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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] After 12 months of laying, the commercial hen's egg-laying ability declines to the point where ...
Red shaver hens can lay from 305 to 315 eggs a year, [3] and are reported to be prolific producers of large brown eggs. One four-year-old Red Shaver chicken in Ottawa was credited with laying an egg with a mass of 143 grams, which is almost three times the size of a standard medium egg (Typically a medium egg is 49 g, a jumbo egg is 70 g).
With domestication, it has become more profitable to incubate eggs artificially, while keeping hens in full egg production. To help achieve this, there has been intense artificial selection for non-broodiness in commercial egg laying chickens and parent stock of poultry. As a result of this artificial selection, broodiness has been reduced to ...
The Brabanter is among the lightest of chicken breeds; cocks weigh 1.9–2.5 kg and hens 1.6–2.0 kg. [5] It has a narrow crest and a three-part beard. The crest is unlike that of most other crested breeds such as the Polish: it projects upwards and slightly forwards like that of the very similar Swiss Appenzeller Spitzhauben.
A common practice among hatcheries for egg-laying hens is the culling of newly hatched male chicks since they do not lay eggs and do not grow fast enough to be profitable for meat. There are plans to more ethically destroy the eggs before the chicks are hatched, using "in-ovo" sex determination. [52]
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.
Hens lay a good number of small white or cream eggs. [ 1 ] : 116 They are not given to broodiness as pullets , but can be when they reach two or three years of age. The breed is fast to mature, with hens laying by four and half months, and cockerels crowing at five or six weeks.
A Lohmann Brown hen. The Lohmann Brown is a brown variety of chicken, specifically bred for egg-laying purposes. It is a crossbred line [1] and is selectively bred from lines of the Rhode Island breed. [2] They start to lay eggs at about 19 weeks and produce up to 320 eggs up to an age of 72 weeks (one year production).