RB&R
12 posts
May 16, 2006
12:28 PM
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I got a hen 11 years old and can't lay anymore, but a cock 13 years old and still fertile so my question i want to ask is WHY? what do u guys think...do u think it depend on what family u have or the hen just too old to lay.
Thank you,
Andrew
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
534 posts
May 16, 2006
12:42 PM
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No one can say for certain how long a hen will lay, or how long that hen will be fertile, yet still lay. Laying and fertile are two different things. Most hens should be good for 5-7 years ideally. Some will eclipse 10 years of annual production, but those are increasingly rare. Cocks sex organs aren't put through the same extremes as hens. It is said a hen only has so many embyros in her, yet a cock can produce sperm until his little old testes shrivel up...lol.
If your hen is 11 years old, I wouldn't bet on her laying again. My foundation West hen is 10 years old and still pumping out two at at time. I figure any one of the next few rounds will be her last.
Brian.
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GREED FOR SPEED LOFT
11 posts
May 16, 2006
12:49 PM
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Andrew,, I dont believe the family line has to do with birds going dry, sometimes it the luck of the draw. History of Health,diets,stress,and loft management have to do with this also as well as age........Later Dude......Richard Luna
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fhtfire
445 posts
May 16, 2006
8:55 PM
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I have a 97 UTah hen that is still producing like clock work. the eggs are not as smooth as they used to be...but she still lays and they still hatch. She just keeps on going. I have some 2000 hens and a 98 and 99 hen that are still truck'n. When I was a kid I had a 72 racing homer hen named Tarzan's Jane. I guess she won a bunch of big flys back in the 70's. Anyway..I had her in 86 and she was still laying and raising young. She was a Blue check hen. She was killed by a cat in 88 and she was still laying. SHe was most likely a freak of nature..but the best way you know....is if eggs don't come out anymore..LOL
rock and ROLL
Paul
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roller
23 posts
May 16, 2006
10:47 PM
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guys, I know a guy that had a 17 year old cock that was still squeezing sperm till he drop dead, and was still making babies--thoght I share it with ya, so don't worry---health is the key, not families, what ever you may.
lightning flip
hardball
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C.J.
160 posts
May 17, 2006
4:13 AM
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I have had birds as old as 12 years and still laying.
C.J.
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