If you are are looking into getting chickens for eggs, one question you may wonder about is “do roosters lay eggs?”

To answer the question do roosters lay eggs, first you need to understand basic chicken terminology.  (And maybe also understand a little basic biology.)  If you don’t already know, a rooster is a mature male chicken.

So, knowing that roosters are males – do roosters lay eggs?

Of course, the short (and probably obvious answer) to this question is no.  No, roosters do not lay eggs.  Males of most species do not lay eggs, and roosters are not an exception to this.

Ok, so that seems pretty simple, right?  But, if you were wondering do roosters lay eggs – that may have also made you wonder:

Your rooster is going to need a good coop to protect.

Do chickens need a rooster to lay eggs?  Or, can chickens lay eggs without a rooster?

This perhaps, isn’t quite a simple as the fact that males do not lay eggs.  But, the answer is still the same.  Do chickens need a rooster to lay eggs?  No, they do not.

However, if you want to hatch your own chicks either by incubating eggs or using a broody hen then you WILL need a rooster.  While the answer to can chickens lay eggs without a rooster is yes, they can.  The eggs that hens lay without a rooster are unfertilized.

Keep those unfertilized eggs fresh in your fridge with some cartons.

In order to hatch and raise baby chicks from your flock, you will need fertilized eggs.  And, you can only get fertilized eggs if you have a rooster (or roosters) with your hens.  So, if you want to get chicks, then you will need a rooster.

So, if you do not need roosters to lay eggs, why would you want a rooster?

First, roosters tend to be much more colorful and flashy than hens.  So, if you want really striking looking birds in your flock, you may want to add a rooster or two.

Also, as mentioned above, while chickens can lay eggs without roosters, in order to get fertilized eggs you need a rooster.  So, if you want to hatch your own chicks, you will also want a rooster.

Additionally, roosters are good flock protectors.  They will help ward off potential predators.  We actually had one of our boys defend his girls against a predator one night – he was almost killed, but he kept all of his girls safe and we were able to nurse him back to health.

We make sure our roosters stay strong by filling their feeders with quality feed.

So, even though the answer to the question – do roosters lay eggs – is no.  There are several reasons you may still want to consider adding a rooster to your flock.

For More About Chickens:

If you have your own chicken flock, or maybe you’re just starting to raise baby chicks, you may start asking yourself “how long do chickens live?”  After all, you will want to be prepared for how long you will have your chickens, right?

When we started thinking about getting chickens, one of the first questions that we asked was that of “how long do chickens live”.  We wanted to know how long we might have our first chickens as well as how often we may need to replenish our layer flock.

So, how long do chickens live?

First, let’s just talk the simple, easy answer.  In general, it is accepted that the life cycle of a chicken is an average of 8 year.

So, that’s all, right – 8 years is the answer to the question how long do chickens live.

Not, so fast.

Other factors to consider when thinking about the question – how long can a chicken live.

First, although the life cycle of a chicken may average 8 years – that is just how long can that chicken live in general.  Most chickens these days, especially ones in backyard flocks probably live much shorter lives.

They live much longer if they have good food in their feeder!

Why?

Well, predators are a really big issue for chickens.  I can’t tell you how many times we get messages from people who have purchased silkies or pullets asking if we have more available because something got their birds.

So, predator issues can most certainly bring the average down when answering how long do chickens live.

Another factor in how long the life cycle of a chicken will be is their care.  There are a lot of people jumping into backyard chickens.  Which is great – they can experience fresh eggs (which are SO good), as well as have some adorable pets.

You’ll need some cartons for all of those fresh eggs.

However, most backyard flock enthusiasts aren’t going to run their chickens to the vet (like they might their dog) if they get sick.  And the fact is, chickens can be fragile at times.  Baby chicks need certain care.  Adult chickens can get all sorts of things like Marek’s or respiratory diseases – sometimes simply from wild birds flying through.

That’s not to say that raising chickens is SUPER hard, it really isn’t that bad 😉  However, when issues do arise, the likelihood that chickens are getting top notch medical care is just not realistic.

So, clearly, health and medical care will play a large role in the answer to the question how long do chickens live.

Does Breed Type Affect the Answer to the Question How long do Chickens Live?

Yes!  Chicken breed definitely can play a large role in how long a chicken will live.

For example, just out of purpose, most meat breeds are not going to live very long.  Not only are they butchered young, but most are bred to grow big, fast.  This fast growth often times can cause significant health issues if they are alive much after butchering age.

How Long do chickens live before slaughter?

Most meat breeds of chicken live to about 2 or 3 months before they are butchered when being raised for meat.  Raising meat chickens can be a lot different experience than raising birds for egg production.

Also, there are production breeds, like sex link and leghorns.  These breeds, sort of like meat breeds, are bred to have large eggs and to produce like gangbusters quickly.  This means they start laying early and lay super often (5 – 7 times a week usually).  So, how long chickens lay eggs can affect their overall lifespan.

This constant egg laying can ultimately take a toll on their overall health and potentially cause health issues.  Which can cause them to have a shorter life span.

How long do bantam chickens live?

Bantam chickens should have the capability to have the same lifespan as other chickens of their same breed.  However, being a bantam means being smaller and this can make them more susceptible to getting taken by predators.

Keep your chickens safe from predators in a secure coop.

So, again, how long do chickens live?

As you can see, the answer to how long chickens live really can vary.  Of course, we can answer that question by looking at the average life cycle of a chicken.

That answer, as we have reviewed, is about 8 years.

However, that answer is not really the end all, be all as there are a lot of other factors that will be at play.  Particularly, breed, medical care, health and potential predators.

In our flock, we do have a few girls who have reached the 6 year age range now and still seem to be clucking along just fine 🙂  However, unfortunately, it is more common to loose some chickens earlier in life due to predators and other issues.

So, when you are thinking about getting chickens, it’s probably best to assume that 8 or so years is the answer to how long do chickens live – that way you are prepared to have and take care of your chickens for their entire lives if they make it to a ripe old age.  However, be prepared, that is can be normal to lose chickens at a younger age when all of the life variables are taken into account.

For More on Chickens:

If you have decided to start with backyard chickens, you are probably trying to learn all that you can about your new animals!  Most people keep chickens for eggs, so you might be wondering – how long do chickens lay eggs?

When we got our first chickens, we did research on the different chicken breeds and we learned what to look for when our chickens would start to lay.  However, at the start of our chicken keeping adventure, we did not ask how many eggs does a chicken lay.

You may also wonder do roosters lay eggs?

How Long Do Chickens Lay Eggs?

After having our chickens for a little while, one Spring we found that we had much less in the way of eggs than we had in previous years.  We knew how often chickens typically lay eggs and we just weren’t getting that many.

Hmm, we started to wonder why we had a decrease in egg production.

As we started to go through the list of decreases, we realized that it was not a matter of health or environmental components.  Rather, it was the pure age of our layers.

Your hens are going to need a place to sleep.

How Many Eggs Does a Chicken Lay?

When looking to find out the answer to how long do chickens lay eggs, the real question is how many eggs does a chicken lay.  You see, chickens are born (or hatched) with a set number of eggs.

This means that a chicken can only lay up to the amount they they are hatched with.  Many times other factors – health, predators etc – prevent them from laying all of their eggs.

Good egg production chickens will lay between 200 and 300 eggs for their first two years.  After their first two years they will start to drastically decrease the amount of eggs that they lay.

So, as chickens age, their egg production decreases.  This might lead you to wonder, how long do chickens live?

You’re going to need something to keep all those eggs in.

A chicken doesn’t just stop laying eggs, but there are signs to look for to see if your hen has either stopped production or is close to stopping production.  So, once your hen hits the two year mark she may still lay some, but it will not be as steady as her prime years.

So is there an exact science to answering the question:  How long do chickens lay eggs?

No, there is not absolutely precise answer to the question of how long do chickens lay eggs.  You can make the assumption that after age two, egg production is likely to dramatically decrease.

Figuring out how long your chickens will lay eggs, you should also take into account the breed.  Breeds that are mass producers tend to lay much heavier in the beginning of their lives and therefore have much more dramatic slow downs as they get older.

Breeds that are a more moderate producer may continue to be a low to moderate producer a bit after the two year mark because they have not completely depleted their egg reserve in the first two years.  They will definitely slow down their laying at two years though.

Be sure to keep their feeder full of tasty layer feed!

Flock Reduction due to how many eggs a chicken lays

One of the variables that effects the average numbers when talking about the question of how long do chickens lay eggs is that most commercial egg producers cull their layers around age 2.

As we have discussed, there is a production drop off at that age and for commercial producers that makes it not economical to keep those hens around.

In terms of backyard chickens, many backyard chicken keepers will keep hens around whether or not they are pumping out the eggs.  Also, backyard chicken keepers sometimes have heavy producing breeds like sex links and leghorns, but often times have dual purpose breeds and other more moderate producers.

As we discussed above, these more moderate producers will produce longer since they are not laying all their eggs by age two.  We have some older girls in our layer flock – aged about 5 – who still give us an occasional egg.

So, exactly how long do chickens lay eggs?  They lay really well from point of lay until around age 2.  But moderate layers can continue to produce decently until older ages 4 or 5.

Make sure to take these facts into account when deciding which chicken breeds you want to get.  Do you want mass producers that will dry up around age 2?  If so, will you cull them and get new birds then?

Do you want moderate producers that may lay less eggs overall, but will lay longer and will lessen the need to cull and replace as often?

For More on Chickens

If you are thinking about getting started raising chickens, or perhaps you are raising your first baby chicks you will likely want to know the answer to the question “how often do chickens lay eggs”.

You might already have some ideas about your new backyard chickens and their egg laying.  Perhaps you know what the signs your chicken will start to lay eggs soon are.  You might have asked do roosters lay eggs?

Or you may have looked at how to help increase egg production. You might still want to know how many eggs does a chicken lay a day?

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