodie3509]

Chicken nerd? Lol. I love seeing your chickens! We don't have all of ours named but a good part of them are! They all have different personalities and are so much fun!

[@cubaniton74]

Get yourself a White Leghorn rooster, raise him until reproduction age, then get all your hens to lay fertile eggs by the White Leghorn rooster, and hatch those chicks. Then get rid of the rooster if you can't keep him for whatever reason. Then once those chicks mature, I assure you that the hens will be the best layers you have ever dreamed of. Any roosters you get from the chicks, you can sell or put in the freezer, but they will be small in size.

[@offgridamy7176]

At 2.5 years almost all stopped laying. I was not prepared for this. Working on full replacement flock. Now I get why some people replace every 2 years. Been struggling to meet my sales. Had to cut family off. It won't happen again.

[@artofcreationhomestead]

What breed of chickens did you have? Breed matters a lot.

[@offgridamy7176]

@@artofcreationhomestead tractor supply specials think Rhode island reds. This year we got mutts from a homesteading friend. I had a hard time convincing my son to take my meat birds for layers. They are older. They are just starting to lay. Culled a few roosters today thinking they might be an issue to. 1st time I'm grasping at straws on this. The ones i verified not laying I'm just going to free range ( retirement lol ). Really messed up my chicken program this year.

[@eastofedenexotics7505]

I had an 11 year old hen (who has since passd) she layed every day she would only lay about 6-7 eggs and her cycle would be over and 3-4 days later start laying again. It’s all about how healthy you keep them their whole life not just as babies. Feed is very very important. Even free ranging. Just corn and oats and milo and millet and laying pellets/crumble will shorten their life span.

[@evelynwoolston7]

How can you possibly tell which chicken has laid an egg? We got three 17 week old hens 3 weeks ago and we've just had our first egg which is very exciting. We're not even certain if our chickens are all hens but now we know that at least one is. Our chicks are White Stars. Of course, we've named them.

[@sodakhilljack7147]

Each chickens egg will look a little different I know which chicken lays all of my eggs.

[@fowlplayfunnyfarm1234]

We have a Maggie too! Named after my grandmother! Margaret Elizabeth! She’s our Easter egger!

[@artofcreationhomestead]

SAME HERE! lol. She's named after Angela's grandmother who loved chickens and her favorite color was green

[@mmgraff1]

its not weird, I also care for my hens and Roosters I dont "get rid of them, or murder them. thanks for this info I' have been thinking same thing

[@garytrawinski1843]

I think the key to the longevity of the egg laying is because you named your chickens...LOL

[@rogeralaniz2205]

I think they need more calcium protein and grit

[@tinab7791]

This is something I've worried about since we are really limited to the number of chickens we're "allowed" to have here. Chicken math is going to get me anyway lol. There are no penalties in the town ordinances 🤷‍♀️

[@artofcreationhomestead]

lol it would be so unfortunate if you happened to somehow accumulate more chickens than you're allowed to have.

[@Sugarsail1]

Always name your chickens

[@angelaraum1545]

I would love to see how you take care of the chickens. Do they have separate places to lay their eggs? Do they ever lay in the yard?

[@jbuck1975]

You kind of train them were the nest boxes are in the coop. If they get scared or uncomfortable to go in coop they will start laying elsewhere.

[@angelaraum1545]

@@jbuck1975 how exactly is that done?

[@artofcreationhomestead]

We put out a video tonight that shows a lot of the information about how we take care of our chickens

[@justinoffutt]

Great info... but how do you keep track of what chicken is laying which eggs? Different color eggs I get, but other than that how do you keep track?

[@artofcreationhomestead]

We've been around them enough to tell the differences between their eggs. Its easier for us to be able to do that because my wife is home all day. It can be tougher when you aren't able to be around them for 8-12 hours in the day.

[@justinoffutt]

@@artofcreationhomestead I just started with chickens this year and I got all the same breed (Golden Laced Wyandotte) so most of their eggs look the same (slightly different). It would be nice to know, because we have some that lay out in the middle of their run, some beside the laying box, some under the laying box and some in the laying box. I've really enjoyed these chickens much more than I even realized.

[@biddibee3526]

Who produces New Country Organics? I'll be looking for it. My feed store only sells Poulin Grains. Which part of the country are u in?

[@artofcreationhomestead]

New Country Organics. We are in southwest Ohio. You can order new country online at their website but shipping is expensive. The best way to get it is find a dealer that resells its. There is a spot on their website that allows you to search for a reseller. I have a guy that lives a little south of us that resells it so everything I get from New Country I just order through him.

[@arthursimmons8592]

Cool video. We named our hens also lol. They haven’t payed eggs for nearly a year now . I got them in 2020 and they were laying 14 eggs a week together. Now they look like they want to lay eggs but nothing happens. Back in December to our surprise we got one egg but. Toning since. Any suggestions on what I can do?

[@artofcreationhomestead]

Do you know what breed your chickens are?

[@arthursimmons8592]

@@artofcreationhomestead hi. I’m told along island reds. They are very friendly hens.

[@arthursimmons8592]

@@artofcreationhomestead they look like the hen in your thumb nail with the writing “you’ve been lied to about me”

[@evelynwoolston7]

One of my 3 young 21 week old White Star hens seems to have stopped laying altogether. She is bottom of the peck order and had visible peck marks at the base of her tail. She has laid once because although Im not sure which hen lays which egg, we found 3 eggs one day, one a bit smaller than the others but since then weve got 2 eggs a day, which is fine for us. Weve seen the other two lining up to use the nesting box but poor Bella was hanging around outside the coop. I think the worst of the bullying has stopped and Bella's tail is healing but she hangs back when we feed the chicks & wont take food from my hand uf the other 2 are interested. Is there any chance she will lay again?

[@artofcreationhomestead]

I think so. It sounds like the harsh bullying from the others has stressed her out. If it looks like her tail is still getting pecked you may want to out something on it that will make the others not want to peck at it. We use Green Goo or blu-kote spray. We prefer Green Goo because it's all natural and a healing salve as well. It just puts a bad taste in the chickens beak if they peck it and should break them of the habit. Blu-kote works fine but is a bit messy and just not what we like to use on our birds.

[@honkymonkey9568]

I read that well-fed backyard hens can lay up to 250 eggs per year. Is that a lie too?

[@artofcreationhomestead]

No not at all.....but you can't expect that many eggs from very many hens or for longer than a year or so of their life. Mainly because they will molt in the late summer to fall and light will wane in the winter and they won't be active long enough in the day to lay eggs consistently.