How many eggs will a chicken lay in its life time? When do hens stop laying?

How many eggs will a chicken lay in its life time? What makes a hen stop laying eggs and become an off layer? Is it true that a chick is hatched carrying all the eggs it will lay in its life? Well, all these questions are answered in this short video. We will explain one of the major reasons why your chickens will stop laying eggs permanently, especially after 2 to 3 years.

Did you know that every chicken (hen) is hatched with a specific number of eggs it will lay in its life time.

A newborn chick, contains the yolks of all the eggs she will lay in her lifetime. This is not only applicable to chickens only, even ducks, turkeys, geese, guinea fowls and quails are all hatched containing all the egg yolks they will lay in their life time. The yolks within the ovary are almost microscopic. They are about the size of the point of a pin.

These tiny-starts of the yolk are called oocytes. These oocytes hang in clusters, more like the way grapes do. It is estimated that in a standard laying hen there are approximately one thousand oocytes.

When these oocytes develop into eggs and the hen lays all of them, she stops laying, and immediately becomes an off layer.